Didn’t sleep well last night. It was a good spot. Exposed, but no wind. The rain fly was not on but it was a good temperature. So what’s was wrong?
Well, the skeeters were thick around the tent. A couple of them made it inside before I zipped up before bed, so they were buzzing me all night long. My headlamp was out, so I’d wake up and flail around then try to go back to sleep. The damn moon was full so that was like a 20 watt bulb in my face. Constant buzzing outside my tent plus my tormentor inside. Sucked.
In the morning, I found the remaining live mosquito all fat from sucking my blood.
I was going to squish her, but then I thought. Hey, this damn creature spent all night dodging my blows. She won and I lost. So I let her go. She will spawn a race of super-skeeters on the Buttes for next year’s hikers. Fear her offspring.
Packed up and took a pano of the surroundings. Really nice spot, aside from the insects.
I wasn’t waiting around for Soho, so I took off while he was stretching. Figured he’d catch me anyway.
Got into a little snow at first, but it wasn’t bad.
There is a neat car camping area up here. The trail parallels a dirt road with camp sites on either side. Apparently someone took some mercy on us, because I ran into this little sign.
Pointing at this
Soho arrived shortly after, then Pocahontas and grumpy BF showed up to grab a couple. They were nice and cold. Great for breakfast.
Talked to a couple camping here. They said the lakes are stocked and the fishing is supposed to be good. Lot of trails to ride mountain bikes on.
Kept on rolling, lot of lakes around here.
Here comes the pain
This bit was super sketchy. It was an open ridge line of snow that curved off into who-knows-what. Could see and didn’t want to. My poles were racked, so I grabbed two sticks for my self-arresting gear. I don’t think they sell those at REI.
After that we got into a tree line with some more of this crap.
As we went lower it was a mixed bag of nasty and nice.
We had lunch next to a stream and a bunch of piles of snow. It was here that, through my own genius, I created a fantastic new trail sensation. Tang Slushie. Here is the recipe:
- Clear off the top layer of snow, including all sticks, dirt, footprints, and leaves.
- Scoop into cooking pot that virgin snow (well as far as you can tell it is).
- Add a bunch of tang powder
- Furiously stab at the pile until mixed up and correct consistency
- Enjoy
Soho agrees, it ranks in the top ten.
Bunch of hiking down to a stream for our camp site. There is so much vegetation around here, the vistas are getting harder to find. Mosquitos seem to like it though.
Camp is at Nelson Creek swamp. Our insect friends were feasting today. Soho was out there with his hat and shirt off getting raped. He says, “help, I’m being violated”. I made a fast dinner and zipped up. Screw these bugs. 19 miles today. Die Mosquitos, just Die.