Hiking Secton H of the PCT: Days 7 & 8

Day 7: Trail Magic!

• Woke up to a busy campsite w/ 4 other campers, plus us, but by the time we'd had out decadent breakfast of omelets & potatoes (thanks Sarah!) they'd all cleared out.

• The trail for the first half of the day was uneventful, maybe even underwhelming, and I was sore from all our hiking. 
• starting the previous day, we'd begun hearing that there was "trail magic" on the road ahead of us, and this morning we'd learned it was a group of people who had set up camp and were giving out taco, watermelon and other goodies. 
• We were very excited when we finally came across them.
• Tacos! And watermelon. 
• "And we also have pot here, if you're interested."
• Sat in lawn chairs eating and listing to an Australian woman talk about her misadventures: "So, in one weekend, I rode with a woman who dresses as sasquatch and got invited to a UFO sighting. Welcome to America!"

• Tummy's full, we set off again. We'd covered a remarkable 9.5 miles in the morning and only had 5 or so for the afternoon. 
• Entered Indian Heaven Wilderness.
• Go to watch NoBo (Northbound) hikers' faces light up when we told them about the trail magic ahead. 
• Like previous day, my left knee started giving me issues, but soon enough we'd reached the turn off to the lake we would camp at. Ended up camping at side lake. Small & weirdly warm. 

• Super cold and misty / a little rain, but Sarah made an amazing, warm curry dish, which helped us through the evening.

Day 8: Soggy!!

• Woke up to a misty, cold morning. My knee still bothered me, so I wasn't excited about start.

• As we set off mist switched to actual rain at times, but dampness encouraged us to make good time. 
• Trail set up so the we rarely saw anything of interest. Instead just junctures with signs pointing off announcing a lake or hike.

• Reach a point where we were on the edge of a ridge, which one side was dry-ish and the other was blasting rain. 
• Had quick lunch on the dry portion of the ridge.

• Began descent to a horse camp. Ambika, eager to be done, rushed ahead. Long flat section after switchbacks, ending at parking lot.

• Across the street was the camp, including pit toilets. But, decide to move on because there is no water. 
• At camp encounter older SoBo couple. She's friendly but he is... odd? Prickly?
• Continue on over lava fields, with rain increasing. Keep leap frogging with SoBo couple. 

• Reach first place we "think" there is a camp, but it's just a pipe w/ well water. 
• We decided to try for a second camp an additional 2.3 miles away (brining us to mearly 5 miles more than planned).
• We make it to the camp site, which seems surprisingly dry, with a small spring. And, after a good pasta dinner, things feel positive again.