Ashland, OR
~13 miles by car shuttle from Callahans lodge to downtown Ashland + a little bit strolling in town
Total 0 miles (zero day!)
I have slept comfortably in the soft grass lawn at Callahan's lodge and there is no rush to get up. I relax, get my clothes washed, and at 9 am join my hiker friends for breakfast at the restaurant. Most of the breakfast choices have eggs; but there is also a big bowl of oatmeal with sugar, raisins and blueberries on the menu! I enjoy the delicious breakfast and chat with Moonshine and Handsome who are ready to continue hiking north. Unlike them, I am not ready. A part of my head would like to go on, but most of the parts of my body insist on taking at least one zero day with no hiking at all. Therefore I have reserved the "Cascade Shuttle" taxi car for 10 AM to take me to the nearby town of Ashland. At 10 sharp the shuttle arrives; the driver is very friendly and shows me places to visit on the way. Twenty minutes later he drops me off at the Ashland hostel. A sign on the hostel door shows "No vacancy" and someone coming out of the door confirms the hostel is full. My next steps lead me to the theater. In August, the city of Ashland hosts the Shakespeare festival and a few hikers told me it is a must-see if you are lucky and get tickets. I have checked online that today's play is Hamlet, Shakespeare's best known tragedy. As I walk the streets full of people, I notice a Czech-English sign "Dobrá Tea" above a shop door and enter a cozy tea shop. There is no other Czech speaker inside, but the origins of the company are Czech. "Dobrá Tea" is the American affiliate of the Czech tea shop "Dobrá čajovna" that was originally started by Czech tea smugglers in the communist dark ages.
The shop has not only a huge selection of black and herbal teas, but also many desserts and meals on its vegan-friendly menu. The dark chocolate raspberry mousse with a cup of the "Open-hearted" herbal tea are a real treat!
Close to the tea shop I find the Shakespeare festival box office and try my luck asking if there are tickets available for Hamlet for tonight. The clerks at the box office first tells me to come and ask later, but then she double checks and finds one last discount ticket for $30. I'm lucky!
With a ticket in my pocket, I walk a few blocks to the post office. According to the Yogi book the post office has a self service station that you can use to ship packages 24/7. My plan is to buy some supplies including a tarp to keep me dry when the rainy season starts, and ship them further north. There indeed is a self service package shipping machine and I see a hiker using it. The machine works!
The post office aisle also hosts a hiker box. It is a rich hiker box full of various food including tea bags, oatmeal, noodles, olive oil and couscous. The content of the box is rather chaotic. For example, the ziploc bag with the couscous is full of holes and a layer of couscous is covering the entire hiker box bottom, mixed with jolly rancher candies and various other edible and non-edible items. Intending to take a lot of stuff, I start organizing, sorting out and tidying up the hiker box.
I salvage a pretty good amount of couscous:
As well as tortillas, multivitamin gummies, tea bags, macadamia nuts, oatmeal bag, band-aid tapes, toothpaste, toothbrush and a little bit of string.
The rest of the items go back into the hiker box for others to use. I have added a small bottle and a waistband that I haven't really used in the last few weeks.
As I am busy organizing the hiker box, two other customers come in and are curious how this all works. We start talking and I mention that I'm hiking the PCT and staying in Ashland to see Hamlet tonight. One of the customers, Ellie, has also backpacked in Europe and she is an English teacher. She asks me where am I staying in Ashland. I tell her I'm probably going to a campground two miles away or back to Callahans lodge because the hostel is full. Hearing that, Ellie says she has a house in downtown, she's moving in right now, but if I don't mind the chaos, she can set up a futon in the living room and I could stay at her place for tonight because the Hamlet play ends very late. I gladly accept. It's a short walk from the post office to Ellie's house in a quiet street under a beautiful dogwood tree. I leave my backpack at the house and go shopping for trousers, couscous and tarp. When I mention about tarp, Ellie shows me a big tarp she used for the moving and asks if I want to use it. One less thing to buy!
