safely to Ashland

Day 104 ~ miles 1712.5 - 1727

Somehow, we all slept through the night.  I thought I'd be tossing and turning with fear and anxiety.  We awoke early, feeling safe and without any signs of fire in the immediate vicinity.  As we climbed the ridge, we could see a large plume of smoke in the distance.  A trail angel had left a cooler of sodas at the top of our morning climb, so we stopped with Thor and Fern Toe to enjoy one.  Speedily, we hiked toward the highway, and ended up at Callahan's lodge.  We enjoyed our free beer with Thor and Fern Toe, courtesy of Callahan's, and headed out to the highway to find a ride into Ashland.  One of the first cars to pass by stopped and picked all 4 of us up and dropped us off at the Super 8, where we'd already reserved a room that all 4 of us would share.

Our hotel was a few miles outside of downtown, so we did our usual chores and planned to have a pretty laid back evening in the room. Across the street was a familiar scene:  10 or more hikers crammed into a hotel room hanging out. We all went over to see some hikers that we hadn't seen for awhile, and stayed for a couple of hours goofing off and catching up.

Our day ended with amazingly delicious pizza in bed, and a couple of hours of flipping through TV channels, and really finding nothing to watch.  Looking forward to a day of rest tomorrow!