Start point
Grouse Gap Shelter, mile 1709.2
End point
Ashland Ski Road, mile 1712.6
Miles hiked
3.4
Wilderness area
Rogue River National Forest
Klamath National Forest
People I met
Hotdog
Monkey
The day on trail
Time for a town stop! And a super short day!
It was so pretty this morning, absurdly pretty.
The hike out of Grouse Gap Shelter was super easy. But you could really tell it was frontcountry by how people had treated it. It always seems like driving access leads to more vandalism and breakage.
That said, the hike was super lush. Oregon is really, really green along the PCT right now. I know there are some high desert areas, especially in more Eastern Oregon, and there are some volcanic areas coming up. This area of it, though, is so green and lush. And it seems the mosquitoes have mostly gone away, which is even better.
We elected to hitch from the Ashland Ski Road, a route lots of people take for day hikes, instead of going to Callahan’s Lodge and trying to hitch from there. We figured it’d be a little faster, because it’s closer to where we started, and Callahan’s is right off the freeway, which can be really tough to get hitches from. At that intersection we met Hotdog, who got her name for her affinity for eating hot dogs. Peach, who we met our last night in California, also traipsed through there.
A bunch of people stopped to see where we were headed. Most of them were going the wrong direction — to an area for day hiking. We’d met a bunch of day hikers on our way out, people just enjoying a morning on the trail, and were able to get a few backup ride offers in case we didn’t get a hitch. Lots of people offered to give us rides back if we were still there when they were leaving, which is nice, and hopefully not needed. A few people stopped and realized we wouldn’t fit in their overly packed cars.
One man stopped and we were able to pile into his stuffed van. I had to fold my legs up to my chest to fit on the middle seat amid his fishing and camping gear. But it was a ride!
We got into Ashland and Ketchup had booked us some beds in a hostel there. We were planning a double zero to recuperate from the ridiculously long, mental stretch that was Northern California. A day to recover and a day to plan and resupply was sorely needed. Plus, there’s a Costco in Medford, just outside Ashland, and public transit to get there, so we can get pizza, churros, and split some items!
We dropped our stuff off at the hostel, which wasn’t open to us yet, but had a relatively safe area to stash our gear, showered, changed, and headed downtown to a hiker-famous Indian food buffet.
A buffet on trail is and always will be the modern day equivalent of an oasis. Hungry hikers can pay a flat rate and fill up as much as they need. Which we did. I sat outside to hang with hikers, Ketchup sat inside for some introvert alone time. It’s really great to be able to hike with someone and be able to understand each other’s space and needs. I really treasure her partnership.
At the buffet I ran into Tom, from yesterday, and Monkey, a young Dutch woman. Monkey and I both know Piñacolada, which was really cool. We talked about how we knew him and shared stories of him, all good things. He’s such a great person, I couldn’t imagine anything bad to be said about him.
Monkey had gone completely feral. She’d shed her civilization of sitting upright at a table and was hunched over her food, just focused on consuming. It was really great to watch someone be that present. I have so much more to lose with my self awareness. I want to be that present.
Time for the main chore: the post office. I had new shoes shipped from REI and a map and goods from Beth to pick up.
After that chore we went to the hostel, settled in, and met people there. There was a(n) (in)famous hiker group, The British Empire, composed mostly of Brits, who were at the hostel. There was also a huge group of younger people who go out for contracted trail work staying there.