June 1, 2017
Mile 468 to Casa de Luna
Pacific Crest Trail Thru-Hike: Day 27
Got our hiker bandanas! Walked the 10 miles to Casa de Luna, got a ride and a big hug from Terri Anderson herself in the back of her van to the famous trail angel stop. None of our trail family were there (Sam and Colten blew past our campsite early in the morning and didn't realize it, then kept hiking past Casa de Luna to try and catch up).
We went to the cafe in Green Valley (the town that Casa de Luna is in) and it was heavenly. Milkshakes were homemade; I ordered a Funky Monkey—peanut butter, chocolate, banana. Everything was fresh and scratch-made, and service was fantastic. We went with a new hiker family who adopted us temporarily. They had spent the last three days at Casa de Luna (a trap I am determined not to fall into). I learned about the Los Angeles dam failure that flooded Green Valley and the surrounding area.
The cafe was our way of killing time to see if our trail family would show up at Casa de Luna—it wasn't a very fun place to hang out if you didn't know anyone. On the way back to Casa de Luna from the cafe, we stopped at the 'grocery store' (gas station) for a six pack, and when we finally got back to the house our whole trail family showed up!
We spent the rest of the day at Casa de Luna, returning to the gas station twice to get more beer and snacks, having a fake-cheese-covered pile of nachos for dinner, dancing like fools to earn our hiker bandannas, learning about manzanita trees, and, finally, narrowly avoiding the vortex by making it out at 7pm for the trailhead accompanied by Sonya, Flame and Frenchie. I am still un-vortexable! Sleeping next to a container of leftover cafe poutine, hoping no raccoons smell it and come to visit during the night.
Photo Credit: Sonya Love
Photo Credit: Sonya Love
(Clockwise) Left, Right, Sara, Madison, Tyler, Chris, Phil, plus Sonya and Ben in the chair and hammock behind, Photo Credit: Mariah Guay