Day 18 mtn fire re-route

Miles hiked: 10.94 pct, 1.5 fire re-route
Camped at: bottom of switchbacks
Hikers I camped with: 6
Total up/down: 2,610' / 768' (pct only)
Steps: 38,381

Today I hike the notorious re route! 

I woke early today wondering exactly how I was going to do the fire re-route. Many others have skipped it all together, some have hiked the section from the campground on and maybe half are tackling the hole thing. There is so much talk and dread about doing the road walk section but honestly I think that is left over from last year when they had to walk the entire road. This year there is a fire road on the west side of the highway you can walk for 3 Miles the do 1 mile of road till you get to a campground. 

So back to my day.. I wake up and start getting ready, I break camp and start packing up. I have considered hiking southbound then hitching from the cafe, which is a easy hitch. I check my phone and there is a message from Andrea that they have a ride to the trailhead, meet them at the coffee shop, Sweet! Ok back to the plan of hiking North bound. 

I have a package to mail, so I get to the post office right after they open and get that sent out. I head to the coffee shop and wait for Clark Kent and Andrea, plug in my charger and have a coffee. Our trail angel shows up and gives us a ride to the trailhead, we are back where we left off and it feels good to be back on the trail. The hiking is great, all uphill but really pretty. The terrain is different than what we saw previously, big boulders and pine trees I feel sorry for those that are not doing this little 10 mile section of the pct, because it was worth seeing. Towards the end of the day I am nearing the closure and I picture in my mind a big gate blocking off the trail and seeing nothing but burnt ground beyond it. When I arrive I'm slightly disappointed , there is just a sign saying it's closed and you can't see any fire damage. I am on the ridge of the mountain and it is very windy, there is a couple who has set up their cowboy camp behind some brush blocking the wind. I have no desire to sleep up here and there is some daylight left so I head down the alternate trail and officially start the re route.  The trail downhill is all switchbacks and it decends quickly. I notice a little open meadow below and can see hikers setting up tents. Just then I look up the mountain and see Andrea coming down as well. I wait for her, and she asks if Clark Kent passed me, I say no and she says he was ahead oh her so we wonder where he went. I suggest that maybe he took one of the offshoots for water and got behind her, we call him and find out that is the case. We arrive down at the meadow and find the other hikers cooking dinners at a picnic table, we join them. Andrea and I consider night hiking a few more miles but after dinner I lose all my energy and decide to set up camp. The "meadow" is more like a thorny cow pasture with lots of sharp pointy things and dried poop everywhere! I set up my tent and crawl inside and feel things poking through my tyvek and tent floor. I'm nervous to use my sleep pad but I lay down my rain gear then put my pad inside my sleeping bag and cross my fingers that I don't wake up to a flat pad!