Wednesday, August 6th, 2014
12 PCT Trail Miles
Deception Lakes to Deep Lake
PCT Mile 2458 to 2446 (+1/2mi to lake) 12.5 Total Miles
2,528ft elevation gain; 3,108ft loss
I slept so good last night. One of those deep, dark sleeps; where you don't have any memories of the night; yet, feel so refreshed and energized; ready to go. Up at 0530 and getting morning chores done. I think our efficiency is starting to go up; we were ready to go by 0700. A couple of thru hikers have already come through with greetings of "good morning". I love Thru Hikers! Now I'm so glad our campsite is right off of the PCT. We can see who comes by. Based on the last couple of days, it looks like they are all on the trail at about 7 in the morning. Our start got delayed by about 30min when a Thru hiker with the trail name Camelot stopped for a chat. Like me and Jim, he is in his mid to late 50s, grey hair; but, unlike us, very opinionated about, well, just about everything actually. Nice guy though and I got a very valuable piece of information from him. We started talking about equipment and I got going on my pack; bla, bla, bla. He immediately started taking off his pack and stops me mid sentence by saying "here, put this on and walk with it". Before I knew it, I had his pack on and he was giving me instructions on adjusting the hip, shoulder, and suspension straps. I must say, I was immediately impressed. Jim then tried it on and had the same opinion. I asked him what brand of pack it is and he said its a McHale. McHale makes custom packs and the guy that runs it (yep, you guessed it; Dan McHale) is right here in Washington State, in Seattle. I was definitely going to look into a McHale pack when I get home.
(At the time of this writing, Nov 30th, I had met with Dan McHale three times, tried two different demo packs, and have my pack on order with expected delivery the first of January!! Another PCT phenomenon yet again happened while I was at Dan's that first time in late August. He had me try on a pack he picked off the top of a pile of packs. I really liked the fit; it seemed just as wonderful as the one I had tried on at Deception Lakes three weeks ago. He asked me how I heard about his packs and I told him about the thru hiker, Camelot, and how I tried on his pack after complaining about my pack. Dan asked me where I had met him, and I told him on the PCT at Deception Lakes. Dan stopped for a minute thinking, then asked me if I knew his real name. No, I don't know his real name, just the trail name Camelot. Then he asked me if I would recognize him if I saw a picture of the guy. I said I probable would, simply because the guy was so memorable. Next thing I knew, I was following Dan thru the maze of hanging packs, and straps, and pads, and buckles, to his computer in the back. He pulled up a picture, and sure enough it was Camelot. Dan then looks at me, points at the pack on my back, and says, you've got his pack on again. No way!! He lives in New York. Sure enough it was his pack. He dropped it off at Dan's on his way back to New York so Dan could see how it held up over 2665 miles of wear and tear. This is getting kinda creepy)
 |
| East Summit of Mount Daniel |
We dropped down out of Deception Lakes to Deception Pass then on back up the other side. Had a creek crossing that made me think the early part of the season would make this very difficult if not down right dangerous; but for now, it was a piece of cake. Mount Daniel came into a closer view. We headed on up to Cathedral Pass stopping for an hour in the meadow just below the top for lunch. |
| Deep Lake ii the distance with Cathedral Peak as a back drop |
On the way down from Cathedral Pass, we passed "Joe" the speed hiker Dude out to break the record for hiking North bound. He looked like he was in a trance He had a support person walking behind him carrying a pretty light looking pack. We finally got down to Deep Lake, where we will be staying for the night. I was here in 1996. Just before we got to the turn off for the lake, we stopped and chatted with a thru hiker named 10 speed. He was our age and just a great guy to talk to. He is a fellow Washingtonian.
We were happy to be done for the day. We met up with the two Girls from Wisconsin on our way up to Cathedral Pass. They looked like they were doing well. We ran into a couple of Canadian thru hikers as well. They were running short on food, so we pitched in and donated some to their cause. They say the "trail will provide", but I would rather be prepared myself actually. We got our chores done, then hit the lake for Jim's usual swim. He did some fishing as well. I was so happy to just sit and soak it all in. Beautiful place; simply beautiful. Gotta get to bed early tonight for a good nights sleep. A long way tomorrow with a lot of down and up. I took the superfeet insoles out of my shoes this morning at Deception Lake and replaced the thick Smart Wool socks with the thinner Darn Tough wool sock. My heel blister pain is completely gone now. Still having to lance them open every now and then to drain the fluid. What a pain, but I'm still walking, so that's a good thing. Hopefully, the blister problems are behind me now.
We saw 7 thru hikers today. A great end to a great day; Good Night...
No comments:
Post a Comment