8/13/20-8/14/20, mile: 1714
First thing in the morning, I took the car back to the I5 crossing to pick up hikers and bring them into town. Tony, Bambi, SoCo and Polar Bear piled into the car and I took them first to the Callahan Lodge for our free drink (and some breakfast), then back to town. By this time, Peter and Sarah were awake and they proceeded to deal with me getting busy with resupplying. We hit the grocery store as well as the post office to get boxes and then back to the hotel where I divvied the goods up to ship ahead to myself. I cannot begin to express the amount of time and energy it took to plan how much food to pack in the different boxes, then to make sure I had the correct addresses. I have to say, buying as you go is quite easy in comparison, if not limiting sometimes. I also took time to ice and compress my knee while sewing up my hiking pants. Evening was about walking around downtown Ashland, enjoying dinner and Lithia Park.
The next day was about finishing up the packaging, shipping out boxes, and spending time with some of my hiking friends that made it to town and were staying at the hotel across the street. Dock, from way back in Wrightwood, had come up to Ashland to work in the Hostel. He joined us all for a quick gathering and Sarah got to get a small taste of my hiking family. And we also went swimming in our hotel pool, which just felt awesome, if not awkward. My body is just not tuned for swimming right now.
Three nights and two full days in town still do not feel like enough to rest and prep for the next 450-ish miles of hiking. But the calendar keeps marching, winter will be arriving up north and I need to beat it.
Ashland is great. I went to the university there and there’s a tiny ski resort there too. Great read. Thanks for doing this.
Nice addition to your epic hiking story!