Day 113: “Lets grow a pair”

August 10, Day 113: 1983.9-1878.3, PCT ALT

Miles Hiked: 35.1

Gratitude of the Day: I’m thankful for water caches after a long hot section of trail 

I decided to take it easy today and slept in until 6am, the sunrise threw beautiful pink colors on the hills to the west and it was nice and cool as I left camp. A couple miles later I made it to Thielson Creek, this was the last water source on trail for 22 miles. I could have taken some detours off trail to get water but that would have meant 2 additional miles for the day, so I decided I’d hike the 22 miles with 2 L of water and just ration my water until I reached the water cache at Windigo Pass. So I drank a liter before leaving and filled up 2 L and walked on. About an hour later I caught up with Bang, a hiker I’ve hiked since the desert but he’s been ahead of me. I stopped and had a snack and we hiked out together from our break. At 1pm we decided to take lunch and I set my hammock up and made a peanut butter and jelly wrap. We packed up around 1:45 to do the last 8.8 miles to the water cache. It seemed like forever as I was rationing my water all I could think about was the ice cold fountain Coca Cola from the cafe yesterday. By 4:45 I reached the cache and the wonder water, even if it was warm. I drank my fill. Bang had mentioned earlier in the day that there was a PCT alternative trail into Shelter  Cove and this junction would be where we’d take it. We decided to eat dinner at the cache so we wouldn’t have to carry water. Once finished I figured we’d go another 3-5 miles, Bang had a different idea…”Let’s grow a pair and do the 10 miles to Whitefish Horse Camp”.

Famous quote by Bang

 So that’s what we did. We took off at 6:15 to do another 10.75 miles to the horse camp that had a trail angel that gives out apples and sodas. The alternate trail was flat and cruisey, and 10.75 miles long. This meant I’d hike into the night. Around 8:30 I popped my headlamp on and about a mile out Bang and I decided to walk the paved road the rest of the way into camp. It was foggy as we walked the road with our headlamps, definitely very eerie. Once to Whitefish Horse Camp the camp host Gerry came out, showed us where to camp, gave us a soda and an apple.