I slept soundly until 4 am, which is when I heard the weirdest sound.  At first, I thought it was an animal calling for help from the bottom of a well; as the sleepiness wore off I realized it was the bugling of an elk, except it wasn’t the long, drawn-out, haunting tones I heard on the PCT - this was a shortened version of it, more like a bark.  It was beautiful but damn if that elk didn’t bark around our tent until it was time to get up for the day.  I didn’t even have a chance to see him.  Bummer. 

Because I was so rudely awakened, of course, I had to get up to pee.  While getting out of my warm quilt in the middle of the night is often a huge act of will, I’m so glad I did because the sky was absolutely gorgeous.  As I gazed up, the stars shone down and the tops of the pine trees were in silhouette against the night sky.  If it wasn’t so cold and if the ground wasn’t full of pokey things, I would have happily dragged my mat and quilt out there so I could look at the sky the rest of the night.  Thanks, elk, for walking me up.  

This is the picture I attempted to take with my phone:

We left later than usual this morning because Nick went in search of better water.  He read there was also a well in the area and we both hoped it had better water than the cattle pond.  He found the well but there was no water in it, so we had to make do with the disgusting cattle pond.  Not even the Nuun tablet I threw in my water bottle could take away the terrible taste (just writing about it makes me want to gag, it was easily the worst tasting water I’ve ever had).

We walked on what we thought was the trail for a little while until Nick checked the FarOut app and realized we weren’t on the right one.  No worries, we just bushwhacked our way down to the actual trail and all was well.  

We were happily walking along and then Nick checked the app again.  We had somehow missed a turn and had walked OVER A MILE in the wrong direction. Talk about demoralizing. Looking on the bright side, I’m glad it happened early so I was fresh and able to handle the news well.  I just sighed and accepted the extra miles with grace.  I’m also glad we were together when it happened.

We walked ALL THE WAY back to where we missed the turn.  Once there (it seemed to take forever) we saw a stick arrow pointing the way.  I’m not sure how we missed the arrow (obviously someone else missed the trail, too), but I don’t feel bad about missing the trail because there wasn’t even a trail there to see.  Without the app (and the arrow) we never would have found it.  We put up a cairn and added more arrows for the hikers behind us.  

It was 9:30 by the time we got ourselves sorted and hiking in the right direction.  The next 10 miles to the water source were uneventful.  I tried to figure out my ankle annoyance and have come to the conclusion that it’s likely a combination of tight calf muscles and the runners loop I’ve been using to lace my shoes.  The runners loop makes the shoe tighter around the ankle, which I started using because of all the heel blisters I was getting. Maybe I was tying my shoes too tight?  Also, I noticed that I don’t have any issues when I go uphill, just down, so that makes me think there’s some tightness somewhere (but let’s be honest, my entire body needs a good stretch). Anyway, I’ve experienced this before but still, it is annoying.

Nick continues to do his Achilles stretches but I think they still bother him.  Poor guy, he hates going uphill as much as I love it. 

Because of our extra off-trail miles, we had to walk 15 miles to get to the next water source.  The cool temperature saved us because we each only had two liters of water - I ran out just as I saw the next water source in the distance.  (I typically drink about 1 liter for every 5 miles I walk.) I also ate all the snacks I had allotted myself for the entire day before I got there.  My crazy outburst yesterday told me I’m definitely not eating enough, so I made a point to eat a lot today.  Wouldn’t you know it, I was in a good mood all day - I didn’t even attack any bushes or scream about the stupid downhills that aggravated my ankle.  

At the water source (which was 100 times better than the cattle pond) we bumped into Jakoby, Master Chef and Fuego, Blink, and Curtis.  It was, as always, fun to chat with other hikers.  Blink knows the guy who made our Fanny packs - he had one custom-made for himself and it looks awesome (obviously he got to pick the colors he wanted, unlike the rest of us who just get what we get).

I ate more snacks on the 6-mile hike to camp and maintained my good spirits all the way.  Don’t worry, I have more than enough food to get me to our next resupply.  For some reason, I’m always worried about running out of food, so I haven’t been eating what I should.  I need to get over this, though, and just eat the food I’m carrying to stay healthy, happy, and sane.

We are at another cattle pond for the night but this one is ok.  For one thing, there are no cows around.  For another, the water here tastes just fine (although it is a bitch to filter with all the insects and such in it).

Along the trail:

Camp: