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Unexpected surprise at TLC Ranch
Day 23
Date: 15.05.2022
CDT Mile: Miles 415.2
Miles hiked: 16 Miles / 26 km
Today is town leaving day. I loved the Toaster House but I am also looking forward to go back on trail. It's funny, I never had that on the PCT, I hated these days of leaving town. But I am doing much better here and I can enjoy it much more. Must be the lighter packweight, that I am much more relaxed, less people (still more than I expected), the easy terrain so far, the good company, and so on. However, Patchwork and Simple have to drop a bouncebox at the post office, so we will only hike out around 8.30am, pretty late. It's gonna be another hot day today and a lot of road walking. But we only hike 16 miles to the TLC Ranch, where there is water, a pit toilet and they allow us to camp on their ground. So there is no hurry. The wind picked up after lunch. Sometimes pushing you forward, but most of the time just pushing you around on the dirt road. It's not much fun to hike in strong winds, I tell you. And all the sand in your eyes! I am glad when I reached the TLC ranch in the afternoon around 3pm. Hikers are allowed to enjoy shade at the old homestead. There is fresh, cold water, a table and chairs to relax. I am so thirsty when I arrive there, I just drink one Liter of this delicious water in one go! My feet are burning of the street walking and I hiked it very fast, sometimes running a little when the wind was pushing hard. I actually would like to hike on for a couple of more miles, as it is still early. But first I have to rest my feet. An hour later all of my group have arrived too. And we are being informed that the TLC Ranch offer free beans and cobblers to hikers. Well, I'm not a big fan of beans, but as a hiker you just enjoy any free food you get on trail. Only a couple of minutes later a lady turns up, asking if we stay here for the night, if she can bring us some beans and that she will be making fresh cobbler too if we stay for the night (she would have made cornbread too, but she doesn't know how to make cornbread. Well, we are totally fine with beans and cobbler!). 15 minutes later she returns with 7 take away boxes full of warm beans in a tasty sauce. We will even be more stinky hiker's after eating all those beans!🤣 Trailbrain, a german hiker in her late forties, and the K2 (Kirnan and Kyra), a young couple from the US, hike in just in time when the lady brings the freshly made cobbler. What a treat! After eating that much food we for sure are not moving on today anymore. And it's getting late too. Also, water is getting scarce for the next couple of days and the next water source in 7 miles is a solar well, which only operates during direct sun hours. We will not reach that in time anymore today. Tomorrow, we hope it will work after 9am, so we can collect water there. Otherwise, it's a 17 miles hike to next water.
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