A zero day is hiker speak for a day with no trail miles hiked. A zero day implies a day of rest. Here we are in Idyllwild for a zero day. But where is the rest?
We begin our day with some breakfast grazing at the Village Market. Donuts. Then we walk over to Higher Ground Coffee. I catch up the journal over coffee and then clean spilled coffee off the journal. I use their wifi signal for emails, blogging, and getting an updated water report.
We meander over to Nomad Adventures. Their hiker box has already been picked clean. We check our feet on the scale in the store. None of our feet have grown. I check my weight on the scale. I’ve shrunk by about 15 lbs. We buy some sundries and I buy some Platy Bottle closure caps to replace the one we lost.
The girls surprise me with an early birthday present: my own trekking poles. That’s sweet of them and much needed for me. I’ve been borrowing one of Natalie’s lately.
The girls go to the bakery and buy day old pastries for cheap. They give me an apple turnover. More grazing.
We work our way towards the grocery store but stop first at the hiker box in front of the Idyllwild Inn. A man stops and hands Natalie an orange. Maybe she looks homeless and in need. We score some edible food and a replacement compass for Natalie.
We walk over to the grocery stores. First we check out the natural foods store, Mountain Harvest Market. Then we shop at Fairway Foods and grumble about the high prices in California. Back at the natural foods store we buy dehydrated lentil soup, dehydrated black bean soup, and some other things you generally can’t get at a conventional grocery store.
Natalie and I sit at the table under the awning in the shade outside Mountain Harvest. We snack and sort our food, get rid of extra packaging, and pour meal portions into zip lock bags. Blaze disappears for Blaze business.
We muster up some energy to get as far as Nature’s Wisdom for smoothies and a wifi signal. Blaze returns and collects on the smoothie we owe her for fetching all of us water from Apache Spring. We skype with Lori-Mom in Malaysia.
We finally haul our food back to camp. We hang out and chat with other hikers. Natty (that’s a trail name) is soaking his leg up to his knee in a 5-gallon bucket of ice water. He’s also chilling beers in there with his leg. Hikers usually find multiple uses for things. He shares a beer. Thanks.
I take all of our dirty clothes to the laundromat. I hang out in my windshirt and rainpants while the clothes are in the washer and drier and catch up on my journal some more. I’m finding it a chore to keep up with the journal and the blog.
Natalie fetches us Philly steak sandwiches from the Village Market for dinner.
I’m tired after a busy rest day.
PCT Day 22: No miles hiked. Camped at Mount San Jacinto State Park in Idyllwild.
