Brad's Adventure

Days 32 & 33

Miles 444.3 – 454.7

That morning we decided to hike the 10 miles to Agua Dulce and check it out. Seth had gotten his 0 day already but my knees have been a constant issue and I wanted to take a 0 as well. Akton was cool and all but one evening there was enough so we were going to go check out the serenity oasis. It was a short climb and then a jaunt through Vasquez Park. Apparently it’s where an iconic star trek scene was shot, the showdown between Captain Kirk and Gorn. I’ve never seen the show so I didn’t know what to look for but the rock formations there are very unique.

Once we made it through the park to the information center, we were checking out some exhibits and chatting with a guy who works there about the PCT, then a lady asked us if we wanted our hang tags. We had no idea they could even issue them there, and she didn’t even check out permits, not that that would have been an issue. It was a huge weight off our shoulders to finally be legit.

We got into agua dulce and grabbed coffee + a breakfast burrito and headed to the Oasis. It was a total 5 star resort for hiker trash. Farmer John runs the joint, and he has everything you need as a hiker for less than most campgrounds without water or showers. He has laundry, the most luxurious shower I’ve had on trail, shaded spots, hammocks set up everywhere, huge canopies with couches, a guitar and some board games, and even a small shop that was surprisingly more well stocked than most of the small towns we’d been to. We got settled, started laundry and took showers, and chatted with some other hikers. Seth played the guitar a bit and we sang Country Roads. Yet again we ran into Solaris! He was in the process of cutting his sleeping pad down in length and ironing it back up. Before long it was already 7pm and we got Mexican food. We went with Solaris, Pierre, Idaho, Jacob and Natalie. The food was decent.

The next day was a proper 0 day. Seth had gotten his at the ’49er saloon now it was my chance to get one. Solaris headed out in the morning and we thought surely this is the last time we see him if he’s got a 1 day head start. Most of the other hikers that left were part of the bubble ahead of us and we didn’t really recognize any. That morning we were on the way to the cowboy saloon for another breakfast burrito when I spotted Redtail across the street! I hadn’t seen him in 400 miles and didn’t expect to see him again. Seth really likes him too he’s such a cool dude. It’s really fun to run into people you haven’t seen in weeks. We got breakfast, did our resupply and headed back to the Oasis. We lounged around in hammocks the rest of the morning and into the early afternoon and played Slay the Spire on our phones. After a while people started showing up and we moved over to the pavilion to chat with the newcomers. Our friends we call the “Disney Adults” showed up: Cheeks, snowman, little boy, and Alan. I got to meet Trail Jesus aka TJ and his disciples, mash, backflip, and hell yeah. We chatted with Natalie and Jacob which are kind of their own duo. Another one of our favorites, Hot mess, showed up and laughed at us lounging in the hammocks because he could tell it was 0 day activity.(I know these names mean nothing to you but this blog is also a way to jot down my memory so I can look back). We also saw smokey again! The kid from Japan. Eventually around 4-5 Farmer John let me borrow his bicycle and ride 2 miles over to the closest liquor store, since the one in agua dulce was shut down. He only had one, child sized bike, so I took some orders for other hikers. Somebody wanted cigarettes and someone else wanted nicotine pouches. The whole affair reminded me of the music video for Two Wheels – Wax. I got back and gave Farmer John a craft beer he wanted and hung out for the rest of the night. I got dinner at the same Mexican place and probably 15 more hikers showed up.

These three days were a chill break from the bigger miles we’ve started to do. Nothing too interesting but it was pretty great to lay around all day and do nothing.