walking to Paradise

Day 8 ~ Miles 134 - 151.9 ~ Paradise Valley Cafe/Idyllwild
So all the buzz on the trail is about this big section of trail that's closed due to a fire last year. This means that we got to the town of Idyllwild a couple of days sooner than we originally planned due to the closure. This also means that we carried 4 days of food as opposed to 2, so our packs were pretty heavy cruising into town.  One of the joys of town stops:  your pack is always lightest on town stop days because you should be heading into town with an empty food bag.  We're also still working up to our real "hiker hunger" that we know will hit soon.  We hit the highway and headed straight down the road to Paradise [Valley Cafe].  This place has the supposed "best burger on the trail".  We both sprung for burgers and a beer, and these were big ole fork and knife type burgers....delicious...and awesome service too. 






We planned on taking a zero day in Idyllwild, which is a day of zero hiking miles: a day off.  We decided we would stay in the campground for our first night and splurge on an indoor space for the second night.  We got a ride into town with a former thru-hiker...8 of us with packs and poles + driver in a minivan....stinky and hilarious.  (I haven't been able to listen to the audo on this clip...hope it's clean :D)




All of our favorite hikers, along with some unfamiliar faces,  joined us In the campground for a fun picnic table gathering filled with food, drinks, and laughter well past "hiker midnight" (9pm).