As we were packing up this morning, Yote, 2.Toe, and Bamboo emerged from a side trail–they’d stayed at an established campground nearby that was slightly off trail. Bamboo stopped to chat–we haven’t seen him since our flip. He has had one of the craziest transformations on trail–his hair is now fairly long and sticks almost straight up in all directions and he has a big beard and is quite skinny. It was good to see him and chat briefly before he set off. We likely won’t see him again as he is getting off trail for a work conference for a few days.
We had a big climb up this morning for nearly 10 miles, but it turned out to not be so bad, as it usually turns out. Midway through the climb I caught up to Yote, 2.Toe, and another hiker I hadn’t met yet taking a break. In talking to the other hiker, I discovered that we had just missed trail magic yesterday! She spoke in detail about the Mexican feast people had brought to the trail, with fajitas with fresh veggies, chips and salsa, and even margaritas. I couldn’t help but be a bit saddened to have missed it–they must have packed up before we got there. Oh well.
Finally we got to the top of the hill and the hiking got easier. We even crossed a trailhead by a dirt road that had an outhouse so I got to go pee in a real toilet! Quite the treat. I was sort of dragging so I threw in my earbuds and started listening to an audiobook I had just downloaded–The Girl on the Train. I’d heard good things and that it was a NYT bestseller. I listened to about 40 minutes before I gave up, frustrated by how petty and self-centered the narrator was. Maybe it gets better, but I could not get through it. I switched to my Harry Potter audiobook and was much happier.
We kept leapfrogging with a bunch of hikers today. It seems we are in a bit of a bubble (many hikers in the same section), which I don’t really like. I hate having to pass people and then I take a break and they pass me, then I hike and have to pass them again. It’s really a minor annoyance, but I prefer more solitude if I have the option.
Wolf Bird and I stopped for lunch about 18 miles into our day at Sheep Lake, which was in reality more of a marshy pond. We had to get water here though, as this was somewhat of a dry section. We had a nice leisurely lunch and discussed baking and what baked goods we would want to bake for much of it. Not surprising we were talking about food WHILE eating.
After lunch, we set out again. I was kind of excited because we’d discussed doing a bit of a shorter day. The water sources were spaced far apart–our last source for a while was only 8 miles from where we had lunch. After that it was 10 miles after that (which, if we went that far would be an insanely long day). We prefer camping at water so we don’t have to carry water and dry-camp (carrying water is pretty heavy). So if we camped at that last water source, it would be a 26 mile day, which is shorter than we’ve been doing. It also would mean we’d get to camp with at least an hour or two of daylight to spare, which would be a nice change to getting to camp as the sun is setting as we have been lately.
We arrived at the lake that was the last water source around 5:30PM. It was pretty buggy so we quickly filled up on water. We had a brief discussion and it seemed Wolf Bird was leaning toward hiking on since the day was still early and it was mostly downhill from here. I gave up on my desire for a short day and we set off, carrying a heavy load of water since we would now be dry camping.
This next section was mostly downhill and pretty easy walking, although made slightly tougher with my ~4 liters of water I was carrying (8lbs worth!). We planned to camp at a dirt road/trailhead and when we arrived we discovered a group sitting in a makeshift campground in a parking lot eating dinner. Bamboo was there! Along with Turk and Pretzel and a section hiker. We ate and chatted with them and Turk, Pretzel, and Bamboo decided to hike on a bit more while Wolf Bird and I and the section hiker set up camp. Wolf Bird and I got into our classic argument about where to set up the tent and where it was least slopey and went to bed mad about that. Besides that it was a good day with lots of miles completed.