May 29, 2016 - Got an early start in hopes to beat the heat but turned out to be a cool morning. The morning started off with downhill hiking for awhile. Off in the distance I could see the fog rising out from the canyon floor which made for an enjoyable morning hike. I ended up crossing into the fog which made the air seem cooler.
Had a short uphill followed by another long downhill to the road crossing to Casa de Luna, a popular hiker hostel. Right before getting to the road I had some stomach issues but there weren’t many flat spots for me to use the bathroom.
Once at the road crossing it was a 2 mile walk to the hostel. After about 5 minutes of walking a minivan passes by and I saw it had a PCT sticker on the back. I was then pretty sure it would stop and take me the rest of the way and I was right.
Casa de Luna hostel is the home of the Anderson’s. They have been opening up their open to PCT hikers for almost 20 years. It’s just one of the places that you have to stop at on a thru hike. The front of the house is where everyone hangs out as there are tables, chairs, hammocks and even couches. Then in the backyard is where everyone set up their tents as there was a tiny forest with lots of great tenting spots.
Seemed like there was always food set out. Its tradition that they offer taco salad every night for dinner but Terri decided to do something different and we had grilled hotdogs and chicken.
Then for the next 12 hours I spent hanging out with all the hikers at the hostel. Lots of chatting, eating, card playing and just relaxing.
Soon after dinner as the group is just relaxing under the starry night sky I hear someone say time to watch the space station. At first I think it’s code for something but turns out we all went down the street to an opening and watched the international space station fly overhead, it was a lot brighter than I thought and it sure was moving. Then right after all the new people to the hostel had to do a dance to earn the PCT 2016 class bandana. Not everyone went up but I for sure going to get mine, glad no one video that dance.
Then after the dance I went to bed, I was pretty tired after only 10 miles of hiking but I planned to get up early on move on as almost everyone takes a zero day at the hostel. I might several people that had spent close to a week.
