Day 26 June 1, 2017

• Daily mileage 14
• Total mileage 472
• Hiked from 5:30 am to 12:00 pm

Nero into Casa de Luna

I had trouble getting up this morning because I had such a great sleep last night.  I guess doubling my dinner input did some good.  Got going and was at the bottom of the hill in no time.  And we all know what happens when you get to the bottom of a hill. That is right, you go up the other side.  It really was not a bad climb and in what seemed no time I was at the road leading to Casa de Luna.

I hitched the two miles from the trail head to Casa de Luna.  What is Casa de Luna you ask?  It is yet another home of an incredibly generous couple who host us dirty stinky hikers.  This is amazing.  When you arrive, they insist on you changing into a Hawaaian shirt and start the job of relaxing.  As I type this, Terri Anderson, our hostess is cooking up a huge batch of taco salad for dinner, and in the morning, her husband will cook up a batch of pancakes for us. I mean, really, how great is that?  

Lake Something Something below the trail.  Ok, I have no idea of the name of the lake  

Creative signage on trail

Bear Can Kan rocking his Casa de Luna fashion   

Line up for taco salad 

This sign sums up Casa de Luna perfectly

There were about 75 hikers present at CdL that night, which is pretty much a new high for the season.  Seems a lot of hikers are bunching up as we approach the Sierra.  After dinner, Terri had each of us do a snippet of dance in order to receive our official 2017 PCT buff. I did a mad Twist that would have left Chubby Checker speechless.

So today involved pretty mundane hiking.  But, I saw a lizard.  Oh, wait, I saw about 200 lizards.  Just like I have seen about 200 lizards per day for 3 weeks!  Man there are a lot of the little suckers down here.  The interesting part is you see different species as you progress through the desert.  For a while there were horned lizards with their armor coat, then there were the white guys with the scorpion type tails who went a million miles per hour, then there were the ones who look like a coyote turd with a tail and legs and now there are the bigger guys with spots.  

I was concerned about being able to sleep here tonight because of the volume of hikers and the party atmosphere, but as is typical on the trail, the party died at about 9 pm and everyone went to bed.  I had originally considered skipping CdL because of it's party reputation, but I am really glad I went there.

Home for the night