June 19 – 26.4 miles, gain 5,000 feet.
I wake up at 6am and hang out in my tent until 7am. Then I collect my food bag and head towards the shelter. I see the Jims, who have already walked 5 miles this morning. I'm about to tell them I lost my trail family and am probably alone now when something in the shelter catches my eye. The four of them sleep in there. Apparently Magpie, who was stung by bees yesterday, had a reaction and had to take Benadryl, and another Tramily member had a sore throat and was sleeping. The others are also resting. Happy was in his tent, so he came ready to leave before he found out about the change of plans. I decide I'm going to eat and then take care of some equipment.
I have breakfast and hang my clothes and tent on a line to dry a little. Then I decide I need to move on. I won't be able to follow these people; I should hike as much as I can today. Happy is also on board to go hiking. We leave and go up the stream to the first road. We keep a slow pace because it's already hot and he's sweating.
The next water after this creek is Cow Camp, which is about 6 miles and 3,000 feet gain from where we started. It is also 0.6 miles from the trail in each direction. If we can go a few miles further, we can get to Hog Camp, which has a spring just 0.3 miles from the trail. This is the preferred option. I fill up with 2 liters before leaving camp. We will have a creek running through leaving the creek and then more water. I drink a liter by the time I get to the creek and fill up to 2 liters. We continue our hike. We hit the road again and take a break. This is where the steep 3.8 mile climb begins. We will have 2400 feet of climbing to the Bald Knob summit, which is neither bald nor a knob. FarOut comments tell us that this climb is brutal and that we are going to die. SOBOers complain that the walk down the mountain takes forever and is very steep. As a NOBOer riding this beast, I have no sympathy for their gravity-assisted plight.
We observe the signs when Spruce joins us. She also wants to do a few kilometers today. She's a pretty fast hiker and had no trouble catching up. Finally, we leave as a group and go back up the mountain. Soon after, I begin to struggle; I sit down for a moment. Spruce moves on. Happy sticks around. Then I still have trouble moving on to the next section. I send it in advance. It takes me another 20 minutes to realize I'm crazy. I eat energy gel packs and candy. It takes me another 30 minutes to regain all my strength. I'm going up. I stop at what I think is the summit, but it's actually one of dozens of false summits that this “button” has.
I soon continue on, then I see Happy sitting at the top, eating and enjoying the view. I join him and snack. I tell him I'm stupid and crazy, but I'm fine now. We enjoy the view then continue the hike. We continue to climb. And the mountain continues to rise. We realize that it was also a false summit. We start playing “summit or false summit”, a game where you guess if it is really the summit. We eventually find it, but it's so inauspicious that we don't realize it's the summit. The Jims had already arrived and set up their day camp. They are at the summit but are actually telling us that the summit is yet to come. There's no water up there, but they say they don't need it because they're going to sleep.
We continue. It's downhill towards Cow Camp. We arrive at the sign and decide we have enough water to continue. You have to climb some more to get to Hog Camp, but it's not too bad. We pass by a small gravel road, and I hope the trail will be magical, but it's not there. We drop off our packs and walk 0.3 miles down the hill to get water. I'll bring up 4 liters and have lunch here. We will also wait for the end of the hot weather with a long break.
Spring doesn't look great when I arrive. It comes out of something that was man-made and looks like it could be closed with a manhole cover. There are swarms of flies and the current is shallow; there is no easy place to fill a water bag. I throw a leaf into the crystalline current and am relieved to see that the water is flowing quite quickly. I fill my bag with a scooping motion and begin filtering the clear, cold water.
I decide that spring is good. It's not perfect, but the water is good and we've had much worse here. I drink water from the source, but I mainly filter it to bring it back up. It's a long process, so we're just hanging out.
This is when we are joined by Bliss. The trail name Bliss sounds awesome to me. He has traveled over 800 miles since May 11, and today will be a 25 mile day. I later learn that he is at university and that he only has his summer vacation for this adventure. He only took a zero. Bliss shatters my illusions when he tells me that Bliss is short for Blister… ouch! He had some bad ones. We finish collecting our water and return to our bags. We eat and rest on our foam cushions. I'm trying a new meal package: Peak Fuel Biscuits and Gravy. It's solid and 1100 calories. It's great. I also snack a little to get more calories.
I feel a deep fatigue within me. I know I should stay here, but I feel like I should go to the next shelter or at least the next camp. This is an “easy” course of 7.8 miles and 1,700 feet of gain. We have beautiful views as we go up the ridge and even find wild strawberries near the trail. I'm running out of energy. I don't have any gas or fumes either. I don't even know how I move. My vision is tunnelled and I am hyper-focused. I think I'll stop talking and walk. I have to put on my pole straps because I keep dropping them. I can barely think; my thoughts are simple and linear. During my hike, there are times when I feel like I'm underwater and I see the ferns and other forest plants swaying as if they were algae in the ocean current. I don't think it's hot anymore, but my skin is still damp and a little clammy. I continue to drink my water. It's getting late. We are about to arrive at camp without a headlamp. I'm having a surprisingly good time considering my haze, but I haven't looked at anything but the trail in hours. Every now and then I pause, check the remaining distance and tell Happy. I feel like I should have stopped at one of those tent sites. I think we passed some water, but I don't stop to refill it. I haven't come out yet.
I come across a sight I barely believe, but I stop to see it: a tree near the path has collapsed and formed a perfect arch. The path crosses it. I'm confused by this tree door. In my foggy state, I examine it before continuing.
I arrive at the camp. The spruce is there. I sit down to rest and say hello. She is at the shelter with a few others. A tent seems preferable to crowds. With rest, the strange fog clears a little but my thoughts remain simple and slow. I set up my tent, then chatted with Spruce until she was about to fall asleep.
I don't eat dinner because I think I'm still full from 5 hours ago. I lie down and fall asleep quickly.
