Took another shower this morning at the hostel because it felt so good! My clothes are all stupid stinky, though.
As usual, a good night's sleep is followed by a hard climb out of the gap the hostel/town is in. I called AWE as soon as I thought I might have service and talked with her for about 40 minutes. It is so good to hear her voice.
Caught up with Goat and walked with him for the climb up the mountain. Even after all this time I am still so slow at uphill climbs! You would think I would be in shape by now...well....I am in better shape than I was before but I still have a ways to go before I am running uphill.
About two miles from the summit, I started noticing the trees were covered in ice. Shortly afterwards I noticed that the trees were dropping HUGE CHUNKS OF IC EVERYWHERE. I guess the rain storm we experienced the night before was an ice storm at the higher elevations. The trail had a bunch of recently downed trees, broken by the weight of the ice, that made navigating the trail difficult. Oh and did I mention the softball sized (and larger) chunks of ice falling from the sky? I got hit in the arm & back three times but not in the head. (Could a falling chunk of ice knock you out if it hit you in the head? Seems like the sort of thing Mythbusters should figure out).
Finally made it to the summit of Snowbird Mountain and the (still icy) grassy bald. Immediately dropped my pack and had a quick lunch. Goat started up the trail, but (as usual) I was taking my time getting ready to go. BearFoot showed up - we were quite relieved to be out of the icy woods of doom - and we talked for a minute. The sky started to clear up - first just a peek of blue sky, then actual sun! It was amazing. It was as if a switch had been flipped, and the day went from miserable to incredible in just a few minutes. It was a gift.
We walked to the top of the bald together, then turned around and took pictures. You could see the fog moving across the bald, following the path the ice storm must have taken. On the other side of the bald, the trees had no ice.
Got to the shelter and OWL was nowhere to be seen. Tex said he saw a note for us on the shelter sign that said she was going on to a campsite three miles up the road.
I was super unhappy about it. We had talked before (on the other occasions she skipped ahead) about how I would like to at least be involved in the decision to skip ahead, since I am always the one playing catch up.
So, catch up we did. Made camp. SilverStreak made a fire, which was really nice, and brought a beer from the hostel to split. OWL contributed some whiskey. Had a fun time hanging the bear bag (my first try the rock bag twirled around the branch and got stuck). Silver Streak & OWL helped me get it loose. SilverStreak is so very unimpressed with the PCT method to hang a bear bag.
Talked with OWL about the plan. About how I like reaching the destination and I don't like it when I find out at 4pm the destination for the day has been changed. She said - I knew it would make you mad but I thought we could get more miles done which would make for an easier day tomorrow. No matter what, I have your best interests at heart.
So there we stand.
Now, sleep.
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