July 28th
A mouse got into the food bags last night; evidently he is a peanut butter cracker lover. It’s about all he ate, but he ate most of that package. The odd thing is that we were camped in a place that did not appear to have been previously used.
A word about breakfast, which I have not covered in much detail before now. Today, like most days, we snacked on a quick bite as we were packing up – just a pop tart. Then we hiked for an hour or so and stopped for something more substantial. Grape nuts today (sometimes granola, almost always cold cereal). Washed down with “tang” orange juice, followed by a protein drink. And we take vitamins: a multi-vitamin, a “b complex”, a “c” vitamin and a calcium. This gets us through the morning.
Just after breakfast, we came across bear scat so fresh that is was still steaming, well at least it was very moist. Later on we find out that Sheppard and Little John, hiking about 45 minutes ahead of us had come across the bear. Through out the day we saw Sheppard and Little John off and on, leap frogging ahead at each other’s breaks.
The trail followed the crest on a gentle roller coaster staying generally on higher slopes with increasingly more stunning views of the surrounding Klamath mountains. Mt Shasta still dominates the eastern views. We pass a number of beautiful lakes sitting in basins several hundred feet below the trail, out of convenient reach. Like valuable gems locked away in a display case we can see them but we can’t quite reach out to touch them. We stop for a swim at the one lake that the trail passes close by, Deadfall Lake. It is the pause that refreshes.
The afternoon solitude was a silence shattered by semi-automatic gun fire. It sounded like yahoos target practicing at one of the more distant lakes below us. Still, too close for comfort.
The “Weather Carrot” left a note on the trail near one of the road crossings indicating that he was leaving the trail to go home back east, with no other explanation. In the Carrot v Carrot contest, there is now one Carrot left, Walking Carrot. People end their hikes for many reasons. The trail is tough mentally as well as physically. Often serendipity or just plain bad luck enter into it as family crises or injuries force people off. To go all the way takes physical and mental fortitude and a healthy dose of good luck or karma. We wish Weather Carrot well, as we do all hikers where ever their journeys take them.
My shoes are breaking down. I am hoping they will last until Ashland where I can buy another pair. The breakdown in support puts new pressures on the feet and I feel new blisters and raw spots forming. I am hoping that this will pass or that I can tolerate it the 150 miles to Ashland. I am determined it won’t threaten the end of the hike.
At Chilkoot Creek we stopped to make dinner, hating to carry extra water to camp. We have 8+ miles before the next water and plan on camping in at a saddle in about 4 miles. Strut and Trainwreck were already there just finishing their dinner. Little John and Sheppard soon arrived and we traded notes on the day.
After dinner all the pains in my feet feel worse and the right heal rubs raw. We are busy watching the setting sun lighten up Mt Shasta and somehow missed seeing a rattle snake Shepard and Little John came across hiking about 15 minutes behind us.
We make camp on an unnamed saddle with sunset views, a near full moon rising, Sheppard and Little John as well as more mice and mossies. Too tired to put up the tent we slather on deet and fall asleep.
