Washington PCT 2015: Day 7

Day 7 was mostly spent in Trout Lake. It was an easy 5 mile hike to forest road 23. Here, we stood on the side of the road and hitched for about 15 minutes before being picked up. It was much easier to get a ride than I expected... then again, I did have my pretty wife with me and that tends encourage people to trust and help hitch-hikers.
First, we were almost picked up by a nice woman from Trout Lake but she was heading in the wrong direction and it was about 13 miles back to Trout Lake. So we waited until and nice family in an RV picked us up. I felt so stinky sitting there with those clean people in a closed space! If they smelled me, they didn't make a big deal of it. The drive went quickly as we shared stories and learned about them. They were on a yearly family trip to the area and were just heading back down to northern Oregon where they lived.

Gas Station and Bear Creek Cafe

We were dropped off at the gas station/cafe for the small metropolis that is Trout Lake. It is called the Bear Creek Cafe. We had a nice lunch (Hamburger and Reuben) and secured lodging. We ended up staying in a room behind the grocery store. There was not really any AC and there was one laundry machine which we shared with multiple people but it was amazing to sleep on the bed and the price was right! We spent quite a while sitting around our room with nothing to wear waiting for our clothes to dry. Then we sorted out food from our first resupply box, which we picked up a the grocery store. We also had dinner at the Bear Creek Cafe. It was hot and we relaxed and played checkers, which I won... a LOT. When it comes to games of strategy, I am no gentleman!

Our room for the night

Grumpy Laura loses at checkers

Finally we got to bed. It was a balmy night and hard to sleep. The thunderstorms rolled through and the humidity dropped so we could sleep better. I don't think it is possible to explain how nice sleeping in a bed is after hiking about a week, so I won't try.

Good night, Trout Lake!