IN THE DOG HOUSE

PCT DAY 26:  Mile 476.2 (Casa de Luna) –  Ednas Front Yard (off the PCT)
Monday May 9, 2016: 21 miles (33.6 km)

Where do I start to describe a most unusal day of our PCT hike. Maybe I should start from the beginning. From Green Valley where Casa de Luna is located, the PCT was closed due to the Powerhouse Fire closure. The Guthooks map we were using showed a 21 mile detour of road walking. The Halfmile maps which we are also using had no directions for the detour. A Trail Angel at Casa de Luna had drawn a map of a detour which included less road walking. Many hikers chose to hitch rather then walk the road. We decided to walk so we took a map of the shorter detour which would get us back on the PCT at Mile 493.9

But before we left Casa de Luna,  Terry the owner, asked  if we would mind signing the PCT Class of 2016 sheet and if she took our picture. No problem we thought. She asked another hiker to take the picture while she stood next to him. And as some readers may have guess,  she lived up to the name of the hiker house, yes she mooned us. Unexpected to say the least. We were a wee bit shocked. We left shaking our heads. The hike back along San Francisquite Highway was a bit unpleasant.  Busy road and cars were driving fast. But once we turned off, it was not so bad.  Walking along Elizabeth Lake Rd was quite nice. The string of lakes were completely dry. But the distant landscape, fringing the dry lake beds, reminded me of Tuscany. It took me a while to see why. It was the the gentle rolling hills and  with houses surrounded by tall pencil pines.  Very beautiful. 

We stopped at a local restaurant, The Rock Inn for breakfast. While waiting for our order we started up a conversation with a couple out for a day ride on their motorbikes and another couple who were hiking the PCT.   The motorcycle riders were in the movie industry in LA, doing stunt work. They left after finishing their meal and we wished them well. It was only later when we went to pay for our meal that the waitress said it was taken care of. The lovely couple who left paid for our meal and that of the other two hikers. The experiences on this  trail just continue to amaze.  It would be so nice to thank them in person.

We also caught up with Jim who came in for breakfast just before we left.  After breakfast Jim joined us and  we hiked on following the instructions map we had from the  Casa. This turned out to be a bit unreliable as we took a turn, as indicated on the map, and ended at the trail junction. But the trail at this point was still closed.  So a bit of confusion and backtracking. This added 3 miles of unnecessary road walking. Back on Pine Canyon Rd we decided to stick to the Guthooks map and follow that for the rest of the day.  

We caught up with another hiker Petra and the four of us continued along the road which was not overly busy.  About 4pm a car pulled up alongside us and offered us pizza.  Yes please – two ladies Mary and Mel – I’ve nicknamed the Dinner Ladies, gave us a slice of pizza and said if we wanted somewhere to camp to go and see their friend Edna and she would look after us. They gave us instruction on how to find her. And so it was we said goodbye to Jim who was going to hike on to Hikertown, another 4 miles on and we went to look for Ednas house. And we eventually found the house and yes she was happy to have us camp. But she was a bit afraid for us as there was a mountain lion sighting earlier in the day. So she let us set up inside the dog enclosure. Obviously the dogs were long  gone. 

We started the day being mooned by a mature women, hiked along a road that looked like it may have been in Tuscany, had breakfast bought for us by a Hollywood stuntman, complete strangers stopped to offer us food, water and shelter and 21 miles of road walking later we are sleeping in a dog house. We have not stepped on the trail at all today.  Tomorrow we will rejoin the trail at Mile 517.6 after some more miles of road walking.