PCT Day 38 – North Fork Ranger Station to Acton KOA Campground

I woke up to some snap pop crackling noises outside my tent this morning. It took me a while to figure out that the noises were coming from a large set of power lines a few feet away that I hadn’t noticed the day before.

Good Morning SloBo’s!

We weren’t in a big hurry to break camp this morning. We only had 8 miles to go today and so didn’t feel the need to get up super early. I played some motivational morning music and we danced as we packed up. Right before we left, we all put our arms in a circle and Apocalypse led us in a team chant which I thought was pretty hysterical … the chant went “We are Slo-Bo’s, We don’t Care! We will steal your underwear!” (The underwear-stealing comment, of course, being a reference to the infamous Underwear Incident).

Alladin and Apocalypse Having a Balance War at North Fork Ranger Station. What Could Go Wrong?

However once we got on the trail I realized that we probably should have started earlier. It was HOT today – I don’t know the exact temperature but I believe it was at least 90 degrees. The trail was relatively easy but the heat sapped my energy. I hadn’t used my umbrella to shield against the sun in a while but it made an appearance today.

I decided to give my liver a break and not to take any Ibuprofen this morning as an experiment. It was only 8 miles, I reasoned. How bad could it be? Well, as it turns out, pretty bad. My right foot was killing me again on the descent into Acton. I was visibly limping into the KOA. Sigh. Days like this are so frustrating.

The trail intersects Soledad Canyon Road and the KOA is about a half mile walk down the road. It’s very hiker friendly and the whole lawn was covered with PCT hikers. They had a convenience store with ice cream and sodas and frozen pizzas and a hiker lounge with a toaster oven and outlets to charge our batteries and phones. I ate two ice cream bars and a popsicle today, along with 2 sodas, a microwaved burrito and half a pizza.

Hooray it’s the KOA!

The big highlight of the KOA is – a pool! It wasn’t the cleanest pool ever (there were a lot of bugs floating in it) but I wasn’t feeling too picky. I spent the afternoon swimming, relaxing in the shade, eating ice cream and resting my feets. Ahhhhh.

Camping by the Teepee

We set up our tents near a big teepee at one end of the yard and had a chill evening, telling jokes and listening to music. At one point during the evening, Apocalypse walked over to the camp store and Tater and Alladin turned his tent around as a practical joke. Teehee.

Calzone and Ari Nari (I Have No Idea How to Spell her Name… its Australian)

Apocalypse Likes to Put Things in His Beard

Jerry (Trail Name: Cheerful)

I’m so excited for tomorrow! Looking forward to seeing my sweetie! Yay!

….

So it’s 1:30 am and I’ve been awake for a few hours now spending some quality time in the bathroom.  Maybe all the ice cream and pizza wasn’t such a good idea after all.   I keep hearing some eerie low moaning/ bellowing sounds coming from a mile or so away.  At first I was thoroughly confused as to what the sound could be, but now I suspect the sounds are wild cats from the Shabala Preserve.  The Preserve was established by actress Tippi Hedron and reportedly rescued lions formerly owned by Michael Jackson.

I don’t think hiking is in store for me tomorrow, so I’m going to relax and wait for Daniel’s plane to land and then meet up with him in the evening.

So that means I’ll be taking 3 zero days in a row and I’ll be back on the trail on Thursday, May 25.  I’m going to take a break from blogging for a couple of days so I can focus on relaxing.  See you all in a few days!

PCT 2017 Status

PCT Day 38 – Sunday May 21
North Fork Ranger Station Mile 436.1 to Acton KOA Mile 444.3

PCT Miles Hiked Today: 8.2
Feet Ascended Today: 900
Feet Descended Today: 2882
Current Elevation: 2245
Steps: 29128

For more on my experience hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, visit my Pacific Crest Trail 2017 page:

• Pacific Crest Trail Blog