falling in love with Ashland

Day 105 ~ zero in Ashland, Oregon

I fell in love with Ashland, Oregon today.  An unattractive layer of smoke lie over the city from the nearby wildfires.  We caught the bus into downtown and took care of some business: shoes for Moonshine and a new, huge cookpot!  We've outgrown our old one.  A couple of nights ago was the last straw, as I was starving and exhausted, and cooking a meal that filled the pot to the brim.  As the tortellini cooked, it grew and began to rise above the top of the pot.  Every time I stirred it as gingerly as possible, and precious tortellini dropped onto the ground.  I was so frustrated, hence the new pot. 

We wandered around the city, which was bigger than any other trail town we'd been to, but yet not too big, and the public transportation and pedestrian friendly nature of Ashland made things easy.  The place was bustling; a well known Shakespeare festival takes over Ashland for a month or two every summer.  As part of the festival, we watched an incredibly talented high school Mariachi band perform in the city park.

The remainder of the day was spent sampling Ashland's beers, as we visited three different breweries. 

We spoke with many locals, all exceptionally friendly!  The brewer at Standing Stone Brewery gave Moonshine a private tour of the place, as they had a lengthy chat about careers in beer.  A couple we met gave us a voucher for breakfast at their restaurant.  The good vibe and charm of the city of Ashland and its residents was extraordinary....I really love this place!

As usual, an unrestful, but productive and fun day off.

a fun day in SLT

Day 68 ~ zero in South Lake Tahoe

We had planned to take a day off here, and hoped that everything would go our way today.  We finished our chores early, so we'd have the rest of the day to do whatever we pleased.  We purchased an all day bus pass for the city so we could minimize walking, an important aspect of a day off trail.  We headed down to the casino area again, hoping for better luck this time.  We started with lunch; we ate the best pizza we've had on the trail at Basecamp Pizza (we've had a lot of pizza, so that's saying something!). 

We then  headed to Harrah's for the whole casino experience.  Imagine living in the woods by the sun with no noise or light but that provided by mother nature, and then walking into a bustling casino.  Neither of us had ever been in a casino, but it was quite the sensory overload; flashing lights, loud noises, people everywhere.  We decided to try our luck, but stuck to only the penny slot machines.  We didn't win any money, but took full advantage of the free beverage service.  Before getting too sucked in, we called it quits and headed back to South Lake Tahoe.

We stopped by the public beach, where a standup paddleboard competition was in progress.  We watched the paddleboarders for awhile before returning to our room.  We hung around for awhile and realized we needed to eat, but most places closeby were already closed.  We walked to a bar across the street and ordered food to-go.  The friendly bartender there conversed with us about the trail and craft beers.  He gave us a free beer, and escorted us to another bar in search pf a highly sought after beer we had discussed, Pliny the Elder.  The bar didn't have the beer, but he bought us a drink and returned to his bartending post at the bar across the street.  Another local bought us a beer before we headed back to the motel.  Between the friendliness of locals and entertainment, I'd say this place has lived up to its reputation of an excellent trail town!

zero in Bishop

Day 45 ~ zero in Bishop

Typical day off.  We enjoyed the amenities of our hotel: pool, hot tub, continental breakfast.  We ate at an amazing deli, Raymond's, so if you ever find yourself in Bishop, go there!   Seriously, one of my favorite food stops on the trail!  Back to work tomorrow!

trail names

Day 27 ~ zero in Agua Dulce

I won't bore you with the details of our day off, but it fully met our expectations.  We did the typical zero day things: town chores, rested and relaxed, and ATE!

And a few words about trail names...

Those of you reading who may be unfamiliar with long-distance hiking may have wondered why everyone has such funny names.  I'm not sure when or where trail names originated, but I would venture to guess that it was on the Appalachian Trail, at the time when the trail began to gain popularity and there were more than just a handful of hikers on the trail each year.  A trail name is an alias that one goes by on the trail.  A trail name is usually much more memorable than "Bob from New York" or "Suzy from Tennessee".  Some people make up their own trail names, but many people are named by others on the trail, based on a unique characteristic or funny incident (remember Half & Half's story?). 

So here are the stories of how we came to be Moonshine and Sideways D, if you were wondering.  We were both named on the Appalachian Trail.

I was named Sideways D by a dear friend, Bryan, because I smile A LOT, and my smile looks like a  big ole' sideways D (like this emoticon :D).  I usually just go by Sideways.

There are a few different theories as to how Moonshine got his name. 
~Moonshine has been known to have an affinity for bootleg corn liquor.
~Moonshine likes to hike at night, by the light of the moon.
~His favorite soda is Mountain Dew (which is how some old timers refer to moonshine).
You can subscribe to whichever you please :D. Back to the trail tomorrow!

an unplanned zero

Day 16 ~ zero day in Big Bear

Another day off!?!  It wasn't in the plan, but we love being able to just go with the flow.  We were supposed to have a day off in the next town, but realized there are really no inexpensive places to stay, and no laundry service either.  Plus, all of our friends are doing it too (the 4 guys  plus Joker and Kelsey...we'll call them the cabin crew).  We accomplished all of our normal town chores: shower, laundry, dishes, grocery shopping.  Other than that, we ate a lot of food, laughed a lot, and played a little ping pong. 'Twas a good day of rest.

double whaaaat?!?

Days 9 & 10 ~ miles 151.9-151.9 (oops) ~ in Idyllwild

So we have a confession.....we are DOUBLE zeroing [gasp]...yes it's probably what you think it is....2 days off in a row!  But it's so soon, we know, we know. We feel sorta guilty about it...but the forecast for Friday night is calling for several inches of snow and super high winds, gusts up to 75mph.  I think that might just destroy our tent, so we're playing it safe. 

Idyllwild in the best place ever for double zero!  It's such a cute, quaint, pedestrian and hiker friendly town with all of the amenities and services that we could want or need.  Not to mention, the scenery is beautiful.

A group of 8 of us got a cabin, cooked a big family dinner, and watched a couple of movies.  We did the same thing the next night, but had to move to a different, and less luxurious, cabin.  We were really antsy to get back to the trail, but we were in super good company...so we couldn't really complain :D.

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).