Wednesday – 3/28 – Mile 77.3 to 81.6 (total 4.3)

Sleeping at Carmen’s didn’t exactly get us a good night’s sleep. Because it was cold outside, the heat was turned on inside making it an uncomfortably hot retreat. Everyone else seemed to enjoy the warmth but we love sleeping in the cold so we had a rough night. Every time the door opened we savored the refreshing cold blast, while the others cowered in their sleeping bags and barked to close the door. We should have known better and slept outside on the porch.

BUT Carmen’s was free and we were happy to be among new friends and fellow stinky people. Oh, did I forget to mention our last shower was in Lake Morena? Yeah. Up to this point we had a shelter and clean clothes, but without access to a shower we were……ripe. However, that day we noticed when new hikers arrived by the smell. That’s to say, we weren’t the stinkiest people on the patio. 🙂

We ate lunch at a local restaurant after failing to find fresh veggies while grocery shopping. Granted, it was a gas station sized market, so we just assumed they didn’t carry that many fresh fruits and veggies. We later discovered a refrigerated room in the back at the local market while buying our resupply food. Better late than never.

That afternoon a trail angel named Ed shuttled us and four other hikers back to Scissors Crossing. We hiked for as long as we could uphill in the heat of the afternoon, but we didn’t go very far. We set up camp and and I attempted to rig a pulley-crochet-knot setup so we could watch a movie, The Lost City of Z.