Chap. 24 – McDonald’s and lost shifts

Is the dirty bubble forming yet? Does the PCT have a “dirty bubble” like the AT? I’m not sure… but if there is, that’s who we are!

This morning, the group took our time leaving camp. What was supposed to be a 6am start ended up being closer to 6:40. Oh ok! We walked quickly most of the day until we reached our resting place. I actually ran down the last descent. I kept a solid 3.5 mph pace for the last 3.5 miles!

The most memorable part of the morning was walking with PB and Frodo. It’s always fun to walk with the kids! At one point, however, PB took a big leap back and yelled something I couldn’t hear, but it was either explicit or the word «Snake!» He had almost stepped on a rattlesnake, and that made the snake angry. He lunged at him, but missed. It was a close call, but everyone was unscathed!

Our resting place, in case you couldn’t tell from the title, was McDonald’s! We finally reached the legendary McDonald’s Trail at Cajon Pass. As I left the trail to head to Mickey D’s, a random man asked me if I wanted my picture with the shield.

«Shield? Oh!»

I stood directly on the Route 66 shield without even realizing it. Wow! I didn’t even realize the trail crossed Route 66. Of course, I took it to the photo shoot. With the song stuck in my head, I walked the rest of the way to McDonald’s. I ended up ordering three McDoubles, a large soda, a large frozen mocha, and free medium fries that came with my drink. Hit the nail on the head! I refilled my Powerade 3 times, which is crazy.

Our large group wandered around the McDonald’s for about four hours. It was a lovely break. One man told us we were the biggest tram he’d ever seen on the PCT, and another person couldn’t believe there were so many of us this late in the season. Hey, we all started with our leave dates and we all had the same date except for a couple of us. I feel very lucky to still be with the same people as the first day and that everyone is great in our group!

Dirty bubble at McDonald’s!

Gandalf offered to carry our backpacks for the last 5 kilometers of the day, so I leisurely packed the rest of the way to camp. Without a pack I could keep up with the fastest ones in our group, so I stayed with them. Unfortunately, we missed our turn to get back on the trail, so we followed the train tracks for half a mile before realizing our mistake. Fortunately, bush hunting didn’t seem too unreasonable, so we did it and hopped down a dirt road that took us back to the trail. I narrowly escaped a nettle while walking, so I’m glad I missed that!

At camp, Gandalf dropped off our packs and brought us cheesecake and beer. Today is the last day we will see him and saying goodbye was very difficult! Being from England, who knows when we’ll get the chance to see him again. Hopefully one day our paths will cross again!

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