Days 86 to 90 – Flipping

The blog summarizes the events between my departure from Hart’s Pass and my arrival at Sonora Pass.

Tacoma

In Tacoma I stay at the home of Robert and Cindy, the wonderful couple I met at the Bridgeside Restaurant in Cascade Locks. Their offer to help the Debbies and me was no idle offer. Robert stayed with me one night at Hart’s Pass and then ferried the Debbies, Jaeson and myself out of there the next day. Jaeson flew home and the rest of us went to Robert’s home in Tacoma.

At Robert and Cindy’s home I am busy:

• Complete and upload 12 days if posts
• Evaluate the closures, and determine my new starting point
• Make train reservations to Reno
• Investigate bus travel to South Lake Tahoe and Sonora Pass
• Text all my peeps and to my trail buddies flipping south
• Pick up equipment at REI
• Have boxes at Old Station bounced to South Lake Tahoe
• Have Sammy bounce her box to Mammoth Lakes
• Give Patti a list of things to send to South Lake Tahoe
• Buy food for train

While in Tacoma I have the pleasure of getting to know Cindy better. She is a pretty aggressive walker, but I manage to keep up with her and her friend Rachel on their daily walks. Move it or lose it, right?

I step on the bathroom scale for the first time in almost three months. I have lost 24 lbs. I am a little shocked. I will have to eat better from now on!

Connecting in Sacramento

Reno

The train arrives in Reno on time! The Reno train station is small and unassuming.

I take an Uber from the train station to the airport where I ride the South Tahoe bus line to South Lake Tahoe. The Reno Airport brings back memories of starting this journey. My bus leaves from the same parking lot that I took my first Uber toward Old Station almost three months ago.

South Lake Tahoe

Upon arrival at South Lake Tahoe, the bus driver, who had been rather surly until now, kindly informs me of the dangers of staying in SLT. The southern part of the city has been under a mandatory evacuation due to the raging Caldor fire to the southwest. Despite attempts to hold the fire bay, the fire jumped two fire lines and is now bearing down on the city. With high winds in the forecast, the entire city will likely be evacuated.

I thank him for his concern. I have to get my boxes though. The most critical one is from Patti. Unfortunately it is not scheduled to arrive until Tuesday. It is Sunday afternoon.

I stay at the Mellow Mountain Hostel. My roommate is perfect. His name is Jimmy and he aspires to be a writer. He is working on his memoir here at the hostel. We read to each other from stuff we have written. His writing is good. I give him some feedback. He feeds me leftover chicken, Ben & Jerry’s and Coors Light. We talk until this hiker needs to get to bed. Because of Jimmy, my mind has not become a hamster wheel of worry. I am relaxed.

Before I turn out the light, I check the postal service package-tracking app on my phone. By some miracle, my package from Patti has arrived in SLT. I lie there glowing. This is gonna workout. Maybe my other packages will be here tomorrow as well. I close my eyes. The sound of the miniature fan spinning near the head of my bunk becomes the object of a waking dream. The world machinery is moving. The gears are delivering my dreams to me. I reach out my hands for them.

No time

In the morning, I rise early and learn that a local bus line that runs near the hostel also runs near the post office. By 8:30 am the package is in my hands. When I arrive back at the hostel, the place is bustling. Within minutes the manager is at my door. “We have been instructed to evacuate. Get your things together and go. If the cops arrive, they will not give you time to pack. There may be busses at the Stateline Station that can help get you out of town.” I say goodbye to Jimmy, get my stuff together and head to the station.

The station is eerily quiet. A few homeless men are there. No busses. I chat with a fellow named Alex. He has been told what I have been told – that this station is a staging area for buses leaving South Lake Tahoe. I hang around for almost an hour. Nothing changes. Ash begins to coat the bench next to me.

I wear me COVID mask because the smoke burns my throat. I tell Alex that I am going to take my chances hitching to the evacuation center in Gardnerville. I tell him that if he sees me from a bus, to have the driver stop for me.

I head down highway 50 to highway 207, the road to the evacuation center. There is a big blinking sign on the road that declares the evacuation center to be full, and to go to a new site in Reno. I do not want to go to Reno. I am going to Gardnerville anyway. I laugh at the signs on the casinos. It’s like one of those apocalyptic movies.

Cars choke the highway. Minutes after trying to hitch on the 207, a man pulls over. His truck is full of office records from his SLT business office. I squeeze in. His name is Mark and he is going to a friends house in Gardnerville. He is familiar with the PCT and has actually done some trail angel work with his wife. He drops me off in Gardnerville near the spot where the East Sierra Transit bus line passes. I hope to get a ride south to the trailhead at Sonora Pass.

Fleeing south

I contact the bus company dispatcher and she says she will tell the driver about me so he can pick me up. I have 1 hour and 15 minutes before the bus arrives. There is a post office a mile down the road. I go there, using my newly-developed hiking speed. I mail some things I no longer need home to Patti. I drop by the pharmacy on the way back for more K-T tape for my knee and a pint of ice cream.

I wait for the bus, but it doesn’t come so I start hitching. I get a ride to a better place to hitch. After 30 minutes of no luck, a bus pulls over. It is the bus I was waiting for four miles back. The driver was looking for me. Not only does he pick me up, but he agrees to drop me off at Sonora Junction – the road to the pass!

As we head south, you can see the edge of the smoke storm ahead of us. I feel bad for the folks behind me and for the danger there, but I need to escape this.

The driver drops me off at the junction. It is in the middle of nowhere. If I can’t get a hitch to the Kennedy Meadows resort near the pass, I will have to sleep here tonight. A kind-hearted man stops to tell me that he would love to give me a ride but he has no room. I don’t know how to think about that.

Like a row of dominoes

As I wait at the pass I get a call from Christie of the Wander Woman. She has bad news. The section of trail we are starting tomorrow is closing due to the fire, but if we start hiking before midnight tomorrow we can beat the closure. This gets me excited. Gotta get there tonight so we can beat the closure tomorrow.

Thirty minutes later, another car pulls over. The driver is Curt and his dog is Calvin. He is going by the pass and he knows where Kennedy Meadows is. Great. Curt apologizes for the smell in the car. His dog has been rolling on a dead cow. The dog jumps in my lap, and as he licks my face, I confirm the dead cow statement. Curt is a free spirit who has roamed all over wilderness areas in this hemisphere. He never felt like he wanted to work all the time so he would work six moths and roam six months. I am so glad to have met him.

As Curt pulls into the resort, Christie is there to meet me. “Bad news,” she says. “All California national forests are closing. The PCT is shut down.”

• August 26 to 30
• Starting marker: 2653
• Ending marker: 1016
• Miles hiked today: 0
• Total miles hiked: 1242
• Animals: cow-scented dog