It was a lot colder this morning than yesterday - this made crossing the river first thing in the morning very difficult.  My toes were so cold I couldn’t feel them for the first hour or so, which made walking awkward and slow.  On top of frozen feet, I’m currently experiencing a weird ankle annoyance that makes me even slower.  Nick and I made plans to meet in 12 miles for lunch (yay!) and he went on ahead of me.  

I made the best of my slow morning, thinking about how beautiful it was and how lucky I am to be out here experiencing it.   I told myself that going slow just gave me more chances to enjoy it, which helped keep any ridiculous feelings of inadequacy at bay.

When I got to our planned meeting spot, I was excited to see Nick and really excited to eat lunch.

Nick wasn’t there.

Confused, because he had been ahead of me and I didn’t pass him, I double-checked to be sure I was in the right spot. 

I was. 

Then I turned on my Bivy Stick to see if perhaps he had messaged me.  Maybe something was wrong.

After waiting a minute or so to connect to the satellite, I saw that there was indeed a message from Nick.  He had gone off-trail and was about 30 min behind me.

So I waited.  I ate lunch.  I purified water.  I rinsed my socks and laid them out to dry. I backflushed my filter.  I plugged my phone into my external battery to charge it.  I put on my alpaca hoodie because the wind was cold.  And still, I waited.

Katherine, the woman who camped near us last night, walked by and chatted with me a bit.  She said she hadn’t seen ManHands.  Two guys walked up, so I chatted with them a little, too. They hadn’t seen Nick, either.  

An hour passed.  I was just starting to worry when he appeared.  Thank goodness for the Bivy and the ability to text each other via satellite - this is a feature we didn’t have on the PCT and it definitely comes in handy.

After a little debate, we decided to push on another 13 miles to the next water source, which is where we are now.  We are no longer on the river, which is both good and bad.  It’s good because I was getting pretty sick of crossing it (we crossed it 15 times today); it’s bad because we have to worry about water sources again.

Knowing my ankle was going to keep me slower than usual (I’m not sure if I should worry about it or not yet, it’s more like a tightness than an actual injury), I started on my way.  Long breaks in the middle of the day are difficult for me because they take me out of my hiking mindset and I hate it when my muscles get cold. 

When I got to the top of the hill after the pond, I waved to Nick (who was still below) and then turned to hike away. As soon as I turned I saw smoke in the distance, and shortly after a helicopter flew overhead towards the smoke. A second helicopter followed shortly after. A little while later, both helicopters came back. As I hiked, they flew over my head, going back and forth, at least 6 times. It could only mean one thing: Fire.

I walked on.  The trail was a dirt road at this point and I kept thinking, “I hope this doesn’t get too close to the fire”.  But with each step and with each curve of the road, I just got closer and closer to the smoke.

Forest Service trucks were passing me but nobody stopped me, which I thought was promising.  But then, as I created a hill, I saw a hiker stopped up ahead, talking to a guy in one of the trucks.  I walked up, already knowing what they were going to say.  Sure enough, the forest service guy informed me he had to shuttle us about 2 miles through the burned part.  The other hiker saw my expression and said, “Hey, look, it’s still a thru-hike if you don’t tell anyone you took a ride”. 

What?!  

I said simply, “Well, I’d know and that’s what matters”. 

I don’t understand the mentality of “if nobody knows about it it’s ok”.  It’s like people who cheat to win - they may fool others but they can’t fool themselves, so why do it?  How can you feel good about a victory you know to be false?  Everyone can hike their own hike and do what they want - but taking a ride isn’t something Nick and I want to do. 

I told both men that I was going to wait for my husband.  The other hiker got in the truck and was shuttled away.  

While I waited for Nick, I sat on the side of the road contemplating the situation.  Another forest service guy drove up and I asked him a lot of questions, such as the following:

-“Is there an alternative route we can walk?”

-“Since you are able to drive through it, can I sign a waiver saying I accept responsibility and walk through?”

-“If we camp here tonight will it be possible to walk through tomorrow?”

The answer to all three was “No, sorry”.

I sat back down on the side of the road and waited for Nick.  A few more forest service guys drove up and I tried to get more info from them.  They didn’t help much with the fire situation but they did tell me that Nick was about 1/2 mile away.

Nick arrived just as yet another forest service guy in a truck drove up.  I told Nick the situation.  Nick and I both tried to explain the concept of a continuous footpath to this poor man, who I’m sure had heard all about it from many other hikers.  The guy said, “yeah, but it’s only 2 miles… and I’ll let you out as soon as I can so maybe it will only be 1.5 miles”.  

I gently explained that it doesn’t matter how much of the trail we skip, it’s the principle behind it.  The fact that it’s only 1.5 miles is almost worse because then I’d have to say, “I walked all the way from Mexico to Canada except for 1.5 miles.” No thanks.

Nick pulled up a map and wanted to know exactly where the fire was.  At this point, the poor guy started to realize we weren’t going to get in the truck.  He mentioned that we could bushwhack around in the forest, but he didn’t recommend it because “it’s really steep and rocky out there”.  Another guy came over and showed us exactly where we would be safe to walk and where we could get back on the trail/road.

Nick and I set off immediately before they could change their minds.  

(Note: We know that fire is serious and we respect it.  However, this one was well under control, we were hiking upwind of it, and, most importantly, we had the ok of those involved.)

It wasn’t a terrible bushwhacking experience since the area was mostly pine trees with barely any undergrowth.  Plus, Nick is excellent with maps.  He was really in his element, finding us the easiest way around.  It felt like a real Adventure, including crawling under a barbed-wire fence.  We ended up walking 4 miles around, which, all things considered, isn’t too bad.

But still, that meant more miles than we had planned.

Nick walked ahead of me since I kept stopping to stretch my ankles. Even though the last few miles were a little lonely, I’m so glad he didn’t wait for me because that meant the tent was already up as I was hobbling into camp.  I made it just as the sun set behind the mountain, which was perfect timing - without the warmth of the sun, it was instantly cold.

We’re camping right next to the solar well.  I’m not sure we are supposed to be here, but I’m not going to worry about that (or about the cows).  All I want to do is sleep- I think we earned it.  :)

Along the trail:

Camp: