Mile Marker: 903.3
Trail Miles: 0
What can I say? I’d only intended to spend two days in Mammoth. Two zeroes, that’s all. But Mammoth. Beautiful, fun Mammoth. I’ve been coming here for years and its always the same: I never want to leave.
My trail family succumbed to it as well. We had planned to hike out in the afternoon of the second day, but Fireball approached me that morning and asked,”what do you think about one more day?”
Her question reminded me of what Betty’s Mom would ask when she was ready to get off the trail on long-ago backpacking trips. “So how’s a shower and a margarita sound?” Back in my 20’s, I was kind of die-hard; I never wanted to cut a trip short. A shower and margarita was not tempting – rather, it was quitting early. But then I got older and perhaps mellowed. It became a joke – a shower and a margarita become shorthand for, “I’m done here. Let’s go have fun somewhere else.”
I was torn when Fireball posed the question. I knew we SHOULD get back on the trail, but even I wanted another day. Another day with HH! Another day living a somewhat normal life without the deprivations of the trail. Another day to catch up on the blog (which I hadn’t touched despite the condo’s high speed WiFi). — It was just too hard to say no.
Yes, another ‘shower and margarita’ sounds great.
Trail magic at Horseshoe Lake Trailhead