August 23

Distance: 20.5 miles | Ascent: 6280′ | Descent: 1860′

Mile marker: 1025.2

Lunch: J – cilantro pesto pasta (B+), A – Indian curry (A)

Dinner: J – coconut carrot dahl (B+), A – cilantro pesto pasta (B+)

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When our watch alarms chimed at 3am, we rolled over, slammed our energy drinks, and started packing up. We hit the trail soon after. We were trying to get up our longest continuous climb we’ve hit since we started: about 6000′ of elevation over 16 miles. And, there were the rumored treacherous blowdowns. Since yesterday was so hot and today was slated to be even hotter, our plan was to get as far as we could before the heat really hit. To add to the adventure, this morning was a new moon, and we began our hike under a sky dotted with infinite stars, the grey-blue band of the Milky Way stretching overhead. We also came across our first scorpion!

We hiked by headlamps for the first 3.5 hours of the morning and were able to get 10 miles of our climb done before the heat reached us. The sun spilled into the trail just after we stopped at our last reliable mid-ascent water source. Our next fill-up required finishing the climb, so we hurried onwards, trying to race the growing heat without losing too much water through sweat – a tricky balancing act. When we came to the blowdown section, we were already sweating through our shirts and huffing up the hill, but the blowdowns weren’t as bad as expected. They were numerous and frequent for two-ish miles, but the rumors made it out to be much worse than it actually was for us. The stuff we hit two days was wayyy worse. There’s a lot of fearmongering from the northbound hikers, it seems. (Jason’s aside, are fish and fear the only things mongered?)

We got through the blowdowns, waded through some bushes (the bushwacking was also greatly exaggerated), and made it to the spring and our napping spot.  Two deer hunters were there. It’s a little funny how differently we were dressed. We have bright, breathy clothes and light packs, and they had cleaner camouflage head to toe and heavy packs with bows strapped to the back. They weren’t super conversational, but as we all rested, a doe came to inspect us and look for salt. Fortunately, the hunters can’t hunt does (or maybe just not in front of us) and were amused at how unafraid it was around all of us.

We were planning a long rest, so we hunkered down and spread out. The hunters left, but some other of our southbound friends made it up the hill. One of the groups had a little team meeting about the importance of hydration and planning water carries. It was very sweet to see strangers caring for each other like that.

We eventually decided to push through the tiredness and carry on to camp to get an early real bedtime rather than just a nap. We headed out after a three-ish hour break. At this point, clouds had mostly blanketed the sky and drastically dropped the temperature. It was still warm, but not brutally hot like yesterday.

We crossed over some neat terrain. It was  rugged and rocky, but the trail wasn’t too harsh. We walked through meadows, around steep cliffs, and small old burn scars.

We reached a gorgeous lake and decided to call it a day. We hadn’t covered as many miles as we were shooting for, but you can’t pass on a campsite this great.

While rinsing the dust out of her socks in the teeny tiny outlet of the lake, Alex found a few baby trout, probably washed out of the lake as eggs or fry. Knowing they wouldn’t make it to adulthood in the outlet, she nudged two of them into her bearcan and transported them back up to the lake. A potential violation of Leave No Trace, but then so is stocking lakes with fish in the first place. Best of luck out there, fishies.