A twenty mile day

I woke to the moon setting over the trees. The sky was a deep dark blue, becoming gradually lighter around the edges.  Quietly stretching in my bag so as not to wake He Who Would Like to Hit the Trail Immediately Upon Awakening, I enjoyed the beauty of the dawn taking over the night. The lighter edge of the sky became more expansive, and the stars winked out one by one as the bright blue day took their place.  Once awake, Mr. Snickers gathered our food bags, packed his bag and was ready to be off.  We hiked the three miles down to the creek, passing a few hikers we knew along the way, some just crawling out of their tents.  One Pint had just gotten up and joined us down at the creek. While we were getting water, That Nice Young Man came down, fired up his stove and started some oatmeal for breakfast. I was surprised (and glad) to see him again. I wished I had some huckleberries to contribute to his meal, but though i had picked some already that morning, they were already eaten.  

The hike that day was rather uneventful.  The path was nice, my Keens felt great.  We had some challenging climbs and were in and out of forest and chaparral. We passed the highest point on the Oregon PCT- i think some boy scouts had been here and labelled everything. I changed my socks fairly often trying to stave off more blisters, and though my right foot is doing well, my toe socks gave me blisters between the big toe and the next one on my left foot.

We took several nice breaks including one with crackers and cream cheese.  I had some extra miso paste and discovered that it tastes great as a spread on cream cheese and crackers.  A new hiker came upon our scene. Ugly Sam, the lawyer, had just finished law school and taken his bar exams.  A section hiker like us, he was walking from Crater Lake to Cascade Locks, instead of waiting nervously for the report on whether or not he had passed the bar.  Smart guy.  His first day, yesterday, was 23 miles uphill with no water, so he said he is suffering today. Maybe not so smart after all.  But very friendly.

When there are few water sources, people tend to congregate around them.  I would like to see someone film the scene, preferably in fast action.  It opens with pure water, flowing down hill in the wilderness.  A hiker comes in, drops his pack and starts to collect some water.  Another hiker comes in, fills a water bottle, drinks some of the fresh water.  Soon the area is full of people, packs, and water bottles.  Some sit pumping the water with a filter, some are stirring a steri pen through their container, some are squeezing the water through a filter from one container to another.  All are visiting, conversing, comparing notes. Then, just as slowly as they trickled in, the hikers begin to pick up their bags and leave.  In this case the water was a very small trickle coming down from a small mucky pond.  It was cold, but didn’t look great.  The trail down to this spring was challenging, very steep and rocky, and many were coming down in their camp shoes- flip flops or crocs- not very safe.   

Using our Sawyer squeeze filter. 

Back up at the top of the trail to the spring people were finding places to camp, making dinner, and settling in for the evening.  Ugly Sam the lawyer was setting up a tarp just next to where we were putting down our ground cloth.  An older couple, weekend hikers,  was set up right at the junction between the PCT and the trail to the spring.  They had quite a set-up: chairs, a tent, nice cushy mattresses…  We apologized for intruding on their little piece of paradise, but they were nice about it, welcomed everyone (there were at least five small groups of hikers) and sat visiting with us all until well past sundown. 

I awoke to silence.  There was a long pause in my husband’s snoring.  I am not used to his sleep apnea so much anymore because at home he sleeps plugged in to a machine.  Out here away from electricity he has to depend on me giving him a big shove to remind him to breathe.  Once that happened, I was fully awake.  The full moon shone brightly through a gap in the trees, and I slithered as quietly as i could out of my warm  bag and over to the patch of yellow light.  I sat in a yoga position breathing the cool, damp air in and out.  It was almost as if it were actually light that I was taking in to my lungs.  I stared at the silhouette of the tree leaves and branches dipping and rising in the slight breeze, and watched their patterns change on the ground in front of me.  I stretched, bathed in the cool light and listened to the night sounds. Fully at peace, I crawled back in to my bag and slept soundly until morning.