Day 87...26 to Callahans

Day 87

August 15th

26 miles

Callahan's Lodge via PCT mile 1727

Had a funk of a day hiking today...just couldn't get into my rhythm. What seemed like should have been a fast 26 miles just didn't go as quickly as it should have. 

Maybe my funk had something to do with the mismatched socks I decided to break out today. I had lost a pair of socks somewhere in the Seiad Valley happenings, upon discovering I lost my socks and only had a single pair left to my name, Adam had given me this pair. I had worn my only pair for three days and  didn't think a forth day of unwashed socks would cut it today.

The first Oregon PCT magic was stumbled across this afternoon. Surely I thought some sugar would help.

And this magically appeared in front of my eyes on the trail.

Eventually I reached Callahan's Lodge, shortly after 7pm. There were a handful of hikers around the lodge. Most who had to hitch from Seiad Valley because of this:

The official order from US Forest Service to close PCT due to the Beaver Fire. We apparently were the last hikers to leave Seiad Valley and make it through before the fire closure. I was a little surprised that the trail did get closed as conditions were good for us and the fire seemed quite a ways from the trail, far enough we had no smoke and could see no evidence of fire, unlike the last 2 fires we had encountered.

Callahan's Lodge is right off the trail and a super hiker friendly lodge, offering camping or room discounts to hikers. Ashland is a larger town 13 miles from the PCT, a lot of hikers stop here to regroup, resupply and take zeros. Hornsby and Adam were planning on going to Ashland for the night and taking a zero tomorrow, and Guy on the Buffalo, had some friends in the area he was going to visit. I had no need to go to town so I decided to treat myself to a posh room at the lodge for two nights and zero at Callahan's. We collectively decided we had a good group rolling together and wanted to stick together while on the trail, so when we parted ways we loosely made plans to meet back at Callahan's either tomorrow night or the following morning to get back on trail together.

After catching up with some other hikers, I've met along the way. I ordered dinner and retreated to my room for some nice R&R, my room was complete with a jacuzzi tub I took full advantage of, soaking my tired muscles away.

Dinner.