Day 126-127 Today was another beautiful day in Bend. In the morning we ate a big delicious homemade breakfast, then said our goodbyes to Squarepants, Coma, Birdie, and Tarzan as they were hearing back to the trail. I really hope to see them again, I enjoyed all of their company. They’re good people. Me, Freckles, Tim, and Dash headed to town first stopping at an REI. Then we continued walking around and decided to see a movie, The Dark Tower. Which was not good. Afterwards we walked along the river watching people float, and even surf in some areas. There are tons of breweries around and people just having a good time! I really like Bend! We then walked to the bar where L-Train works when she’s living here. On the way I got to FaceTime Peter, Nicole, K, Brit, Solomon, and Sushi. They were all at Pete and Nicole’s engagement party, sad I couldn’t be there I’m glad they took the time to say hi so I could be a small part of it. At the bar we hung with Meg, Simon, and Russ! I haven’t seen Russ since our group split at Tuolumne for Yosemite. It was nice to see them. We’re all trying to figure out what to do with the fire closures. Looking at maps for alternate routes that maybe we can take. The only other option is a really long road walk, which for me is just a no. I came to hike the PCT not the side of a highway. Although if my group would have wanted to do it I would have in a heartbeat. We soon headed backpacking to Auntie Sunshine’s for another beautiful night. These 2 days legit just felt like a family reunion. I love these beautiful people so much. We had an amazing family dinner, delicious and intimate. Good conversations and then the night turned into serenading each other to country music!!!! The next day we got up and resupplied. On the way home Auntie Sunshine took us to the Dutch Bros coffee and I legit wanted to move to Bend just to work there! The energy was crazy and all the workers were so happy. It was like a big party. A girl put whipped cream on her hand, with the other hand smacked the bottom of that hand so the whipped cream flew in the air and then attempted to catch it in her mouth. It was seriously a highlight of Bend. Auntie Sunshine and her crew were so freaking kind and drove us all the way towards Olallie Lake. I was bummed when we passed Big Lake Youth Camp, it’s a resupply stop on the trail that I had been stoked about before even starting. I had my new shoes there, and they let you sleep on a black sand beach, and it’s a vegan boys camp so you get served vegan all you can eat meals. I still am determined to get back there to try, but it was closed due to the fires. Sad to say goodbye to our new fam, we reluctantly did. Then after leaving just a couple minutes later we hear some rowdiness and people singing Red Solo Cup very loud. RSC became the highlight song of the previous evening because Freckles came to love it since it was easy to sing to. The crew came back, because Freckles left her sunglasses. Then we said our real goodbye. To get back to the trail we had to follow a couple other trails to meet it. Freckles and Tim got behind and when we were at a junction Dash and I looked at our maps, neither of which were working properly and decided to head left. A mistake that would cause us to hike 10 miles on rolling dirty roads. Rather than the mellow like 3 mile hike we were supposed to have. We’d walk for a bit then stop waiting for Freckles and Tim, who went the right way. When we wouldn’t see them we just kept going. We knew this trail met up with the PCT but it was taking forever. It was almost dark when we finally reached the trail. I saw Em and Lou at the junction. And then Dash and I walked a bit further to a campsite with water. We ended up getting to camp, in the total dark, but got to a camp with this cute couple and my favorite…2 GOATS! I was in heaven. So without setting up our tents. We cowboy camped under the trees, next to the trail, and with 2 adorably funny goats.