Just as we got in the tent last night, a light rain started. There was a cool breeze. I was feeling chilled. Bunny tried to steal my quilt. I closed the tent completely down into storm mode. That’s where we lower the vestibules and close the vents. Our tent can take some pretty strong winds in this setup.
A couple hours later, we heard a lot of sounds coming from Bear and Sassy’s tent. The sound of the pads were really amplified. We found out later that they were just innocently changing the direction of their pads as they were sleeping with their heads pointed downhill. Right.
It gets light early here. Or it stays light late. Or it was a full moon and never got dark. Or I slept very well and woke up early. Whatever the case, I seemed to be awake for a few hours before anyone else started moving. I figured, after all the middle of the night sounds coming from the “sleeping pad rearrangement” that Bear and Sassy would be late getting up. Dancing Dog was the first one up. She was ready to get to Olallie.
It was the late hour of 7:10 when DD started her coffee. I made the Bunny her coffee per her new instructions (3x the cream), cut her avocado in half, and boiled water for her coffee and blueberry oatmeal. I place the breakfast by her head before I even think of saying anything to her. And when I do say anything, I can expect no response until her coffee has cooled to drinking temperature.
DD has done everything for herself these past several days, including put up and taking down her own tent, fetching and filtering water, preparing all of her own meals including lighting the stove. This trip has been a lot of firsts for her with glacial river crossings, crossing over mountain snow fields, and total self sufficiency since her husband or Trail Runner wasn’t here to do stuff for her. We are very proud of all she has accomplished on this trip.
Why am I talking about DD as if she were dead or dying? Well, she’s decided that she doesn’t want to cross any more snow fields and we are looking at going over the shoulder of Mt Jefferson within the next couple of days. She was talking about getting off at Olallie and has made up her mind for certain (if she can get a ride out).
We covered the almost 4 miles to Olallie in less than an hour and a half. We knew when we made the turn into the resort that we were home. The first thing we saw on the trail in was a nice pit latrine. Bear and I had “put all of our eggs in one basket” or “kept all of our poo close to colon” or hadn’t “gone” in the hopes of just such a vision.
Guthook said to call ahead to get a cabin reservation, but we decided to take our chances in the age of Covid. Bear walked into the store to enquire about cabins. There was one large cabin still available capable of sleeping 5. Normally, they charge extra for walk-ins that don’t phone ahead, but they waived that. They also gave us a midweek discount and another discount just because. We had planned on getting individual cabins at $60/couple but got a big cabin that would hold all of us for $75. It still pays to not plan too much.
There is a very hiker friendly store at the resort. Since DD is leaving, she bequeathed her extra food to us. Bear and Sassy’s trail angels, Miles and Linda, have already agreed to bring us two more food drops than we had planned on getting so this food helps us a lot. We bought a few extra items for the future drops to add to our stash when Miles and Linda come here today. We also bought a little junk food to snack on this afternoon.
Our cabin is a cute little 2 room structure with 2 queen beds, a kitchen/living room/dining room with a front porch that looks directly at Mt Jefferson. We spent a bit of time planning the next few days of hiking until a Miles, Linda, and Puff showed up with our food resupply. They had also brought us some snacks to eat while we went through our food drops. They also agreed to take Dancing Dog to her hotel next to Portland Airport. She’ll be home soaking in her hot tub before we even make it onto the snow fields of Mt Jefferson.
We just chilled the rest of the afternoon until we cooked hotdogs on a communal campfire in the middle of the cabins. The resort was a perfect retreat from the trail, if only for one night. I’ll admit to being a bit nervous about crossing Jefferson, but we’ll take it safe and slow. The biggest thing I have going for me is that we don’t carry life insurance, per say. We did pick up a travel policy that carries $50K each, so, if I don’t make it, please thoroughly question Bear and Sassy to find out what Bunny promised them for their part in my disappearance.
EFG
Yea, yea, yea I hear you……damn it.
Living by the seat of our pants…you ought to try it