My goodness today is gonna be busy. We have to get back to Chelan then try to start hitching to Mazama to get back on the trail.
We packed up and started with a mediocre breakfast at the lodge and restaurant. They shorted us a pancake, and when you’re supposed to get four exorbitantly priced flapjacks and only get three, that’s a problem. We got them to correct it. What was especially frustrating is that our server wasn’t surprised at all with the shortage. It seemed as if she knew it was short when she brought it out.
Whatever. It got sorted, but it’s annoying to have to advocate for yourself with prices like this.
We packed up, went over to the ferry company that just opened, and booked our tickets for the ferry back. On the ferry we saw Minnie Mouse! She got to meet Beth, which was really fun. She was also happy to take a photo of us.
We got back to Chelan and started to sort stuff out. Walking to get lunch, we saw a car make a turn and suddenly be engulfed in a flurry of bills — like dollars. It ended up the driver had left his wallet on his roof and it fell off. I waited for a lull in traffic, got the wallet and all the money we could, then continued on to find lunch.
We ended up at a little Chinese restaurant. It was really yummy. I took some time there to try and find the owner of the wallet on Facebook. I sent a message to the person most likely to own it, but didn’t hear back.
Downtown Chelan was bustling. Apparently it’s a big weekend destination for boating, fishing, and swimming. Also it’s apparently Labor Day weekend, so holy crap that’s why it’s so busy.
We walked over to the post office to drop the wallet off. They were closed, so I dropped the wallet into the blue box. They can take care of it.
We made our way over to the grocery store, which was just a Walmart. Ugh. It was a schlep. A freaking schlep. But without a car, no Ubers, and no taxis, you do what you gotta. I just needed a resupply, and not much of one since we only had a few days left on trail.
After Walmart, it was getting a little late, so we crossed the road and tried to get a hitch. We waited for about an hour and a half, with no one even slowing down. It was absolutely the worst hitch attempt of the entire trail. Just…nothing. And it was starting to get dark. We made a decision to walk back into town to try and get a room for the night, then hitch out in the morning, when traffic would be more amenable to our quest.
We looked up where to go to sit down, get a charge for our phones, and look for lodging. On the walk there I looked for nearby places that might have rooms. They were all booked. Like…all of them. Except one that was $400+/night and had a two night minimum. What the hell?
We made our way to Starbucks, the only place open late enough to get this done. I ordered a decaf latte and we sat down. We reviewed all the hotels again and found nothing. It was getting stressful. I let Beth know that, worst case, we stealth camp somewhere and get up early. It wouldn’t be ideal, especially in a tourist town on a holiday weekend (yikes, law enforcement), but it’s doable. And I’m good at disappearing.
I did get one really good email. My fingerprint card for my Arizona PTA license, which I’d sent off for in Portland, was approved! I sent a copy of it to the AZ Board of PT to get that last part of my licensure packet sent in. That took only a few minutes and it was back to looking for lodging.
Beth had the brilliant idea to check HipCamp. I’d never even heard of it. We found a backyard campsite about 5 miles away, through a bonkers circuitous route. I pulled the trigger on it — it had an outdoor shower and sounded like a decent spot to spend the night.
The problem now was how to get there. Uber and Lyft don’t exist in this town — it’s too small. I looked up taxi services and found one that had a car in the area. It wasn’t even local, they just have a driver (a driver, singular) three days a week. Luckily, this was one of those days.
I ordered the cab to the campsite. We met her a few minutes before Starbucks closed.
Holy cow this is some luck.
The drive there would have been scenic if it were daytime. As it was, it was just long and circuitous. There were some strange forks in the road to get there. These streets were oddly planed, but it’s also laid out over complicated mountainous terrain.
We got to the campsite after some odd turns and met the curators of the site. They’re an elderly couple with many health issues who have a massive piece of land in the mountains and wanted to set part of it aside for random travelers. It was really nice.
They showed us to the site. It was nice. A raised sand bed with a wooden frame, a bucket with a toilet seat and some powder to throw on top, and a little open outdoor shower.
We set up camp, brushed our teeth, and crashed.