Mile 2052 to 2073

Heading to Timothy Lake

I wake in total darkness to the gentle sounds of rain. I scramble out of my tent, wake Kevin and help him put on his rain fly. I doubt it will rain hard or long, but everything is getting wet. I toss his pack into my tent and dive back in.

When we wake later we have a quick breakfast of bagels and pack up our wet gear. We re-enter the green tunnel and remain there for most of the day. The shade is nice but not helpful for drying our wet things. We stop frequently, not because of Kevin’s blisters but because of my aching back. I pop some of Kevin’s hiker skittles, or Ibuprofen as some like to call them. At each break we snack on one or another of our various candy bars. My mouth is hurting from too much candy and we have 3 more days of sweetness.

Candy Break

At one of our breaks a group of 3 women and a dog catch us. The women are excited we are PCT hikers and proceed to tell us what, when riding on their horses, they normally offer to hikers: nectarines, apples, cookies and candy. But since today they are walking they have absolutely nothing. It is like the old Let’s Make A Deal show when Monty Hall asks Jay to tell the contestants what they would have won if they had just selected the correct curtain. I lie and tell them that their smiles and words of encouragement are enough to feed our souls. In reality, our souls and our bodies are starving.

We filter water at a creek and hike on to a dry camp by Timothy Lake. We make our meal by combining things we took from the hiker box, including a Bearcreek chicken soup and a bag of what seems like veggie pasta mix. While eating our meal an extended family of Mexicans, numbering around veintiuno, climb way up from the shore of Timothy Lake carrying all manner of gear and toys: rafts, paddles, life vests, popup tents, ice chests, barbecue grills, lawn chairs and bags of who knows what. It takes the hombres about five trips each to get it all. They look at our tiny pile of gear and laugh.

As we finish our meal our dry camp becomes a wet one as it starts to rain. At least I get to put Kevin’s rain fly on in the fading daylight rather than total darkness.