PCT DAY 7: Shelter Cove Resort

Day 7: 21.5 miles

    This morning we were really excited to get to Shelter Cove Resort. Whenever we knew we would get somewhere for breakfast we walked with a little extra pep in our step. We just ate various bars for breakfast everyday so the thought of a real food was very motivating :) 

    We arrived just before 9am and were rewarded with beautiful views of Odell Lake. The resort is a mixture of RV camping and cabins and there's a marina for boats. Its a very popular fishing spot. Of course I b-lined it straight to the food hut (Hook and Talon) which was conveniently attached to the general store where we would be re-supplying from. Because we didn't carry a stove I haven't been drinking coffee which is something I have daily in my regular life. Crater lake didn't have any coffee when we got in there that morning so the coffee I got here was my first cup in 7 days. It was so heavenly! The breakfast options were limited and all the comments on the Guthook App talked about how good the deep dish pizza is here so I held out for that. 

    The entire resort shares 2 washer and dryers and 2 coin operated showers. The coin operated showering is always quite hysterical. The machines typically only take quarters and its like $3 for 2 minutes so if you want a "long" shower you need a sack to carry all the quarters. It's always a frantic mad dash to see how fast you can clean yourself. At this point, the dust was so caked onto our feet that it took the friction of a towel to really clean it off.  Luckily, they provided towels. Unluckily, someone had to handle those towels afterwards. 

    Town stops were always a fun place to be as they were bustling with hikers. You'd chat with people in the laundromat, in line for the showers, and at the cafe. Some of the small resorts had areas for PCT hikers to congregate or camp for free. Here you could often find charging stations and hiker boxes. These boxes were made up of all the re-supply discards and were sometimes a gold mine. One hikers trash is another hikers treasure! One of my favourite finds were these peanut butter filled ritz crackers. I'm salivating thinking about it. If the town is really awesome, it's easy to get stuck in the vortex. Pulling yourself away from the luxury of real food and drinks can be a challenge.  

   But I digress...

    I finally ordered my pizza and it was massive! Peter and I were sharing it and I think I only managed 2 slices which meant I had enough for dinner this night on trail.  It was hard peeling ourselves from the comforts of the resort that afternoon but we managed to get back on trail around 2pm. After about an hour we met a lovely older gentleman named Hipshot. He was so named because he had a recent hip replacement. He had also hiked the AT some years prior and I found his story to be quite inspiring. I don't remember how it came up but we were talking about how some people think a lot while they hike (I fall into this category). He then said, "hipshot doesn't like to thinky thinky, he likes to hikey hikey". The way he said that in the 3rd person just had me in fits! He decided to sit down for a break and we never saw him again. 

    We passed by a lot of lakes this afternoon and settled on camping at one named Bobby Lake. The Boston Mule was there when we arrived and we walked in every which direction trying to find a secluded tentsite so as to give him some privacy. We had no luck so he had to put up with us for another night ;) After setting up our tent we went to find a nice place to swim. We ended up finding the most amazing swim spot off this rock slab which just so happened to be located next to the most immaculate tent site. Our friends Happy and Lucky rolled into camp a bit late and we enthusiastically directed them towards it. 

Hot tip: Make sure you check the expiry dates of the food from the Shelter Cove general store :/  Also, if you have a sensitive stomach, skip the pizza (says Pete). 

Until next time, 

Marathon and Pole Vault