PCT: Day 32

Today would be a shorter day with a stop at hot springs in the middle, but wouldn’t go without some sort of hurdle. Blue Lizard found a tick on her back overnight which came out cleanly, but left a less than desirable mark afterwards. We had to shelve this for now since we were a day away from a town. We knocked off 6 easy miles to the hot springs where we ran into Mom Cut and AKA again. AKA gave us advice on how to quickly get antibiotics to prevent any chance of Lyme disease.

We relaxed at the hot springs for a few hours, letting the hot water ease sore muscles from the long day before. After eating lunch we got back on trail and hiked to a pickup point for Joshua Inn where we would be staying for the night. And no, it isn’t that type of inn. It’s a dive bar that has started catering to the hiking community and offers free rides to and from trail, water, charging, bathrooms, and free camping.

We ran into Mom Cut, AKA, Scar, and a bunch of other hikers when we got there. The kids played pool most of the evening with quarters AKA graciously gave us. This typically isn’t the kind of evening we’d spend with the kids, but figure it’s still a good learning experience while on trail (plus we were too tired to go anywhere else). We setup tents around dusk once the strong winds that had been blowing all day died down.