Pacific Crest Trail Day 24 – The Underpants Incident

PCT Day 24 – Sunday May 7
Zero Day in Big Bear Lake

Today will go down in infamy as The Day of the Underpants Incident.  I will get to the details in due time.

But first…
I woke up early this morning in the attic room at the Nobody’s house. I was very grateful for Don and Rachel’s hospitality, but I didn’t want to impose any longer. I planned to switch over to the hostel today and I knew that spots were at a premium over there due to the weather, so I decided to arrive early. Dash, Katie and I walked the mile into town and secured beds in the hostel by 8:30 am.

Walking into Town

A light dusting of snow covered the ground but the snow had melted on the roads. It was forecast to snow another 3-6 inches this afternoon, however, so I was glad to have a cozy bed secured town.

I ate breakfast with Dash and Katie at the Teddybear Cafe while we waited for our beds to get ready at the hostel. We all had the hiker special which was an enormous plate of food for only $5.00. Yum!

The Hiker Special

Over breakfast, we tried to think of a Trail Name for Katie. Earlier on the trail, some folks had tried to name her “Smiles” but she wasn’t very keen on the name. She does smile a lot but it wasn’t a very empowering name. “That name is not badass enough for you,” I said. “You should have a more badass name. Like badass. Yeah! You should be called badass!!” She mulled the name over for a bit and liked it. So, Katie is now Badass! Hehe. I like giving Trail Names.

Badass In our Dorm Room in Big Bear Lake Hostel

I ran into lots of hikers at the hostel that I haven’t seen for weeks. It was like a hiker reunion! The first person I ran into was Captain Underpants. I hadn’t seen Captain Underpants since I gave him his trail name (refer to this blog post for details). I was happy to hear that he had now fully embraced his name and loved it. Everybody loves his trail name!

I also ran into Stefan. He was becoming well-known as the guy to see about sore feet muscles. As discussed in this blog post, he helped me a lot with my foot pain issues. I saw him help 3 other people at the hostel including Tater. She felt like a new woman after she learned techniques for releasing the muscles in her feet and calves with a massage ball. “Ow. This feels amazing,” she said, as Stefan made her push down harder on the massage ball. And that’s when we decided to give Stefan his Trail Name: “Dr Pain”. Another hiker was trying to call him “Centerfold” because at the hostel he was wearing some rabbit ears on his head and looked like a Playboy Bunny, but I like Dr Pain better. We’ll see if either one of them sticks.

Watching the Snow Fall Outside the Hostel

This afternoon, I did my laundry. The hostel provides loaner clothes which is a nice service so hikers don’t have to wear their rain clothes while they do their washing. I dug around through the box looking for some pants since it was snowing outside and I wanted to cover my legs. I didn’t find any pants but I *did* find a pair of men’s black UnderArmor underpants that looked like they might fit me. I happened to be in the market for some men’s underpants as I wasn’t totally happy with the anti-chafing shorts I bought which kept uncomfortably riding up (which sort of defeats the purpose if you ask me). I had been thinking for a while that men’s underpants looked a lot more comfortable and practical, but I didn’t know what kind to buy. I grabbed the underpants (which came straight out of the dryer so I knew they were clean) and tried them on. They felt great. Yes! Success!

Now, when I originally tried on the underpants, I just meant to see if they fit me so I knew what to shop for on Amazon. But they fit so great that I started considering keeping them. They were loaner underpants after all and didn’t *technically* belong to anybody. A couple of hours later, I still had them on and didn’t have any intention of taking them off, when my dreams of underpants adoption were shattered.

“Has anyone seen a pair of men’s black underpants?” said the lady who was working at the hostel. “They belong to Captain Underpants and they are missing.”

“Um” I said, sheepishly, raising my hand. “You mean the underpants that I’m wearing right now?”

Captain Underpants took one look at me and we both doubled over in hysterics. It turns out that his underpants accidentally got mixed into the same load of laundry as the loaner clothes, which explains how they got into the loaner box. I went into the bathroom to remove them and handed them over. I promised that I had showered this morning and only worn them for a couple of hours. He couldn’t stop laughing. He was kind enough, however, to show me the exact same pair on Amazon so I could order my own underpants.

Captain Underpants in Repose

After the Underpants Incident, a group of hikers went to the movie theater to watch Guardians of the Galaxy 2.  We were a rowdy audience and thoroughly enjoyed it.

For dinner we ate the rum cake that Daniel baked and sent me in the mail.  YUM!  It was amazing.  Thanks baby 🙂

You Wish You Were Eating this Rum Cake

Fun day.