Today is the day. We slept in until 8:15, and we were the last to leave the campground. Interesting to note last night was the sheer number of people with snoring problems. I swear it was louder with everyone asleep than with everyone chatting. As soon as I unzipped my sleeping bag, I knew I was overdo for a good clothes and body cleaning. You see, I've taken to filling any dead space at the foot of my sleeping bag with any and all clothing items I have. This has the uniquely gag inducing effect of perfuming our tent with a biohazardous mixture of pent up farts and sweaty hiking socks. Not too dissimilar from the way my shin guards would smell after a few months of wear. Per my boyfriendly obligation, I must report that Maddie is still smelling like roses***. So it goes without saying that we were itching (literally from all my mosquito bites and mentally from excitement) to get to MTR.
Anyway, it was a nice leisurely wake up, and we slowly made our way back the short walk to the ranch. Maddie's still feeling some discomfort in her heel, so my new condition for her continuing is that I take the stove and med kit in my pack. Anything to lighten her load and get her feeling better at this point. I'm not treating her like a child, only she knows if this injury would keep her from finishing, and she knows that today is the day to make that determination. So far, though, she's putting on an optimistic face and we've made the most of our relaxing ZERO miles day!
We got to the ranch and picked up our resupply bucket. Some items were promptly deposited in the hiker barrel: a couple of oatmeal bags (I'm keeping a couple and forcing them down, as I simply can't handle the guilt from throwing away all of my hard work), my packets of salmon (the canned fish smell is just too overwhelming, and the draining makes them a pain to eat...I'll take some granola bars instead), and some dried fruit (great in real life and in theory, but completely unappetizing out here for some reason). In exchange, we pick up some delicious bars and some tooth paste. No, we will not be taking the snorkel mask. Can we just all take one last moment to savor how funny that is? Okay, done laughing? Good, moving on. The hiker barrels are truly as amazing as advertised. A PCT hiker we met named Ambassador had told us of these delights, and he was absolutely right. One man's trash is another man's treasure. It's actually quite fun watching all of the hungry hikers exchanging food they're sick of in favor of something that someone else just threw out. The highlight of the afternoon was definitely when a couple was sorting through their resupply. Maddie had originally spotted the giant bag of MnMs and began practically drooling over them. It was about an hour later that the guy got around to them and decided to deposit them in the hiker barrels. He didn't even make it that far, before Maddie swooped in like a hawk, saying, "I'll take them!!!!" It was hilarious—she was giddy with excitement.
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| Lazily sorting through our stuff |
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| Our lovely oasis |
We couldn't check in until 2pm, so we spent a solid 4 hours sorting our resupply, packing it into our bear cans (semi-successfully), and picking up a few miscellaneous items at the store, like a new tooth brush for me, and some athletic tape for our feet. We had shade, a gentle breeze, and some conversation with fellow hikers we've been passing for the last 11 days. Our stay includes dinner tonight, breakfast and lunch tomorrow, access to private hot springs, showers, 15 minutes of free internet (since my blogs are on my phone though, this will not help me get my posts up), and access to laundry.
We checked in as soon as we could, at 2:15, and were given a brief tour before being shown to our log cabin. It was delightful and quite cozy. Already today there have been innumerable things that I find myself grateful to have back at home. Among them, fresh food, bathing amenities, and perhaps the most underrated of them all: private, functioning toilets. True blessings.
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| Our humble abode for the evening |
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| Our porch overlooking the water |
As the afternoon was winding down fast, we got in line to do laundry in a machine not of this century. It was actually sort of fun, though painstaking. The one drawback, I suppose, was that we had to wear our rain gear, as we had decided to clean all of our clothes. This meant looking awesome for the better part of 3 hours. We got chatting with the same group of hikers whose photo we had taken at Deer Creek, and it turns out they're from Redlands and they're staying the night as well. One of them, Dave, gave us a riddle: "I go out to a field of horses and count forty-four legs (not including my own), how many horses are there?" The obvious answer upon hearing that question is 11 horses. But given the unbridled enthusiasm he seemed to have for riddles (and I'm serious, I've never met someone so into riddles), the answer would not be so easy. After about 30 minutes of refusing to tell us the answer (also known as 30 minutes of making Maddie and Graham feel stupid), we received a hint that ultimately revealed the answer. You see, arriving at the correct answer requires that you hear the words "forty-four legs" as "forty forelegs." I guess we're just slow. Befuddled and mentally fatigued, we proceeded to hang our clothes out to dry.
