I couldn’t get up at 6:30, I was just too cold and wanted to see the sun shining on my tent, so Tabasco and I both waited until 7 to get up. We were on trail a little after 8am and began our hike by finishing last night’s climb. Outstanding views greeted us above tree line, which we enjoyed immensely, especially since we were on an east facing ridge and felt the early morning rays of the sun. Once at the secluded cirque with a tarn, we began descending and lost the sun for the next couple hours, returning to cold, and I had to tolerate my numb hands once again for most of the morning.
We made good time, dropping 2300 feet, and midway down passed Tyvek, who I met the day before climbing Mt. Whitney, when Tyvek told us he had spent the prior night at Whitney’s summit, then had his two air mattresses blown off the mountain by a sudden gust of wind. We kept hiking down, almost to Lemah Creek, when my soul brothers, Nabor J, Chowda and Alaska Brian (now called Sweet Potato) met us on the trail. After exchanging hugs with the fellas, we all dropped packs, sat down in the middle of the trail and exchanged trail talk for almost an hour. It was so great to see these guys again and I only wish we had been able to spend time in a town together. Sweet Potato entertained us with photos on his digital camera of some pretty wild stuff that had happened with these guys in trail towns. I’ll keep the details out of the journal, thank you very much. We reluctantly said our goodbyes and continued on to Lemah Creek, where Tabasco and I spread out gear in limited sunlight to dry and both cooked lunch. Then I ate a second lunch and 3 bars as well.
It was now 2pm and we had 12 miles behind us, with 13 to go. The next 6 were all up, 2200 feet in six miles, which we accomplished in 2 hours. Then we dropped steeply to Park Lakes and had another stiff 1000 foot climb from there to Chickamin Pass. Up at the pass more spectacular scenery was around us and as we turned a corner we met up with Rob (trail name Bear Can’t). He was a hiking partner of Tabasco’s down south, so we spent 30 minutes talking with him, including seeing a large photo of a huge brown bear with his head in Rob’s pack. Turns out, back in Yosemite, at 5am the bear got his pack. Rob gave chase and had to watch as the bear ignored his attempts to get it to leave and it ate every bit of food in his pack. Great photo of the bear and I’m thankful it wasn’t me.
Just after pushing on, Hobbles was the next NOBO, a fellow that I hiked with some in the High Sierra. Again there was an exchange of trail talk and when we finally resumed hiking, there was some doubt from both Tabasco and me that we would get our 25 miles in with all the hiker delays. We pushed on and one of those damned hidden climbs was next, with rough trail of lots and lots of rocks. I was tired and my legs didn’t want to climb and my heels were hurting from the steep grades, so I hiked much slower than Tabasco, up that final push to Needle Sight Gap. Again, just remarkable, breathtaking views of Mt. Rainier and surrounding high peaks at sunset were the backdrop to the last couple miles as dark quickly approached.
Nearly dark when we entered dense forest at 7:15pm, we searched up and down trail for a suitable piece of flat ground, finally settling for two almost flat spots just off trail. It was so cold we both set up our tents and cooked in our respective vestibules to avoid freezing; our first night not cooking together with some social time. Mission accomplished getting our miles in and we have just 10 miles tomorrow to Snoqualmie Pass. As a bonus, I was able to get a faint cell phone signal and called Debi to check on her day at the wedding of a close friend. It’s now 9pm and I’ve written enough for a cold night and crawling in the sleeping bag is next. My thermarest has a tumor; it has a large bubble at one end, making sleeping difficult, but tonight is its last night on the trail and tomorrow it gets a replacement. Today’s wonderful weather: sunny again. Low 27, high 55. Today’s miles: 24.6; cumulative miles: 1567.0.
