[pct-l] South Washington PCT Questions

[Paint YW]

Garrett,

Trout Lake Grocery is about as hiker friendly a place as one might find off
the trail.

The owner is widowed and lives in the house behind the store. She and her
now deceased husband befriended short and long distance bicyclists, before
turning their affection towards hikers.

There are 2 rooms above the store available to rent. Room A has two single
beds and a TV with a VCR. Bedroom B has a queen size bed. I am not sure
what accouterments are part of the furnishings in Room B as I stayed in
Room A. Now that I think of it, a female hiker renting Room B came into
"our" room (3 hikers shared the room) to watch movies and eat ICE CREAM, so
Room B must be spartan in furnishings. There is a shared bathroom upstairs
with a tub, sink and stool. The cost for either room is $25 and the owner
didn't seem to care one way or the other how many people shared the room.
Movies available for rent in the store are FREE to hikers that are renting
the rooms. Also, fresh coffee is available and complimentary for hikers
that rent the rooms starting around 6:30 am.

Downstairs, and located in the back of the store, is Room C, and is on the
order of a typical master bedroom set up with a king size bed, big screen
TV (not sure about a VCR) a full bathroom and access to the laundry room
via a passageway off of the bathroom. I believe this room also rents for
$25 and again, I don't think the owner puts a limit on how many hikers pile
into the room. You simply cannot get more hiker friendly than that. The
free movies policy applies to this room as well. There is also an outside
door on the side of the building that gives other hikers access to the
laundry room which consists of one washer and one dryer. If memory serves
me correctly, the laundry use was part of the room rent and one only needed
to supply their own soap and such.

Outside the store, and lying between a garage size storage building and the
owner's house, is about a quarter acre yard of manicured grass that hikers
are permitted to camp upon. The small "barn" has a small table and one 2
plugged outlet for charging electronics. There is a water spigot outside
but the location escapes me.

The store has a limited amount of "hiker like" foods, but with discernment
one can resupply. Yogi says in her book that she does not recommend Trout
Lake for resupply. I completely disagree with her opinion and find her lack
of any kind of endorsement for this super hiker friendly store akin to
malpractice, and you can tell her I said so (not that my opinion would
matter to her). Hi Yogi !  Paint Your Wagon here- ;0) On second thought-
don't tell her. Lol. I probably just earned myself an ass whoopin'. (more)
Lol.

The store is a one off locally owned attraction and community hub for
visitors and residents alike. There are several fresh cuts of grass fed
beef available in the front cold case, and a small variety of fresh
vegetables, both in one of the cold cases and in boxes and baskets on
shelves in the back of the store. There are many car camper foods that can
be un-packaged and substituted for the more desirable hiker friendly fares
that are lacking, but- they do come with an obviously undesirable weight
penalty. Hint: eat these items first.

Now about the important stuff- there are several varieties of Tillamook ice
cream to choose from, and both low test and high test craft beers, and
about a dozen types of hard liquor behind the counter.

The owner will give small amounts of cash back at the time of purchase.

The owner can arrange for shuttles out of town to places like Portland for
hikers wanting to get off trail and reach national and international
transportation services. Likewise a visit to a medical facility or gear
shop elsewhere can be negotiated.

The front porch is spacious and well shaded and has an electrical outlet
available for charging electronics, and local folks stop by to offer rides
back to the trail heads for gas money. Note: there is a "north" and a
"south" vector off the PCT to access Trout Lake. I hitchhiked both times
into town with nominal wait times. An elderly gent gave me a ride on the
southern route but misunderstood me, putting me out well over 10-15 miles
from town. I walked a few miles and then landed a ride the rest of the way
into town. A mushroom hunter picked me up at the northern route into town,
and took me all the way in. To get back to the trail both times, the same
local man took me all the way back to the trail heads. He would not take my
money when offered the second time.

Lastly, there were several hikers gathered together, and we all bought more
food than we could eat or carry, so we elected to have a cookout using a
charcoal grill that the store provided. We had so much food and with hiker
midnight upon us, the owner offered us the use of her gas grill at her
house nearby, and she baked some potatoes in her house oven, to speed up
the cooking process.

The people in Trout Lake are the bomb ! I unabashedly give a special shout
out to the Trout Lake Grocery Store, for hiker friendliness, and going
above and beyond the call of duty. I am sorry to say that the owner's name
escapes me at the moment.

I believe that there was also a local bar / restaurant about 2 doors down
from the grocery store one way, and a combination gas station / restaurant,
very much like the grocery store, in that they are perhaps just as hiker
friendly, and also have a lawn to camp on. Rumor has it that this location
makes delicious sandwiches on the order of Paradise Valley Cafe, from way
back at mile # 152.

FWIW- I south-bounded from Canada, to McKenzie Pass in Oregon, after first
doing 210 miles from Mexico to the I-10 (Ziggy and The Bear's) back in
2015. I got off the trail in mid November after getting blown away by a
snow storm that was about all I wanted that season, having started the
trail March 3rd.

Best regards,

Paint (various miles of the PCT- 2012, 13, 14, 15, 16, & hopefully later in
17)

Woot! Woot!