Day 20: Salida Zero
8.10.21
I truly am the queen of zeros. This one wasn’t absolutely necessary, but I was a day early finishing the last section, and I ended up needing to take the zero because of shipping the stove.
I woke up early to say goodbye to the guys including Roy who were leaving today. After they left it was super quiet. There were no more people in my bunk room for now. Feeling hungry, I went to breakfast at a cute spot in town, ate there, and brought back an array of yummy pastries to snack on throughout the day. How much weight do we think I’m going to lose on this trip lol?
After that, I went and watched last night’s bachelorette finale in the hostel, and of course sat on Reddit and watched a bunch of other videos, etc. this show is my weakness, and it especially feels nice to catch up on it in town on a thru-hike bc it’s just pure entertainment. I did the same thing back on the PCT too. After that, my package came! It was very relieving to have it in my hands.
Once the package came, I was set for leaving the next day, so I texted a few trail angels to arrange a ride back to the trailhead for tomorrow morning. Thankfully, one agreed to pick me up at 8 am! I went back to my room and finished fully packing my resupply and most of my pack, then went and took a shower and then FaceTimed my mom for a while since I was bored and feeling lonely and I love my mom. It is always so good to see everyone’s face, even though it usually makes me more homesick.
After that it was basically dinnertime, so I went out to dinner by myself (all my friends are gone) and got ice cream and came back to the hostel. When I got back, some new people had arrived, including a visiting gal who hiked the PCT in 2016! Her name is Soft Serve and we talked for a while, reminiscing about the trail and talking about our hikes to each other. One of the new CT hiked arrivals also hiked the PCT in 2016 but they didn’t know each other. Such a small world. I also asked her if she new Mamba on the off chance but she didn’t.
After chatting for a bit, it was getting late and time for me to go to bed since I actually would be leaving for the trail! I ensured most of my things were packed & my electronics charged, then went to get some sleep.