Day 116 : Indian Heaven Trail Magic

26 miles today

429 miles to go

I wake up with the sun and get moving in the daylight. I pass Funhog’s trail magic table and see Clinic and Bey eating breakfast. After a quick chat I head off north toward Indian Heaven Wilderness. I'm not sure why it's named that but the trail and the forest has changed. This is a mountain forest. Higher in elevation and more beautiful to me. The blue sky is visible through the trees. There is more airy space and room to see further. I get glimpses of the mountains outside of my immediate vicinity and it makes my heart light and my hike fun. Some amazing views of Mt Adams. I seem to be getting closer to it everyday. I come out of the trees at the top of a ridge and cross a dirt road. There is a signing pointing left. “Thru hikers come enjoy trail magic.” Well okay! I head over and meet Trail Angels Andi and Carolyne. I am the only Thru-hiker here. I get a Coke and then sit on the cooler. Andi hands me a sandwich and we sit and chat. They are a lot of fun to talk with. Andi slices some watermelon, then I have a bag of chips, a homemade blueberry muffin, and a giant homemade cookie. I spend a good amount of my afternoon there. I expect other thru-hikers to arrive but no one does. I finally stand up and thank them for their generosity and head off down the trail. Before I go Andi has me grab an apple for the ‘road.’ I eat it and finish it before reaching the trees. 

I hike on through the afternoon feeling good. Good food really helps. I hike and eat some snacks. I hike till my snacks are gone. I arrive at my planned camp and meet a few friendly section hikers. I set up my tent and prepare to cook dinner when Bey and Poppy show up. Then Clinic arrives and finally Shifu (pronounced see-foo). He's the first PCT Thru-hiker from Hong Kong. We all sit around cooking our various meals and chatting. I find that Poppy, Bey, and Clinic all want to go into Trout Lake to resupply and then immediately get back out. That's what I want to do too. So we all plan to get up and get moving by six thirty to get to the trailhead early enough to get a ride into town. We talk and laugh late into the night. Past hiker midnight. I finally crawl into my tent in the dark and fall to sleep quickly thinking about the fact that I've had trail magic two days in a row, how cool is that!