Miles today: 9.1
Trail miles: 389.6
Elevation: 6800
Spinning on the turntable: No music today
This was our campsite last night.
camping in the clouds
We were aiming for Little Jimmy’s camp site, but threw in the towel a few miles short.
Say, did I mention that we enjoy picking up a few hard boiled eggs when we leave town? They make a nice treat with the first evenings dinner. Last night we had six eggs in the container and Noelle invoked the “Emma rule” of a two boiled egg maximum at one sitting for herself. Rather than throw out (bury) the remaining egg I ate it. Time will tell if that was a wise decision.
Boiled eggs
Today our goal was to descend in elevation. Noelle isn’t acclimating well to the elevation so we know descending will help with her general barfy feeling.
Unfortunately, rain was the reality today. Lots of rain. Buckets and buckets.
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Our gear selection was based on light rain, not a deluge. We were both fairly wet within an hour.
Initially, I kind of enjoyed the rain. It was something different than our normal everyday hike, but after a good two hour soaking I was ready to be done with the rain.
Noelle was really done with the rain and said she was ready to ride out the rain in a motel.
Noelle trying to smile in the rain
Unfortunately, we had no cell signal and the highway CA-2 was still closed near our trail junction for the winter. We had no choice but to hike on.
I felt terrible for Noelle and a bit trapped. We can’t head back up the trail, we would need to re-summit Baden-Powell and try to come back down several miles of very steep snow slopes. We aren’t in a medical emergency, so we won’t pull the Garmin emergency rip cord. We’re just very wet and really, really miserable.
We agreed to move on, but checked for cell phone reception here and there with no success.
Noelle bumped into two section hikers who have been following our blog. Crazy! We’re just kind of pumping the blog out into the void with no real thoughts about who reads it, so it was very nice to have this encounter.
We made camp super early around 2PM and hung a few items up in the tent in hopes that they’ll dry a little bit over night.
Drying our wet clothes
We changed into dry clothes, ate a snack, drank some hot tea, and crawled into our sleeping bags to ride out the rain.
Noelle cocooned and went to sleep immediately.
Noelle napping
I don’t dare take a nap or I’ll struggle to even cat nap tonight. Sleeping, or the lack of it, has been my biggest issue on the trail.
I usually listen to a podcast, or two, when Noelle goes to sleep at night. Noelle can go to sleep at 7PM and wake up at 6AM. Me? Not so much. I’ll sleep for a few hours, toss and turn, and then sleep for a few more hours. I’m happy with six hours sleep. I think I’m sleeping more on the trail than in my normal life out of sheer nighttime boredom.
I did laugh out loud at this picture of Noelle.
Hermès the Elf from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer! This picture is so fun!
The thing that helped my altitude sickness the most was Coca leaf tea. Some people are more sensitive to the altitude than others. I never felt that I was over it. I felt weak most of the time. Even Denver bothered me!
We had several days of walking in the pouring rain. I really feel for you guys. It must be so hard to climb into a cold tent and know your stuff will still be wet in the morning. I think women in general can sleep more than men. I know Kathleen can sleep for hours more than me most nights. The view from your tent was incredible. When I lived in Bolivia, I never really got used to the altitude. I was at 9000 feet most of the time. Every other weekend I went to work at a remote medical clinic that was at 14000 feet. There are some prescription drugs that help. Most of them are diuretics.
14000 feet! Dang! Does this mean you’re game to go to Everest base camp with me?
The views are amazing!
Steve
I’m Singing in the rain, just singing in the rain, What a glorious feeling , I’m happy again, just singing, singing in the rain! Think good thoughts! Love, Mom n Dad
Thinking good thoughts!
After all my years of searching for the perfect waterproof-breathable fabric, walking in the rain is still, “Voluntary Suffering”.
I was researching this week trying to find a better option for my jacket but came up empty. I’m just going to add a trash bag for potential rain deluges.
You guys are awesome!
Why thank you!
Nothing worse than hiking in the rain. And of course it comes at a time when you can’t ride it out somewhere dry (Murphy’s Law, right?)
Hope the weather improves for you soon.
Be safe.
The weather is improving! Good things ahead!