Friday, August 04, 2017

Day 9, the Pumice Desert

For an unknown reason right at 7.15 I decided to up and move a mile.  I went from nice green trees and forest duff to a lot of standing dead and dust.  I have more flies and less mosquitoes. I'm also farther from the road which is why I think I moved.  Per Park regulations campers are to be 1 mile from any road, over 200 feet from the trail, along with other things not pertaining to being outside the caldera.  The other location was 1/2 mile from the road and trail side.  I'm 1.6 miles away from the road, hidden by a down, and 100 ish feet from the trail.

The trail just clips the Pumice Desert, I cruised in and out in little time.  There was a fellow to camped there who wanted to play 20 questions.  On the third topic I took off.  At that point he was burning he cool of the day.

I got up to hwy 138, mile 1845.3.   Trail Magic just inside the forest.  Ha! fooled, a cooler full of trash and a 5 gallon jug that'd been kicked a few times as it's bone dry.

It's 9.40, I've knocked off about 7 miles of my day already.  I need water shortly.  Hopefully Thielsen Creek in about 8 miles will have water.

About half a mile up was a water cache.  I stopped for another break.

Mt Thielsen, mile 1849.6 another hiker had stopped in an area with a view.  He offered me some m&m"s.  A mile and a half to the next water source.  I chose to eat a bit here too, also need to rest my hips.

 I think my pack has more of my shirt on it than I do.  I've tried high and low.  I'm still looking for the right balance to have the weight on the hips and not to chaff.

Why do I write so much about the issues?  it's something to do.  I look at trees all day.  I look at Trail all day.  I review the maps occasionally to see where water is and hopefully a view.  The views on this section are few and far between.

Mile 1853.5 Thielsen Creek, from where I had lunch, view kept getting  better.  I stopped at a Pass to tend to yesterday's blister.  I am awestruck by this mountain.  Two different areas produced spectacular views my photos will not capture.  Maybe they won't reveal much to you, however for me, wow punch.

Here at this creek, I stopped for water.  My goal for today's been reached yet at 3.15 why stop now.  As I was putting on my socks after an ice cold foot soak, one sock almost escaped.  So I caught in rinsed it and sat back a bit more.

This last leg, I've had the pack low.  This is making a difference.  I keep thinking what can I loose for the next trip?  I brought the eTrex GPS u it to help with bailouts, that can go.  I am thinking about going stoveless.  The (ham) radio is nice but not used, since it's battery drains when installed, I keep it out, an inconvenience.  Less food, yup, 2 lbs maybe to much.  Definitely I'm carrying to much water.  I hope that the leg about 242 is the last long carry and between here and there, this is also my last long carry.

Time to move.  I want to go until I can.

I just passed the OR/WA PCT high point at 7560ft.  One could say it's all down hill from here.  It's also my 21st mile of the day.  That makes back to back 20's.  I want to keep moving, 2 more hours of daylight.  Looks like some camp able terrain ahead. Next water is in 9 and I haven't even taken a sip from what I got at Thielsen Creek.  This air is clear here and the breeze is welcoming.

I'm sending this message now even though the days not done.  I did check one of the PCT update pages, Crater Lake was closed this morning.   I'm glad I pushed yesterday.


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