It’s the small victories that count most and today, only two of us started with that victory. Bunny and Bear shot blanks while Sassy and I tasted sweet relief. (Yes, members of tramilies probably do know too much about each other. And, yes, I probably shouldn’t use the term taste when talking about this subject.)
I’m not sure if we climbed over a pass today, but we did have a gentle rise of 4 miles that took us over 10,000’. There was an additional bit of rain as we were dropping down to Purple Lake that kept us pinned under some trees for quite a while. It was actually quite a chilly rain and pretty intense for a while. So much for “it never rains in California.”
We then passed 2 work crews that continued to work in spite of the rain. I was quite amazed because I would have been more than willing to set up our tent and stop for the day even though it wasn’t much past noon. I was wet and cold and not in a good mood. If it hadn’t been for Bear, that is where we would have stopped, but Bear was “mildly” persistent in maintaining our schedule. We had stopped about 5 miles short yesterday, so we couldn’t afford another short day without running short on food.
Climbing out of Purple Lake, one of the work crews warned us a ranger was lurking in the woods ahead checking permits. Up the hill, we first encountered a dog tied to a pack pacing back and forth. I assumed this was the ranger’s dog. A few steps further, we encountered our 5th ranger in 4 days who asked for our permits. It was still misting, so I pleaded with him to not make me drop my pack and dig out the papers. I also offered that we were PCT hikers and had CA fire permits (lesson to self, never offer more information than asked for). Although we are required to have CA fire permits, fires are not allowed in most areas. The state is a bit flame jumpy with the extensive drought and early wildfire season.
Last night, a group of horse riders violated the fire ban and built fires. (We never have the energy or desire to build a fire at the end of the day.) With the recent rains, the wood was wet so it smoked quite a bit. To show that fire spotters are on the ball, they did, in fact, see the smoke, and called out a helicopter for a flyover. Additionally, THIS ranger had to also go inspect. Needless to say, he was a bit ticked, and, rightly so, wrote a ticket to the group. If there’s any justice, they should have to pay for the cost of the helicopter in addition to a hefty fine for causing us to get a lecture about fire safety. Bear wasn’t with us, he was still down at Purple Lake (probably talking to some hikers) so we told the ranger when he sees a walking pumpkin (orange rain jacket and black kilt) he’s with us.
The true goal for today was to make up the 5 miles we had stopped short yesterday. Ultimately, we stopped 3 miles short of that new goal having only made up two of the miles we lost yesterday. Maybe everyone else could have kept going, but 0.7 miles out of camp, I knew I was about out of gas. With 0.5 miles to go, I was done. Because of the angle of our final climb, I could see Sassy walking back and forth at Squaw Lake Outlet. I still had 0.3 miles to go. My plan was working…Bear will have plenty of time to scout the entire area and find us the perfect camping spots.
As anticipated, Bear did locate and secure 2 LNT compliant spots well below the lake and off the trail. Rather than attempt to go through another “vestibule interaction” exchange, they let us have the bigger spot (that could have held two tents for less picky hikers). Showing that we were thankful, we invited them over to our place for supper (a bring your own meal).
It took us a while to get set up. My energy level was extremely low and my brain was only firing on a single cylinder. We finally settled on mashed potatoes with BBQ chicken, green beans, followed by M&Ms. The M&M counting has become quite the ordeal. Bunny is afraid that I might slip an extra one into my hand if we don’t have a silent, all eyes focused, witness verified account. It’s getting very difficult to steal even a single M with this new procedure. I usually have to wait until I return the bag to the bear canister to slip one by her. I carry them! I deserve a bonus M for “martyr” every once in a while.
Our location on the side of a cliff facing west afforded us our most beautiful sunset to date. There were still rain clouds in the distance which caused the setting light to diffuse. Because we’re camping well above 10,000’, we couldn’t manage to stay out until the sun was completely down. It gets cold and my teeth start to chatter…MMM.
EFG