Miles today: 12.4
Trail miles: 498.2
Elevation: 5009
Spinning on the turntable: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: The best of everything
Today I hiked north and Noelle hiked south! Noelle went up the trail about 25 miles, left the van, and hiked south about 12 miles. I hiked north about 12 miles from where Noelle dropped me off and we met in the middle at a campground. Tomorrow we’ll hike north to the van.
Guthook Jun 4
I began with a nice uphill hike. The initial slope was a bit steep and it was quite warm. I keep meaning to buy a cheap thermometer to hang on my pack. I’m curious if my perception of warm and hot is broken.
I broke a sweat within moments of starting to hike.
The green flag icon represented a small cave. I think that hikers will take a break in the cave when it’s warranted.
Cave sighting
This chubby boy doesn’t do caves that require crawling to enter, so you’re left with the external pictures of two different caves.
Another cave
The trail behind me
I did smile as I slowly soaked my shirt with sweat. At John/Donna’s I washed our clothes on the highest soil level, with the longest rinse time AND used two dryer sheets. (Why yes, I do live dangerously!) I could smell the sweet perfume of a clean shirt and it was divine while it lasted.
I really enjoy being able to look back at the trail and see where I came from earlier on the hike. It’s a doubled edged blade though; sometimes I can look ahead and see what’s coming and it’s rather discouraging.
That’s a great view
Great views often equal…cell phone reception! Coming off four days of connectivity it wasn’t a big deal today.
Water cistern
I beat Noelle to camp so I tracked down the water cistern. The water was fresh and cold and I drank my fill after filtering it. It was quite the trek from the tent site to the water, perhaps a half mile up hill, so I filled my water bottle and water bladder in my backpack so that Noelle could skip the bonus hike.
I set the tent up and got myself situated while waiting for Noelle.
Taking a little nap
I must admit that the Zpack tent is so dang spacious compared to the body condom sized Nemo elite tent. It’s not a fair size comparison though since the Zpack is a three person tent and the Nemo is a one person tent.
Our camp tonight has numerous reports of bears looting the trash cans and snatching food from camp sites. We hung our food and toiletries in a bear bag after dinner.
Hanging our food
North and South in the same day. Good fun! Way to adapt your adventure to circumstances and continued goals of hiking together.
We’re definitely trying to make it work!
Pooped in that cistern the day before. Glad to know that you enjoyed tasting it.
Hike on
Most excellent!
Good job not getting into the cistern for a bit of a cooling bath.
No way! (One of the cisterns has a dead bear in it. Strangely, I didn’t even feel the need to go look at it.) I usually eyeball the water before I stick my hand into it to fill up my water filter bladder.
Hahaha – so glad to hear that you didn’t crawl into the small caves! That tent looks very spacious also 😊
Love
The tent is delightfully spacious for two! If it’s just me in the tent I bring in all my gear. It’s a three person tent, but I think that really means a two person tent.