Day 57: Surprisingly Easy

Miles Hiked 24.5

Total Milage: 911.6

Location: North Three Island Creek

This morning we all woke up at 5:30 and started hiking around 6am. Before we left I got some good stretching in. Hummingbird and I lead the way for a little bit at the start of the day. We were walking on a dirt ATV road with lots of blown down trees on either side. Thank goodness the trees were all cut and moved to the side of the trail for the most part, otherwise it would have been a nightmare to hike through so many fallen trees. Before we took our first break, we passed another hiker going Northbound with Snowshoes and Spikes hanging off of his pack. Hummingbird knew him from earlier down the trail. He is trying to hike the great western loop which includes the PCT, AZT, GET, CDT, and PNWT in one year. I would guess this is about 8,000 miles long. I believe only two other people have done it. Hummingbird told me that he had to average 35 miles per day to make it happen. I really hope he’s able to finish it because it would be so impressive!

The miles flew by so fast and easy today which I was not expecting at all. We were below 10000 feet for most of the day and there wasn’t anywhere near as much snow as I expected. The only time I hiked through a lot of snow was the small portions that we were over 10000 feet. I listened to my favorite podcast for the first half of the day. It’s called Backpacker radio, they have interesting guests and it makes me laugh so much. For lunch we took a break in a nice green meadow with lots of yellow flowers and a great view. After lunch we had to cross lots of creeks that were absolutely raging. The snow melt makes them flow very strongly, some of the crossings were a little stressful for me because fast moving water gives me a lot of anxiety. A bridge was out over one of the more dangerous crossings and we had to road walk around it.

Near the end of the day, I stepped off the trail to let a group of 6 horses and 6 dogs pass by. Seeing all the dogs made me so happy. We all planned to camp together at North Three Island Creek but when Hummingbird and I got there we couldn’t find 12 Pack anywhere. He was definitely ahead of us. We looked all around for him before walking a little further to the next nice looking camping spot to set up our tents. I assumed he wanted to camp alone since I couldn’t find him. For dinner I made some Ramen. When I opened my food bag, the container of cheese dip I was carrying had exploded all over everything. I accidentally got cheese everywhere. Im really hoping a hungry bear doesn’t wander near by tonight. I saw some bear poop and fur on the trail right before camp. About an hour after we got to camp, 12 Pack showed up. He told us he got lost from some directions that trail maintainers had given him. I was so happy he showed up! We plan to wake up at 4:30 tomorrow so I am going to sleep pretty early.