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| State of the art washing machine setup. I thought that was a pasta sheet roller...They sure don't make them like they used to. |
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| Nothing like some late afternoon cloudy skies to not dry your clothes in time for dinner. |
After laundry, we booked it straight for the incredibly peaceful private hotspring/bath houses. I'll snap a picture of it tomorrow if I can remember, but for now just picture a rustic hot tub in the earth, enclosed by a quaint wooden fence, affording views to the wilderness without any breech of privacy. It was spectacular. You stand in a corner, lather up, and scoop a lightweight cooking pot of 106 degree spring water over yourself so as not to contaminate the main hotspring vessel with dirty soapy water. After cleaning, entry to the pool is permitted. I've never, in my entire life, been so grateful for running water and just the simple state of being clean. And this is after having recently completed two mud runs. It was one of the more amazing feelings I've experienced.
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| The freshly cleaned selfie |
After the bath, we meandered back to our cabin briefly before heading to dinner. Our clothes were still wet, so naturally I showed up dressed to the nines in my down jacket and rain pants with duct tape marking the seems of the butt crack on the pants. After such a sensational bathing experience (I would have never thought I would put that string of words together), we lined up for a family style buffet dinner. We didn't know what to expect earlier in the day, but we had lofty expectations. All I need to say is that this place knocked those expectations out of the water. I'm serious, I would happily accept this meal for any birthday or holiday dinner, it was so good (and that's not just 12-days-out-in-the-wilderness Graham talking). I forgot my phone and couldn't get you pictures, but we had asian grilled chicken breast, an incredibly delicious salad with citrus, peppers and almonds, grilled asparagus, and an artichoke bread stuffing. We each devoured two large helpings of everything. We talked with other hikers and had some really great conversation. With ample lemonade, fresh fruit, and water to supplement the meal, we barely had room for dessert. But come on guys, it's dessert. And remember how Maddie listed strawberries as one of her top 5 cravings? Well it's like they read her mind because we inhaled a generous portion of homemade strawberry shortcake tonight. Considering this place is in the middle of nowhere, we were completely blown away with the quality. The cooks really take pride in their job and were very eager to please. It was also great talking with several of the hikers from Redlands, the ones we've been leapfrogging. They seem really interesting and very funny to hang out with. I think they have the same exit date plans as we do so hopefully we get to see them more as we go. Satisfied and stuffed to the max, we just returned and are about to get some sleep.
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| Off to dinner! |
This is the kind of place anyone, not just creature comfort-starved backpackers would enjoy. I think especially of my dad, who would love the people, the food, the horses, the dogs, and the ability to be in the mountains without actually doing much work. Speaking of horses, one of them just had a baby yesterday—pretty neat stuff. All in all, this place has exceeded our expectations. From the bountiful hiker barrels to our cozy little cabin, I highly encourage anyone looking for a rustic mountain retreat to check out Muir Trail Ranch.
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| Could you tell that I dressed to impress for dinner tonight? |
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| A one day old horse and its mama |
And with that, we wish you goodnight and we hope all is well! We read on a bulletin board here that we get service atop Muir Pass and Forester Pass, the former being in about 3 days from now. So hopefully I'll be able to finish some posts. We're expecting some rain coming up though, so we shall see. And I just got Maddie a bag of ice for her Achilles, so wish her luck for the last half of our journey, because she's decided to push through it.
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| It's gonna be reallyyyy tough to leave this place. Pure magic. |
***well, not quite like roses...
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