We slept on the second floor of the Hut last night.   A hiker named Paul was with us, then later 4 other hikers showed up and chatted late into the night.    Didn’t matter, slept like a baby. 

I forgot to get a pic of the hut, but there are plenty online.    It is was a good stay.   

Well, today’s activities involved walking on snow, getting lost, falling on snow, getting lost some more, stepping in mud, etc.    Just about the entire day was spent on the stuff.     Here is a sampler: 

This part a nice change.   Instead of just snow or wet trail, we get lots of snow to get lost in, then get dropped off in a marsh of mud to wonder around in. 

Despite how miserable this might look, it was an interesting change on the hike.    If you look at my trace through this section, you’ll notice we are far off the trail in some cases.   That is because all the snow change the navigation.   Focus is in picking a landmark and avoiding the hazards rather than following the trail.   We just tried to intersect the trail occasionally to stay on course.    Bonus was that we got to cut a bunch of switch backs which helped make up for the slow progress. 

I’m glad I wore boots in this stuff.   Despite what the ultra-light mafia says, boot are better in my opinion.   I can kick better steps, they hold their edge on hills, and I can heel plunge on the down hills.   On that last technique, I think it is killing my knees.    I’m locking my knee on those plunges to make sure I break through to a good step.   By the end of the day I can barely bend them.   Have to change techniques tomorrow.

We ran into a dude named Sling Blade south bounding.   He said we had a couple more days of snow before it cleared up.    Yay.  

Shortly after crossing a big creek, we ascended again into 100% snow.   Soho found a dirt road that mostly paralleled the PCT for a few miles.    Or we could climb up and down a ridge in even greater misery.   Here was our choice: 

Had some lunch at a small dry spot.   Shortly after, we found this: 

I guess the body was carried off by the wolves. 

 

We eventually rejoined the trail, well, we were 5 feet above the trail since it was still covered.   The trail dried out on some exposed Western and Southern spots, with a few snowy sections in the covered Northern slopes.  

 

Soho wanted his miles, so we pushed on to Mules Ears Creek.   He went ahead as I started slowing down.   When I got there around 7 PM, we found a couple (Caveman and Hot Lips) and two other gals sitting on the good spots next to a fire…all comfy.     We got to scour the nearby hillside for a semi-level spot.   Here’s the super lux spot we found. 

Didn’t bother chatting with the other hikers after setting up.    Made some food and crashed.  18 miles today.      

 

 

 

topic, my knees are killing me  are