It’s nice having people around again so we’re not the last to leave. That honor went to Hero who was still in his tent when we crossed the bridge. It helped that we have an early target of the pit latrine at Panther Creek Campground. Not having to dig a hole saves time in breaking camp. As it was, we still were late getting out. Our goal was to be on trail by 8. Someday and Wea said goodbye right at 8. We got going at 8:17.
There was a pleasant surprise in the form of fresh fruit, peanut butter stuffed pretzels, and tootsie rolls by our first road crossing. A hiker had been forced off trail because of injuries, so he left his food and purchased some additional food to be left as magic. We enjoyed an apple.
Bunny and Dancing Dog have told me I talk too much about poop and that I need to stop spending so much time on one of the three greatest pleasures of backpacking. Instead, I’ll talk a little bit about basketball. Do you think after not having played professional basketball for all these years, Michael Jordan would still hit the three pointer? I feel confident that he’s still got it. He might get a rim shot a time or two before he starts hitting nothing but net again. This was a huge fear of mine after having been off trail for over a month. Suffice to say, I’ve still got it. To be safe, it would probably be best to have a brown net because the ball is really more of a big mass of brown jello pudding so the net is going to act more like a colander. Am I being too subtle or are you able to follow my symbology?
We caught up with Someday and Wea just before the turn to Panther Creek Campground. Even though we just met, we knew Someday had already taken care of business, but the rest of us had saved up for this magic moment. Honestly, I had heavily anticipated the latrine, that’s why I was so deeply disappointed that my window of opportunity had closed. It did bring back memories of Bear and I discovering what Bear claimed to be an artesian pit latrine in Maine (last year on the AT—double shot). I’m still not convinced that there wasn’t hang time and a cheek shake involved in Bear’s calculation of 1.5 miles deep because I calculated the depth at about 6 feet from release to splash (I consistently had more fiber in my diet than he did).
The next 9 miles was all uphill. Almost 3000’ of it. It wasn’t as humid as yesterday, but it was still bad enough that every inch and crevice of our bodies was soaked with sweat. Bunny chose to try to distract her mind from the climb by listening to music. I chose my usual fantasizing that I was anyone but me. Today I was the President of the USA, a film mogul, an NFL quarterback, a billionaire, a basketball star (goes with the territory), and a world traveling vagabond. All of the scenarios ended the same way for me—sex scandal and divorce. It’s a good thing I have no money and am not good looking.
We did encounter many more people along the way today. We met several other thru-hikers that hiked Southern California, like we did, but then flipped up to the Canadian border and are heading south, saving the Sierra for last. They all gave us good news that we were virtually snow free for the next 200 miles and what snow they did encounter north of there was manageable without spikes. By the time we get there, it should be gone.
Today brought us up over 4000’ elevation and we were hoping for some cooling effect with the altitude. Above 3500’ we finally encountered a breeze and lower humidity which was much appreciated. We were able to catch some views of Mt Hood to our south (covered in clouds) and Mt Adams ahead of us (also covered in snow). We have given up trying to double our daily mileages, but we’re pleased with a respectable (for us) 16+ mile day.
The first person we saw getting into camp was Hero. We thought he was way behind and had kept taking breaks waiting for him, Someday, and Wea to catch up. The overheating and aching feet were just a pretext we used to justify the many breaks because we didn’t want anyone to feel bad. We had also hiked for a while with a German from southwest of the country. I noticed a Camino badge on his pack and he slowed down for us to talk about our common experiences. He just started hiking about 5 years ago but he’s already done the Camin 3 times; once, all the way from Germany across France. He also wants to hike the GR10 (which we have) and the GR20 (Corsica, which is also on our list). First Man is his trail name. He was talking with Hero when we arrived.
This is the fullest camping spot we have seen since getting back on trail. In total, there are 8 tents here tonight with a total 11 people. It brings back memories of when we finally started to encounter people at Warner Springs way back in March (almost exactly 4 months ago). Until then, we had felt very nearly alone on the trail. We still don’t have solid trail legs, yet, but we are feeling stronger each day. I’m thinking we might start putting in a few 20 mile days after Trout Lake. If we can do that, maybe, just maybe, we won’t end up as section hikers.
EFG