Stormtrooper has been talking me up that I can pull 30’s. After all, he says, I’ve already done an accidental 28 two days ago. He’s been monitoring my pace and figures I’m averaging close to 3 miles/hr. I’m not so sure, but I’m willing to give it a go. So today I agree to aim for 2374, which will be about 26 with 5.5k of climbing. That will be my hardest day yet. I take a quick picture of the bog next to the cabin and head off.
We leave together and have a good morning chat during the first climb. I’m watching his stride and decided to take a video. Stormy was born for this stuff.
After that he falls behind, probably to take a break and let me get further ahead. Not much relaxing for me. My feet quickly get wet from all the morning dew today. Over time the next couple hours my feet stay wet while I’m hiking a hard 3 mile/hr pace.
Storm catches me on a break, then passes me. Dog Bite, who start 30 minutes behind me also passes me on a slope. That guys is 10 years older than me. Jeez. I’m slowing down and my right toes start bothering me. I stop to switch out my socks and discover a nasty blister between my pinky toe and the one next to it. I spend another 20 minutes patching that up, then it is slow, painful going. The wet feet and the pace is starting to take its toll.
Seeing some of the first burned areas up here. It is interesting that the burns here tend to be much more contained. I suspect that the forest is so wet most of the time, it just follows a path up hill then burns out or is contained
Ran into Stormy at the next water stop. It is a small stream in a sloped meadow. Wildflowers all over the place. Stormtrooper is sitting on a log filtering water and eating. There is a cloud of mosquitoes around him which he ignores. He likes to duck hunt. So I’m asking him about Wisconsin mosquitoes compared to here. He says something like “Yeah they get pretty bad” which is Stormtrooper talk for Hell on Earth.
I’m beginning to understand the benefits and limits of Deet. I used to spray it indiscrimately. Now I’m realizing that it is better to put it in a few places and rub it around and apply it a couple times a day max. It doesn’t always stop the bugs but over time they give up. I rarely have a Stormtrooper sized the cloud he has around me. I suppose that is the best outcome I can hope for.
We pack up and hike together for a while. Someone needs to marry this boy. He is such a good guy. I’m asking him about it and he says “Well it is hard to find a girl that likes to duck hunt.” Yeah, that might restrict the candidate pool substantially.
Duck hunting. He has a ton of stories. He has a black lab that he has trained to retrieve the ducks. They train them to respond to a whistle. So after blasting the birds, the dog hops in the water and swims out. Using the whistle, you get the dog’s attention and can then direct him toward the birds you want to retrieve first.
Stormtrooper says his dog is getting older, 8 years I think, and is beginning to have a mind of his own. He tells me sometimes he will ignore direction and get the birds in the order he wants. Stormy doesn’t mind. He says the dog has earned the freedom….he always gets all the ducks anyway. He told me recently sometimes the dog will bring back the last duck and not drop it. Instead the dog takes it over to the side and sits down to gently licking the feathers. It cracks me up.
Somewhere along the way I’m alone again walking. Feet keep bugging me. The terrain is getting rockier and together with the moisture, I’m getting some bad rubs. Another thing that affects my pace are these little gems
Around 3, I run into Storm and Dog Bite near a final water stop.
I get to know Dog Bite a little more. He is a sailor, had a 27 foot sailboat at Puget sound. Thinking about buying a bigger one someday and doing some long distance sailing. He has plenty of sailing/fishing stories, but it seems that most of his stories keep coming back principle-of-the-school stories. Stormy seems very interested in how he dealt with rebellious teenagers. Heh.
I ate some late lunch. Dog Bite is headed for 2374 to camp with us and he heads out while I’m packing up. Don’t need the water I’m using so little in these cool temperatures. As I’m leaving, Hefe shows up. He sits downs and smokes a joint while regaling Stormy with his old-guy hiker stories. I hang a little longer, tell him we are headed to 2374, then take off.
StormTrooper catched me just before the campsite and is like “hey man, you have told all these folks where we are going…but it says there are only 2 tent sites there”. Oops. Well we get there and Dog Bite is setting up. There are two other tents at the other site. The folks in those tents are already asleep. I squeeze into Dog Bite’s spot, Storm takes a small flat spot a few yards away. Hefe shows up after 8 all exhausted. Dog Bite moves around and we squish Hefe in with us. He is super appreciative. So that’s how you fit 6 tents in a 2 tent site 🙂
I crash to the combined snores of Hefe and Dog Bite.