August 18.
Couldn’t sleep last night because there was a deer trampling about and making noise. Also got cold in the night probably because my quilt was drafty and not properly secured. Also had to pee. So not the best night’s sleep.
Got a late start. Alarm went off at 6 and didn’t get going until almost 8. The hike down was fine, long forest section. It was 11 miles to the next water source, a little creek and bridge. Figured I’d have lunch there since I got a late start. I had some water left from the night before, about half a liter, and I decided to take it with me which ended up being a good idea. I made it down to the supposedly flowing creek and found that it was totally dry. Zero water anywhere. The option was to hitch to Fish Lake Resort which was down a nearby road, take a trail to the resort and add an extra 2 miles, maybe 4 round-trip, or hike to the next water 10 miles with only half a liter of water. So of course I decided to hike on with no water cause I’m a fucking idiot.
Hiked for a few miles through a very repetitive section. It was a windy uphill section that would go forest, rocky ridge, forest, rocky ridge, on and on for miles. Felt like I was on a treadmill. I was not doing well without water and had hours to go before the next water source but luckily I ran into Taylor! Despite leaving a half day before me, I caught up to him. He had been taking it slow since he needed to get to Seiad Valley after Sunday since the post office was closed then. He gave me some water and we hiked together to the next water, the south brown mountain shelter. It was great seeing him again, talking shit about each other and other hikers and catching up.
We made it to the shelter where we got water from an old timey pump. There was a deer there playing around and the shelter itself had a few little hiker amenities, including a trail register. The most important thing though was the water. Drank a boatload and lingered there for a bit. Hadn’t eaten much in the dry section and the hunger hit me after filling up.
We kept hiking, heading up some more uphill forest. It was nice having someone to talk to and hike with for that section since it was more kinda boring forest. After what felt like a long time, we made it to the third and final water source of the day, a little pipe spring and campsite.
This section is BLM land which means it isn’t very well maintained, or at least people give less of a shit about proper leave no trace etiquette as there’s a bunch of toilet paper all around. The pipe wasnt flowing too well and we had to improvised some scooping but we were able to fill up okay. We cowboy camped near the trail, away from another site full of toilet paper. Two nobos, thesaurus and photo op showed both, a vegetarian couple and we talked to them for a bit. Good day overall but time for bed now.
Plants Outside 