Day 101, Highs and Lows

7/28
Daily mileage: 30
Mile 1862-1892

I woke up early as usual but just wasn't quite ready to look for the trail yet. So I headed down the steep banks of the creek for water. Something I had been unwilling to do in the dark. Fall in the glacier stream in the dark, no thank you. Well that water is delicious but oh my god my hands got so cold! I headed back to my tent and stared balefully at my empty backpack. Screw it I'm getting back in my sleeping bag to get warm, I can pack later and just leave a bit late. Sometime after 6 I realized I needed to stop stalling and with my nice warm hands I packed up all my junk as the mosquitoes swarmed. Really guys couldn't you lay off for a bit?


Finally a little after 7 Wrong Way and I wandered in a few circles eventually finding the PCT. looks like we had walked passed the trail on the other side and crossed the creek about 50 feet to high. Easy fix. Then the patchy snow started. Easy to navigate but some very slippery sections as it was more ice than snow that early in the morning.


As I stumbled along I passed the Oregon/Washington high point. Interesting but not really that exciting. It's not exactly all downhill from here, but I guess it won't ever be over 7600 feet.





But at least for now it was time to head down through the patchy snow and forest.


As the trail started climbing again I felt good and cruised to our next water at six horse spring. A nice spot for lunch and even a section hiker to chat with. Then on towards Windigo Pass where I started to drag. These hot flat sections have been getting to me lately, especially with all the mosquitoes. But thank you so much Lloyd Gust and all of the central Oregon trail angel extraordinaires for your water cache. It made my afternoon. After the pass I wanted to get in around 9 more miles but it was not to be.








After 5 or so miles I was starting to drag and by 7 miles in I was close to going crazy with all the mosquitoes. Wrong Way suggested we call it an early night and so the very next flat spot we found became sanctuary. Thankfully it didn't take too long to find and I'm getting much faster at this tent with all this practice. So 8 miles instead of 9 but a before 8 pm stop, I can live with that if it means fewer mosquitoes whining in my ear.

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