Last night was our best night’s sleep on the trail so far. We were all glad we stopped short yesterday. A hiker came by camp as we were getting ready and told Bear that today’s weather was going to be just like yesterday’s but we’d probably see more rain. After today, we should have really good weather for a while.
Last activity before leaving camp involved a quick trip to the woods. I could see the path of the trail, so I headed uphill away from trail and people. I was in deep concentration when I heard a voice near me in the woods. It sounded like it could have been Bear, but it also sounded like someone might be getting water. In either case, it was too close for comfort so I closed up shop early and headed to camp. When I got there, Bear was gone. When he returned I asked him if he was talking in the woods. He said he was checking to make sure we had safety barrier between us but it didn’t matter because he had zig zagged around to the point that he couldn’t see me, but he did have line of sight with Bunny. Fortunately, she didn’t look up and see the orange mass in the woods (I’m assuming he meant the bag and his shirt and not that he had overeaten pumpkin).
More climbing today. We started off with an 800’ climb up the spot where we had wanted to stay last night. It was a tougher haul than we had anticipated which strengthened the decision we made to stay put last night. We did encounter a fairly large trail crew out doing improvements. We thanked them for their work.
When we did catch up with Bear and Sassy, they were fully rested because they are so much faster than us going uphill. We decided to move on another 1/2 mile-ish before we had our morning snack. If Bear doesn’t get his blueberry pop tart in the morning…we have no idea what will happen because he always gets his blueberry pop tart.
While we were eating, we noticed storm clouds forming above us. The sky was completely clouded over, but the black clouds were very concerning because 1) we were at 9100’, and 2) Bunny is deathly afraid of storms. It started to sprinkle so we started packing up and decided to put our pack covers on. Everyone else was faster than me getting ready, so they took off and left me all alone on top of the rock. It started pouring as I was heading down.
Less than a tenth of a mile down, they had found shelter from the rain under a group of trees next to a large rock wall. Even though we were at 9100’, we were surrounded by much taller mountains and large trees. We felt pretty secure. The rain didn’t last long. We were just about to start hiking again when a lightening bolt flashed just above us. Bunny didn’t panic, she just curled up into a standing fetal position and covered her ears. When the next lightning let loose, we could count 5s before the thunder hit us. We tried to assure Bunny things were ok and the storm was moving away from us, but we couldn’t get her to lower her hands from her ears or open her eyes. The whole incident cost us about an hour.
When Bunny accepted the Bear “all clear,” we headed down the mountain to the spot we had picked for lunch. It was a 3 mile walk where we all kept an eye on the sky. We could see the storm clouds forming in the next valley to our east and hear the thunder echoing in our valley. I will say Bunny handled the situation very well, especially compared to the first time I saw her reaction to a storm. We had spent the day tubing down the Current River in MO. (It’s a magical river where you can drink beer all day while floating in a tube and never have to get out to pee. Magical waters! But don’t swallow any of it!) We camped that night and a storm came through. She tried to crawl under me. As a side note, my dogs were never afraid of storms until they lived with Bunny.
We sat by a creek and ate lunch. All the while, the clouds started growing darker again. Since we were at a much lower elevation, we decided it would be prudent to wait out the next storm. We all put on our jackets to get warm while we waited. Then the storm clouds just dispersed and the sky got bright again, it was decided that we would camp hop the rest of the day since we’re supposed to go well over 10,000’ and we didn’t know exactly what the storms were doing. The first camp was only 1.7 miles.
Bunny and I are still not in hiking shape. To our defense, we did climb well over 3,000’ today with grades as steep as 1,200’/mile, but, we are not nearly in as good of shape as Bear and Sassy. The 1.7 miles to the first camp was also an 1,100’ climb. We started before them. By half way, they blew by us. When we arrived at camp, they had already been resting for 15 minutes. We all agreed to head to the next camp in 2.1miles (including another 800’ of climbing.
They waited for us at the high point. While we were climbing up, the clouds started getting darker again. About 2/3 of the way up, it started raining hard, but no lightening, yet. I made Bunny put on her raincoat because it was a cold rain. We alternated all day today between sweating bullets and shivering. The rain did cool things off and keep the dust down. Bunny and I were both struggling towards the end of the climb. Bunny said she could do another 1,000’ climb after this one. I said “let’s just get to the next camp and see what happens.”
The four of us rolled into Smedberg Lake around 5 where we had agreed to stop for a snack. I knew Bunny and I were struggling hard. It’s only 3 miles to the next camp, but it involves another 950’ climb. I knew if we pushed on, we wouldn’t get better than 1 mph uphill with another 45 minutes to get down the same amount. We were looking at getting into camp around 8. We finally agreed to stay at Smedberg Lake.
All we had to do was find a good campsite. Bear, Bunny, and I headed back to a spot Bear had seen on the way down. There were 2 good large spots with one big enough for 2 tents (or so we thought). Sassy, for once, picked a spot she liked (by the tree that had a bellybutton). Usually she says she doesn’t care when it comes to site selection. Now we know why.
What happened next will surely come to be known as the great vestibule interference of ‘21. They laid out their ground cloth, and we laid out ours. Everything looked good so we set our tent up. We’re not too particular, if a spot is fairly flat, we’ll be fine. Bear has a few more level issues. To pick a spot, he will use a water bottle as a level and move it around to ensure that the spot is level in all directions. This process of site selection usually takes the same amount of time it takes us to set up our tent, unpack, and begin inflating the pads.
We had our tent set up when Bear decided the spot Sassy had chosen dropped off on one corner, so he moved his ground cloth parallel to our tent. No problem. They set up their tent, but didn’t stake it out, so they could do another level check. Bunny was now getting ready to inflate our pads. It was at this point that our vestibule was discovered to stick out too far for Bear to have his vestibule fully extended.
We then tried playing with tent angles so his vestibule would be 100%. We rotated their tent 15 degrees and it almost worked, but one corner was discovered to be 2” too high. Now we lifted their tent (theirs is a free-standing tent, ours is not) and rotated it 180 degrees so Bears vestibule (they have assigned sides of the tent which don’t change, we change pretty much every other night). Sassy’s vestibule would work but the stake would be in our vestibule (again, no problem), but Bear’s vestibule was too close to the bellybutton tree.
Ultimately, they picked their tent up and moved it 50 feet to the other site. Sassy said she learned a valuable lesson—NEVER PICK THE CAMPSITE. The same lesson I learned with Bunny a long time ago. In Bear’s defense, he used to have bad sinus issues and if he didn’t sleep level, he would clog up. Now that his sinus problems are in the past, if he imagines he’s not level, he’ll clog up. Sassy has learned to stand patiently by while Bear measures the campsite with his water bottle.
EFG
Well….. nice to have you back again. Keep it coming.