For trousers I first head to an outdoor store, but as usual in outdoor stores, they are very expensive. I continue walking on the street and there is a fashion outlet shop "temple of venus". Despite its name, it has clothing for both ladies and gentlemen, a clearance sale and a pair of perfectly fitting 30-inch waist outdoor trousers. I had no idea my waist size has gone down from 33 to 30 in the last four months :-)
After a little break in shade in the beautiful Lithia Park and a stroll along the Ashland Creek, I head to the Ashland food coop grocery store.
It is a pleasure to see lots of people using their bikes to go shopping. And the store features a good selection of couscous, oats, nuts, onions, and all other essential hiker food items that I need. There is also a deli and a salad bar with deliciously prepared vegetables, lentils and all kinds of beans!
There's no need for meat or dairy (or eggs) when you are privileged to have a such a rich variety of abundant meals!
In the store I end up chatting with a few hikers and locals. Then it's time to head to the theater for Hamlet.
The Elizabethan theatre is modeled after the Globe theatre. The stage is open-air, spectators sitting around. To anyone planning to see Hamlet for the first time, I recommend read the text beforehand and you will enjoy the performance twice as much, especially if English is not your first language. The play is accompanied by a live heavy metal band; from the actors I especially liked Horatio, Hamlet's best friend who was played by a female actor; the ghost of Hamlet's dead father; Ophelia with her heavenly voice; and Hamlet himself. Just like a well written theatre play should, Hamlet offers the spectator more questions than answers. There are questions about ethics; about honoring your father and mother; about conflict of generations, true and false friendship, manipulation, value of life, and life after death. The open air stage with traps, balconies and hidden passages is perfectly suited for a Shakespeare's play like Hamlet. For example during Hamlet's speech:
"...this most excellent canopy, the air—look you, this brave o'erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire—why, it appears no other thing to me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapors..."
the spectator is invited to look up at the stars in the sky, shining brightly above the stage.
The audience gives the actors and the metal band a well deserved applause and a standing ovation. It is a short walk via shortcut paths back to Ellie's place. In a warm summer night we seat ourselves outside on the porch, eat and drink, discuss and talk about the play and about my impressions. Ellie is a great listener! It is long after midnight when I go to sleep in a comfortable bed in the living room after a much needed day of physical and mental replenishment. Tomorrow is Sunday: another reason for a second day of rest!
~13 miles by car shuttle from Callahans lodge to downtown Ashland + a little bit strolling in town
Total 0 miles (zero day!)
I have slept comfortably in the soft grass lawn at Callahan's lodge and there is no rush to get up. I relax, get my clothes washed, and at 9 am join my hiker friends for breakfast at the restaurant. Most of the breakfast choices have eggs; but there is also a big bowl of oatmeal with sugar, raisins and blueberries on the menu! I enjoy the delicious breakfast and chat with Moonshine and Handsome who are ready to continue hiking north. Unlike them, I am not ready. A part of my head would like to go on, but most of the parts of my body insist on taking at least one zero day with no hiking at all. Therefore I have reserved the "Cascade Shuttle" taxi car for 10 AM to take me to the nearby town of Ashland. At 10 sharp the shuttle arrives; the driver is very friendly and shows me places to visit on the way. Twenty minutes later he drops me off at the Ashland hostel. A sign on the hostel door shows "No vacancy" and someone coming out of the door confirms the hostel is full. My next steps lead me to the theater. In August, the city of Ashland hosts the Shakespeare festival and a few hikers told me it is a must-see if you are lucky and get tickets. I have checked online that today's play is Hamlet, Shakespeare's best known tragedy. As I walk the streets full of people, I notice a Czech-English sign "Dobrá Tea" above a shop door and enter a cozy tea shop. There is no other Czech speaker inside, but the origins of the company are Czech. "Dobrá Tea" is the American affiliate of the Czech tea shop "Dobrá čajovna" that was originally started by Czech tea smugglers in the communist dark ages.
The shop has not only a huge selection of black and herbal teas, but also many desserts and meals on its vegan-friendly menu. The dark chocolate raspberry mousse with a cup of the "Open-hearted" herbal tea are a real treat!
Close to the tea shop I find the Shakespeare festival box office and try my luck asking if there are tickets available for Hamlet for tonight. The clerks at the box office first tells me to come and ask later, but then she double checks and finds one last discount ticket for $30. I'm lucky!
With a ticket in my pocket, I walk a few blocks to the post office. According to the Yogi book the post office has a self service station that you can use to ship packages 24/7. My plan is to buy some supplies including a tarp to keep me dry when the rainy season starts, and ship them further north. There indeed is a self service package shipping machine and I see a hiker using it. The machine works!
The post office aisle also hosts a hiker box. It is a rich hiker box full of various food including tea bags, oatmeal, noodles, olive oil and couscous. The content of the box is rather chaotic. For example, the ziploc bag with the couscous is full of holes and a layer of couscous is covering the entire hiker box bottom, mixed with jolly rancher candies and various other edible and non-edible items. Intending to take a lot of stuff, I start organizing, sorting out and tidying up the hiker box.
I salvage a pretty good amount of couscous:
As well as tortillas, multivitamin gummies, tea bags, macadamia nuts, oatmeal bag, band-aid tapes, toothpaste, toothbrush and a little bit of string.
The rest of the items go back into the hiker box for others to use. I have added a small bottle and a waistband that I haven't really used in the last few weeks.
As I am busy organizing the hiker box, two other customers come in and are curious how this all works. We start talking and I mention that I'm hiking the PCT and staying in Ashland to see Hamlet tonight. One of the customers, Ellie, has also backpacked in Europe and she is an English teacher. She asks me where am I staying in Ashland. I tell her I'm probably going to a campground two miles away or back to Callahans lodge because the hostel is full. Hearing that, Ellie says she has a house in downtown, she's moving in right now, but if I don't mind the chaos, she can set up a futon in the living room and I could stay at her place for tonight because the Hamlet play ends very late. I gladly accept. It's a short walk from the post office to Ellie's house in a quiet street under a beautiful dogwood tree. I leave my backpack at the house and go shopping for trousers, couscous and tarp. When I mention about tarp, Ellie shows me a big tarp she used for the moving and asks if I want to use it. One less thing to buy!
For trousers I first head to an outdoor store, but as usual in outdoor stores, they are very expensive. I continue walking on the street and there is a fashion outlet shop "temple of venus". Despite its name, it has clothing for both ladies and gentlemen, a clearance sale and a pair of perfectly fitting 30-inch waist outdoor trousers. I had no idea my waist size has gone down from 33 to 30 in the last four months :-)
After a little break in shade in the beautiful Lithia Park and a stroll along the Ashland Creek, I head to the Ashland food coop grocery store.
It is a pleasure to see lots of people using their bikes to go shopping. And the store features a good selection of couscous, oats, nuts, onions, and all other essential hiker food items that I need. There is also a deli and a salad bar with deliciously prepared vegetables, lentils and all kinds of beans!
There's no need for meat or dairy (or eggs) when you are privileged to have a such a rich variety of abundant meals!
In the store I end up chatting with a few hikers and locals. Then it's time to head to the theater for Hamlet.
The Elizabethan theatre is modeled after the Globe theatre. The stage is open-air, spectators sitting around. To anyone planning to see Hamlet for the first time, I recommend read the text beforehand and you will enjoy the performance twice as much, especially if English is not your first language. The play is accompanied by a live heavy metal band; from the actors I especially liked Horatio, Hamlet's best friend who was played by a female actor; the ghost of Hamlet's dead father; Ophelia with her heavenly voice; and Hamlet himself. Just like a well written theatre play should, Hamlet offers the spectator more questions than answers. There are questions about ethics; about honoring your father and mother; about conflict of generations, true and false friendship, manipulation, value of life, and life after death. The open air stage with traps, balconies and hidden passages is perfectly suited for a Shakespeare's play like Hamlet. For example during Hamlet's speech:
"...this most excellent canopy, the air—look you, this brave o'erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire—why, it appears no other thing to me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapors..."
the spectator is invited to look up at the stars in the sky, shining brightly above the stage.
The audience gives the actors and the metal band a well deserved applause and a standing ovation. It is a short walk via shortcut paths back to Ellie's place. In a warm summer night we seat ourselves outside on the porch, eat and drink, discuss and talk about the play and about my impressions. Ellie is a great listener! It is long after midnight when I go to sleep in a comfortable bed in the living room after a much needed day of physical and mental replenishment. Tomorrow is Sunday: another reason for a second day of rest!
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