PCT Day 28

Miles: 293.2 - 314.6

Photo: Posted Up at Deep Creek Hot Springs

Once again a great day for hiking. No long water carries, the sun wasn’t exceedingly hot, and the terrain was fairly mellow. The miles came easy.


There were two main goals today; keep up a good enough pace to have enough time to relax at the hot springs, and afterward make it in time to order pizza at the Joshua Tree Inn. Thankfully I was able to accomplish both! 


The hot springs were of course the main highlight of the day. It was extremely refreshing to go for a swim in the cooler river water, and then shock my nervous system by jumping directly into the (VERY HOT) hot spring. My feet and legs gave me a “thank you” for doing so. There was something unique about this hot spring though. The marker on the map had a warning sign ⚠️ for it, which was a bit odd…but it makes sense in retrospect. The reason they give a “warning” for this stop is due to the hot springs area is “clothing optional”. I’ve never been to anything like this before so thought I would’ve been a bit more taken aback by the nudity. In reality, everyone was so casual that I barely noticed.


After I finished relaxing at the springs, I rushed to the Joshua Tree Inn. It’s a low-key/up-and-coming spot near the PCT where they have burgers in the daytime, but at night they turn off the grills and you can instead order pizza for delivery from a place down the road. I will take real food for dinner any day on the trail so ordering the pizza was well worth it to me. I inhaled it once I arrived while dancing to whatever music was on the jukebox. Hard not to be happy eating fresh pizza after hiking 20 miles.


Since Joshua Tree Inn isn’t a “fully established” stop on the PCT yet (they mentioned they want to go bigger next year), the locals were very happy to see us hikers. It’s always heartwarming to receive well wishes and words of encouragement from people interested in the hike.




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