We planned to end today’s hike at a trail junction that, on the map, looked like it was flat and was also near water. However, when we finally got there, we were saddened to see the water was down a very steep cliff (the contour lines on the map we looked at didn’t make it look that steep). I was all for hiking onward, figuring we would find water before too long, after which we could figure out where to camp from there.
Nick, on the other hand, wanted to see if he could find water somewhere in the vicinity. He loves his maps and, after looking at one, felt strongly that there should be water a tenth of a mile behind us.
You all know how I feel about backtracking, but he was in Boy Scout Mode, all excited to find water. So, even though I didn’t see water when I hiked past that area the first time and disagreed with his decision, I walked back the tenth of a mile with him. Then I took a break next to our packs while he spent 20 minutes searching the area for water.
He didn’t find any. Despite thoughts of, “we could have been a mile down the trail by now”, I do appreciate the effort he put forth to find us water and prevent us from having to hike any further because the hiking today wasn’t easy. While there wasn’t much snow or too many blowdowns, there was a lot of walking up and a lot of walking down and barely any flat. Even going up, which is usually my specialty, kicked my ass and I had to stop and take a breather a few times before continuing upward. (The views were spectacular once we got to the top, though, so it was always worth it.)
Since the terrain was so challenging, I’m beat despite only hiking 20 miles; this is why I appreciated Nick’s effort to find water, even though I knew deep down that we’d have to hike on. At least we didn’t have to hike the 4 miles to the spring I mentally prepared myself for - we happened upon some snowmelt that suited us just fine less than a mile down the trail.
Once we obtained water, using the cooking pot to scoop it up, we got into another minor disagreement about where to set up the tent. I was all for going a little further down the trail, where it looked like there was a nice flat area surrounded by trees. Nick, however, had spotted a site behind us (i.e. we had to backtrack again) and, back in Boy Scout Mode, he made a beeline towards it without even looking at the site I thought would work. Worse, we had to go further off trail than I would have liked to find a flat spot. I was a little miffed but it’s impossible to stay mad at a guy who is just trying to keep things fun, so we hugged and all is well.
After such a long day, I’m happy to finally be in my beloved quilt!
Along the trail:
Camp:
