CS1710 to Ashland – 8-6

Today was a short day. We only had about 7 miles to Callahan’s Lodge, where I’d pick up my repaired phone, and hitch into Ashland for some zeroes.

The trail was downhill and easy, but a bit overused and had a lot of road crossings. We ran into Coppertone at one of them, but didn’t stop for a root beer float, since we were so close to town.

We hitched a ride into town with a man who worked at the Mt. Ashland Ski Resort. I mentioned that I’d read about it, and it sounded nice — a Yelp review had told a story about showing up without ski pants, and an employee letting him borrow his personal ski pants. “Oh! That was me!” said our hitch.

In Ashland, we had lunch and stopped at the Caldera Tap House, which is maybe my favorite brewery. The Rauch Ür Bock, Coconut Porter, and Mogli beers were all terrific.

Afterwards, we did laundry at the Stratford Hotel, since there were no laundromats for miles, and they didn’t ask if we were guests. Then, we went to our separate bed and breakfasts, and started some time off.

I’d be staying a day longer than Elizabeth, so we’re splitting up here, and probably won’t be hiking together again for a couple weeks or so. This should be a new backpacking experience — I’ll see how it goes.

The rest of my time in Ashland was great. The Granite Tap House had great fish and bread. The Black Sheep makes a good rarebit. Mix makes a good affogato. Just about everything in Ashland is at least pretty nice.

Ashland is known for their Shakespeare festival. This year’s Winter’s Tale was slow going at times, but the outdoor theater and costuming were great as always.