Off Trail Days (5)
Day 154: mile 652.1-656.9 (back to Walker Pass)
The border went more smoothly than we expected. We picked up a few other hikers for our journey back across to the US; one from Korea, and one from Germany. In total we had 5 people who really didn’t know each other very well (2 I didn’t know at all) from 3 countries, we just hoped they didn’t ask a lot of questions. The border agent did ask a lot of questions, but he had definitely dealt with this plenty of times and was very nice and even cracked some jokes.
Back into the US Stark very speedily (too speedily, I think we were all terrified we’d safely hiked all the way to Canada, but might die in this truck) drove us to Seattle. We had to stop at REI flagship of course, then dropped off the boys at a hostel and made our way to our hotel, had some dinner, and crashed. The next day I said goodbye and thank you to Stark and told Pineapples I’d see her on the trail. She was headed SOBO from Chester and I’d still be going NOBO.
I headed to the airport and back to San Diego to spend some time with my family, get some rest, and make sure my resupply boxes were in order. After a few days of RnR I rented a car and drove the 3-4 hours to Ridgecrest where I caught the bus back to Walker Pass.
It felt so amazing to be back on trail, and even more to come back to the place I’d felt so sad to leave. Last time I was here I was so uncertain of what my next move was and I’d just said goodbye to so many great people I’d met in the desert. Today I was filled with excitement and anticipation for the Sierra.
I started up the mountain late afternoon, so I didn’t expect to go very far. It was still pretty toasty out here, even in September, so this uphill was making me a bit thirstier than I expected. I wish I hadn’t been in such a rush trying to catch the bus, I was one bottle of water short of what I planned, and this stretch is pretty dry. I’ll be fine though, there’s water fairly close tomorrow, but I can already see I’ll be drinking way more water out here than I have in WA.
I walked up to a beautiful campsite tucked away from all the wind, and what do you know, it’s all mine! This is one of the reasons why I decided to stick with NOBO. Everyone else I knew or talked to that was flipping back to complete the Sierra was going SOBO, plus all the actual SOBOs, that sounded like more crowded campsites to me. I’d seen enough of those in WA. Plus, it also would’ve just felt wrong to be going south after 2,000 miles of being a NOBO. Enough about that, I’m headed to enjoy this sunset and get some sleep.
Goodnight!
XOXO Green Light