Mile 2239 to 2274
Remember that day just after Kennedy Meadows where Fey and I walked 25 miles on a whim? There was no good reason, it just seemed like the thing to do. Well, yeah, today was the same thing.
We were curious to see how far we could make it during a regular day if we were more judicious in how long we stopped to rest and eat lunch. Turns out, we can make it about 35 miles!
[Morning view from camp with no clouds; The famed Goat Rocks Wilderness!; sunny trail and mountains]
Around mile 31 we passed a couple that was camping with their dog, and they offered us some whisky. We both declined, which is par for the course with us, as we still had some walking to do. But as I hiked on I felt like turning down whisky was not in the spirit of the day, so I dropped my pack, ran back a few hundred yards and had a drink.
It was dark when we reached our destination, “several exposed campsites.” This may or may not have been one of the highest points on the trail in Washington, well above tree line, on a rocky mountain side. Again, why not!? Well, let me tell you why not. Because it can be a beautiful night when you go to bed, and around midnight you may wake up to howling wind trying to blow your tent over and freeze you to death at the same time.
My tent slapped me in the face, kicked at my feet and seemed to dance all around me. I did my best to sleep through it, but it was one of those nights were sleep came in ten minute increments. At one point I put the rain fly of the tent over me (inside the tent) to try and shed some of the wind that was cruising through the mesh sides. Glorious.
Hawkeye had a decidedly poorer night than myself, as his tent repeatedly fell down and he had to attach an extra guy line and hold his stakes down with well over a hundred pounds of rock. But you know… Why not! And the sunrise in the morning sort of made up for the poor night, sort of.
