Day 5 – If the Shoe Fit’s ……

Day 5 – April 18th, 2018
Mount Laguna – Zero

Two brothers, Tom and Paul, own and operate the Laguna Mountain Lodge and store. Tom has a sharp wit which can come across as being a little abrupt, maybe even bordering on grumpy at first but after exchanging a few good hearted jabs back and forth, it turns out he’s a great guy and it appears we enjoy each other’s company, which is good because it looks like it’s going to be a zero day ( no hiking, no mileage) in Mount Laguna and there’s nowhere else to hang out but the General Store.   The new shoes arrived, Altra Lone Peak 3.5’s , which are the most popular shoe on the trail, with many people boasting “look at me, no blisters” ( hmmmmmm, yeah, that’s great, thanks) but alas, mine don’t fit. I could have cried just trying to put put them on. Couldn’t even get my swollen feet in them. Hello REI, send me another pair please, one size bigger, ASAP .

Because today will be a zero day, it started with a leisurely breakfast at the Pine House Cafe and Pub, just a short hobble in flip flops down the road. A number of hikers whom we had hiked with the previous day and enjoyed a few cool and refreshing beverages with afterwards, were there for the restaurant’s opening at 09:00. As a bunch of these kids and kindred spirits are so full of life and enjoyable to be around, I decided to treat them to breakfast, all 17 of them, and what a great breakfast it was.

Following breakfast, it was a short hobble back up the hill to the Lodge; basically a motel with a few  small cabins, to put my feet up and rest for the day treating blisters and hoping the swelling in my feet would go down before heading out on the trail the following morning with shoes that although minimally better than the previous pair, would have to do until Julian where the right size would be waiting.  But sometimes plans change. During one of my afternoon visits to the “store”, wiseguy Tom said ” looks like you’re going to be needing that room for another night, the weather’a changing”. I looked at him and said wryly  ” I don’t think so, I can hardly handle your company now”. He just laughed and said ” Ok, we’ll see”.