As I mentioned yesterday, resupply day is both a blessing and a curse. On one hand we get reenergized with our carefully selected meals and snacks, but on the other hand, we have to carry those 5 days worth of carefully selected meals and snacks. We slept in until 8ish and I went to get out of the tent, when I noticed little silk threads strung all over my pack and my side of the tent.
A closer look through my mesh tent revealed tons of baby spiders migrating over my back. Now, I wouldn't go so far as to say I'm Ron Weasley when it comes to spiders—after all, I've taken care of many a spider "situation" for Maddie at her house—but I have always harbored a quiet mixture of dread, hatred and fear toward the foul creatures. I went to quickly open the mouth of my pack when I saw the mama spider fall nearly on my hand. I recoiled and (sorry Kelly, I know your affinity for spiders) smashed at it through the tent. Upon closer examination and some thorough google searching, I believe it might have been a brown widow, but I'm no expert. Regardless, it was an unpleasant way to start the morning, made all the more unpleasant by the fact that Maddie's side was spider-less. Certainly a "why me?" moment...
Anyway, we packed up and left the campground to eat at the cafe, where Maddie had some french toast and breakfast potatoes while I devoured some french toast eggs and sausage, as expected. Afterward, we got our resupply box and set about stuffing the contents into our bear cans. It was sometime during this process that Maddie looked down and asked, "do my calves look bigger?" I told her indeed they did, and she seemed so absolutely pleased with herself. With Maddie's calves two sizes bigger, we thought the weight wouldn't be as jarring as it was. We had both packed a little too much food (not nearly too much relative to other people though), so remnants went into the hiker barrel, a red barrel of discarded items (mostly food) donated by other thru-hikers who overpacked and needed to shed weight. Needless to say, my oatmeal made it's way safely into the barrel, after I had labeled it "super healthy oatmeal." I felt a compulsive need to advertise the product for other ransacking hikers, simply because having worked so hard to create and package my oatmeal, I could hardly bare the thought of it going to waste! On the other hand, I feel a bit disingenuous as some poor hiker might happen upon those bags and be psyched to eat some unique oatmeal mixture only to realize they would have been better off eating the soles of their shoes. So I figured those little baggies were doomed to be deposited in the trash at some point, and I have divorced myself from thinking about the whole affair. After uploading some posts and calling the parents, we bid farewell to our resort.
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| Goodbye loud backpacker campground |
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| Once again: pretty goddam excited |
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| Leaving Reds Meadow Resort |
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| Selfie for my mom's sake to show the bags under my eyes aren't too bad |
Our itinerary for the day consisted of 6.5 miles and over 2000 feet of climbing, but it coincided with the Pacific Crest Trail, so the grade was quite gentle and pleasant. Though seemingly interminable in length, the ascent offered some great views of the mountains and reminded me of my 3-day PCT backpacking trip last fall. I didn't get too many photos as we charged along through the peaceful, if somewhat monotonous, forest. We aren't all that far (only about 5 miles) from where Kelly, Lauren, Maddie, and I were a week ago, at gorgeous TJ Lake! I cycled listening to my audiobook and the sounds of nature as we climbed, and it offset the discomfort of my newly weighted down pack.
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| Panorama beginning our climb |
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| One of a few inspiring vistas today |
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| Clouds threatened rain, but the sunny forecast held true today! |
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| A pleasant meadow on our way down to Deer Creek |
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| Maddie cruisin' |
When we finally got to Deer Creek at 3:30, we seriously entertained pressing on, but the next 5.5 miles are the longest waterless stretch of the trip, so we thought we'd just get an early jump on them in the morning so we could (HOPEFULLY) swim in a lake tomorrow! Instead we made some truly delicious rice noodle miso ramen from whole foods and snacked. I made an improvised clothes line with my extra guy lines, and we have now hit the hay at 7:30pm. Maddie just took, wait for it, HALF a Bennedryl and is now getting a little silly. I did warn her of it's sedative properties. Tomorrow is another day of mostly climbing, but at this point we are much bigger fans of climbing than descending, so that in conjunction with a lake swim would make for a great day!
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| Hard at work making ramen at the campsite #PlacesMyPotGoes |
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| Maddie, goofy having taken some Bennedryl, trying to hide from the camera |
Once again forgot a couples shot, but hopefully we'll get a good one tomorrow! Thanks for reading, and goodnight folks!
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