Let The Real Hiking Begin

Day 2
Tuesday, August 5th, 2014

13 PCT trail miles
Lake Josephine to Deception Lakes

PCT Mile 2471 to 2458 (+1 mi up from Josephine & 1 mi around Deception)   15.0 Total Miles
3,878ft elevation gain; 3,076ft loss


I don't think I slept more than an hour last night.  Bob slept with me in my tent.  I'm just so used to having the tent all to myself that every movement, breath, snore, etc seemed to wake me up.  I put the ear plugs in, but to no avail.  Fortunately, my excitement and anticipation will help carry me over the negatives of sleep deprivation; besides, I should sleep good tonight with the tent all to myself as well as two days of no sleep.  The odds are in my favor.

Good-bye Bobby!!

 

At 0530 I called out to Jim "Hey, you awake? We better get moving; we've got miles to do today!!"  We had first breakfast with the plan to have second breakfast at Hope Lake.  Mine consisted of instant oatmeal, raisins, cheese, and a cup of coffee.  We then packed up, got other business taken care of, and were on the trail at 0715.  A slow start but I think we will get more efficient as the days go by; besides, we had to chat with Bob and say our good byes before leaving.  He has six miles back to Stevens Pass; we have seventy to Snoqualmie Pass.

Looking back down at Josephine Lake

Back up to the PCT

The climb out of Lake Josephine took a bit to get back up to the PCT, but we cruised right along. It was about 300 ft back up to the PCT and the mosquitoes were sure trying to get their first breakfast from us.  Gotta love those mosquito head nets. How had I gotten by all those years without using one??

With eight days of food in our packs, they sure seemed heavy, but the good news is that as the days go by, they will get lighter and lighter.  Jim and I are such a great match.  Our hiking abilities and attitude/outlook, as well as age, and long history, makes for a very compatible hiking duo.  We just chit chatted right along admiring the views as they developed along the way.  The first little pass was pretty easy and it didn't seem long at all before we were at Mig Lake, then on the Hope Lake, where we stopped for "second" breakfast.  As is Jim's way, we had no longer stopped before he was in the lake having a swim.  As is my way, I waded out to my knees, sheepishly splashed the cold water on my face, arms, legs, body etc.  Happy to get some of the sweat off and get my hair wet.  I wish I could just hop in and go for a swim, but cold water just is not something I can do for some reason.  The thought of the water crossings in the Sierras has me really concerned; but will cross that, ummm, bridge, errrr, creek, or is it; raging, ice choked turrent, waiting to sweep me to a frozen death.

Second Breakfast

As is Jim's way; immediately into the lake he goes.

We had a good hour break and were on the trail again.  Soon we were climbing and climbing.  The views were just breath taking.  Way off to the East, a huge plum of smoke billowed up into the sky but the prevailing winds were keeping the smoke far off to the East.  As we approached Trap Pass we passed a couple of hikers that had hiked off trail at the pass to some lakes to the south and we talked with them for a few minutes.

That's smoke on the horizon

Working our way up to Trap Pass

My pack always seems to explode when we stop for a break

As we headed down the other side of the pass a couple came running up behind us; trail runners.  They said they were running to Snoqualmie Pass!!! That's still 65 miles away for Gods sake.  They disappeared down the trail but then a few minutes later the guy comes running back up the trail???  I thought, "OMG, this guy's not human.  He is going to run back to Stevens Pass and then come back again just for the fun of it!!"  But then he proved himself to be human after all; he said his GoPro camera had fallen out of his pocket somewhere at the top of the pass.  We headed on down to the trail junction for Surprise Lake and then headed on to Glacier Lake were we planned to have a lunch break before starting the climb up to the top of Piper Pass.

I was starting to develop some hot spots on my heals, damn! I haven't had blisters on my heals in years.  I had put some super feet in my Keens because I had read in Yogi's book that they are good for arch support.  I had used them on a few day hikes so felt comfortable that they would not be a problem; I was wrong.  I put some mole skin on with duct tape on top of that to get the spots covered up.  Unfortunately, I didn't bring the original insoles with me; mistake and a half, but not much I could do about it now; just keep going.
   

Glacier Peak from the top of Piper Pass

Glacier Lake far below now

We climbed and climbed and climbed up to the top of Piper Pass.  It seemed to take forever, it was so friken hot and stuffy, and my feet were really complaining, The mole skin with duct tape isn't working.  Now that we are over the pass, it's only a couple of miles down to Deception Lakes; I can make that, Then a good nights rest, along with some thought about what to do differently with my feet tomorrow, and I bet a solution will come.  Along with the feet, I can't seem to get my pack into a comfortable spot; no matter what I do.  I have my blue, foam sit pad, folded and wrapped around my hips, then the pack hip straps go around that.  In fact, now that I think about it, after almost a year of use, I have yet to wear this pack comfortably; whether I have 25lbs in it or 50. I just can't find a sweet spot anywhere, It's an REI Flash 62.  But, to be fair, it's not all bad. It's a great design.  I love the mesh side pockets, and pouch on the back.  Add those features to the 3lb weight and the damn thing is pretty near perfect.  However, I'm coming to the conclusion that this pack is not going to do for a thru hike of the Pacific Crest Trail.  I bought it last September and its now August, so I still have a month to take it back to REI and get a different pack.  The Ospry and the ULA seem pretty popular with the thru hikers we have seen so far.  I've got time to give it some thought.  Making the decision to make a change is the hardest part of just about everything it seems.  But, once the decision is made, then it all seems so easy, so obvious.

Mount Hinman to the right and Mount Daniel to the left

At the top of the Pass I stopped with my mouth wide open.  Oh my God, what a view!!  Mount Hinman and Mount Daniel were right there (two of my favorites; Bob and I had climbed the East Summit of Daniels a few years back: OK, OK, a lot of years back; 1997).  It suddenly dawned on me that we are going to walk all the way around them from here, the North East side, to the very opposit side, North West side, over the next couple of days. On the other side is Waptus Lake, then a steep switch backed climb up to the Waptus Burn trail junction where we will probably stay the night. But that's two days away from now.  Interesting how time takes on a whole new meaning when I'm out here on the trail.  Two days walk away...
    After a brief stop at the top for pictures and to send a text to Bob (I couldn't believe I had two bars on my cell phone!), we started the descent down to Deception Lakes.  I marvel at where they can put a hiking trail.  It must have taken a lot of explosives to blast the trail into the mountain like that; very impressive.
We got to Deception Lakes at 7:30PM and boy was I ever happy to get there.  My heals are on fire, my hips are pulsating with every heart beat, my Right upper lateral thigh is literally numb, I have now only had roughly six to eight hours of fitful sleep the last three days, and to top it off the mosquitoes are unbearably aggressive and in large numbers.  I'll never hike without a head net; EVER!  Oh and to top it off, the place is crowded, so we hike the length of the lake to discover there is no available campsite.  I was ready to set my tent up right there in the middle of the trail at that point, but Jim reminded me that there was a camp site right where the trail first came to the lake. Shit, we turn around and walk back up the lake to the campsite we initially passed up because it was right off of the trail.  Anyway, we set up the tents, ate supper, and then dove into our sleeping bags.  OMG,  NOTHING has ever felt so good; NOTHING!!  I was out in less than a minute,