It was so cold, that my kidneys and bladder decided to take a night off and let me sleep. About 2 in the morning, though, my brain woke up and said “Hey, what’s going on? We should have been up twice by now.” My bladder said “We’re cool. Go back to sleep.” Brain would have none of that; “Can’t you hear the running water right outside the tent? There’s no way it’s ok to sleep.” My butt chimed in “You guys shut up or I’m going to put my two cents in and no one will sleep.” Pam spoke up “Shut up or my spork will find it’s way to your throat.” I believed her, she may be sweet to everyone else, but try sleeping with her in a 6’x7′ tent every night.
What choice did I have but get up and go outside to keep everyone quiet. My bladder did have a little more than it claimed. My butt released enough gas to kill a small Pyrennes village, and my brain said “I told you so.” When I got back in bed, I told Pam we had had a hard frost and everything was glistening. She said “Shut up or spork.” I tried going to sleep, but my brain had the same ear worm it had had all day; the theme from underdog. “Speed of lightening, roar of thunder, fighting those who rob or plunder. Underdog. Ooh ooh Underdog. Underdog.” My butt, crotch, and feet all started screaming “shut up or we start singing ‘It’s a Small World’.” I finally got some peace and went to sleep.
I awoke again at 8. I tried to get Pam to get up, but she said she wasn’t moving until it got warm. I, the good husband, went out and made coffee and then boiled more water for muesli before coming back in to serve my wife breakfast in bed. I think everyone can see where this is going–we hit the trail at 10.
Today was a pleasant 1700′ of climbing broken up into 3 climbs and a mild 2500′ decline over 6 miles. This was the coldest day of hiking we have had so far. Even with the easy day of hiking (and under normal conditions, it would be an easy day), we were both dragging. It took us a few hours to figure out that the reason we weren’t doing so well was because we had spent all the energy we had earmarked for recovery on staying warm instead.
We went over 2 passes today and had great views. Approaching the first pass, we came upon a hiking club with about 16 members coming down as we were making our final climb up.
In between passes, we stopped and found a most unusual sign. All of my complaining is finally paying off. We found a trail sign with actual distances on it and not a single time. People are actually having to figure out for themselves how long it will take them to hike.
After climbing the second pass, we both about gave out. We had barely covered 6 miles and the trail was the type that would normally make you ask if you were still on the GR10 because it was such pleasant hiking. Our target destination for the night was still at almost 7000′ and we were hiking most of the day with our fleece jackets on. We didn’t think we’d be able to pull another night off in the tent and hope for any recovery with it already being so cold. We decided we were staying in the refuge.
When we got to the dam, we saw a really nice looking hotel/restaurant/bar. “We may never pass this way again” Seals and Crofts. We decided to splurge and get a good night’s sleep and two good meals. We ended up with a king sized bed (so I don’t have to sleep on the floor for once). They thought we looked pathetic and cold enough that they set us by the fireplace in the restaurant. With the full stomachs, 2 beers each, and 1/2 carafe of wine, we should sleep well tonight.
