It gently stormed almost all night, which I enjoyed immensely. The rain does get a little loud on the tent, but I’m used to it. I love storms.
This morning, Nick accidentally put his instant coffee in my cup, which already had my coffee alternative drink in it, so I drank more caffeine than usual. It’s possible the extra caffeine gave me a little boost because I was in a great mood as I left camp. My great mood was also probably because I wasn’t in any pain, because I was listening to great music (Thomas Newman radio, he’s my favorite modern composer by far), and because we were about to hike into a new state. Needless to say, the hike this morning was extremely enjoyable.
After only a mile, I saw Master Chef and Fuego just about to enjoy their morning coffee. We laughed when we saw each other - we all ended up taking more time off in Steamboat Springs than we intended, so we all assumed we were behind the other. Such is trail life - you just never know who you are going to bump into.
I left Master Chef and Fuego to enjoy their coffee and I continued on, enjoying my music and my hike. The trail/road was very steep in some parts, but I took it all in stride - how can anyone be upset when they finally get to cross into a new state without being in pain? Plus, there was a sharp, refreshing smell of pine in the air that made me smile with each breath.
Before I knew it, I was at the border. I took a few pics and then waited for Nick so we could take a few more. He refused to take more than a few, though, so even though I had all sorts of cool ideas he refused to play along. Such is ‘hiking with Nick’ life - he hates taking pictures.
After picture time was over, I went looking for some nearby water. It was an awesome little quest as I followed directions such as, “walk on the trail until you see the downed tree, then turn left and follow the cairns. Continue past the puddle on your left and follow the social trail until you hear running water”. I brought back some water to Nick and then, after taking a little break to eat a few more snacks, I continued on my merry way.
After a while I had the pleasure of walking through a beautiful meadow, following a trail in the tall grass. It was slow going because it was pretty marshy, but I made it through without getting too wet. When I got to the other side and checked my position on the app, however, I realized the trail I had been following had led me astray. I refused to walk back through the marshy meadow, so I bushwhacked my way back to the trail. It wasn’t far away so no big deal.
After walking through the meadow, we hiked on a weird mix of service roads and trail. Whoever designed the trail seemed to merely link various roads together, which wasn’t a terrible idea but the execution left something to be desired - some parts were so steep it defied logic. And then, even though I neurotically checked the app every 10 minutes to make sure I hadn’t missed a turn, I missed a turn. Since I was checking my position so often it wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but I still had to bushwhack my way steeply uphill for about a half mile. So much bushwhacking! I was grateful my issue didn’t flare up in the process.
you can't tell from the picture, but the trail is going straight up
When I was finally standing where the app said the trail should be, it didn’t take me long to realize the trail at this point was mostly “look for the next cairn/pole”; this was actually fun and kept my mind occupied as I was always searching for the next cairn. I can’t say how many times I checked the app to ensure I was still on the right track, but it was a lot. I was determined not to get off-trail again.
After 9 more miles of difficult yet enjoyable hiking, I made it to our second planned meeting spot around 3pm. Even though I had gone off-trail (I sent Nick a Bivy message letting him know), I got there first - this was surprising as I had been taking it easy for fear of angering my issue. I made water, ate snacks, and relaxed on a rock. After a while a new hiker (Poles) came by. He said Man Hands was probably about 15 minutes away, so I continued to wait without worrying too much. To make good use of my time, I purified some water for Nick so he’d have some ready to drink when he got there.
After almost an hour, Nick finally showed up. He had started feeling some heat cramps a few miles back and stopped to take a break for about 30 minutes. I gave him the water I purified and sat with him for a while, making sure he was ok add purifying more water for him before I hiked on.
While sitting for over an hour was nice and gave my legs a well-earned break, I can never really enjoy stopping for too long when I know there are still miles to hike. I really do try to enjoy taking breaks in the middle of the day, but I still haven’t mastered that art - something in me wants to get all the hard work done before I stop to relax. I’m working on it, though, because I know it’s good to stop every now and then, especially when the terrain is so brutal.
By the time Nick had started to feel better, it was pretty late in the afternoon. So, while we had intended to hike another 6 miles, we decided to only go another 3.
Those last three miles were a lot of fun. There was about a mile of more insanely steep uphill to hike, but since it was back to “look for the next cairn/pole to find your way” I didn’t really notice the uphill - I was too busy trying to figure out where to go next.
By the time I made it to the water 3 miles away, Nick caught up to me. Yes, I did lose the trail again for a bit, but he was definitely feeling better and hiking very fast. We both grabbed 3 liters of water and then hiked on a bit, looking for a good campsite away from the water and mosquitos.
We found a great flat spot not too far down the trail, so Nick started to set up the tent while I started to purify the water. It didn’t take the mosquitos long to find us. I was able to walk around whilst purifying the water, which kept the mosquito swarm away from me for the most part; However, Nick didn’t have that luxury and would periodically yell at the mosquitos out of frustration.
Here’s the thing - I can’t complain about the mosquitos. They are annoying, sure, but they can’t help what they are. More importantly, back on Day 89, when I was walking on the road and getting bitten by black flies and mosquitos, I thought to myself that I’d happily put up with flies and mosquitos for the rest of the trail if I could just walk without pain again. Well, the Universe must have heard me and must want to know how much I meant it because here I am, walking without pain for the past several days while suffering mosquitos instead. It’s all relative. To me, nothing is as terrible as being in pain, not even voracious blood sucking monsters.
That being said, as soon as the tent was up we didn’t waste time. We blew up our air mattresses while walking around (like I did when purifying the water) and then scrambled to get inside the tent. In the mad rush to get inside, Nick’s air mattress suddenly deflated. It took us a bit to find the hole, but when we did we realized it had gotten cut on a rock, which had also cut through the bottom of the tent. While we usually take the time to clear such things away before setting up the tent, dealing with the mosquitos caused us to miss that important step. Oops.
While the cut in his mattress was pretty big, it wasn’t so big that we couldn’t fix it with the repair kits we carry. We also fixed the hole in the tent (Nick carries repair tape for that, too). Then we took some time to feel for any more sharp rocks hiding underneath the tent, which is a lot more difficult to do after the tent is already up with all our things already inside. Still, we did it.
After all the suspicious rocks were cleared away, we were finally able to get settled in and go about our normal evening routines - clean up, rehydrate dinner, write the blog. Because of all the excitement, I’m up a lot later than usual. It’s ok, though, because it’s a short 8 miles to the road where we’re hitching to Encampment. I can do with a little less sleep knowing I’ll be in town tomorrow.
Along the trail:
Camp:
