7/22/20; mile: 1,279; elevation: 6,200 ft.
Exposed campsites usually make me nervous. Despite the views, you run the risk of winds and huge temperature swings. Not the case here. While cool, I was perfectly comfortable in my sleeping bag. The view afforded me a nice view of the sunrise and I couldn’t help but to just sit and drink some coffee and enjoy it. So much so, I had a second cup. Mercury just got up and split, off to find new shoes. I gotta say, he’s quite efficient at setting up and packing camp. And this morning I did the complete opposite. I guess one of the issues I have is that when I cowboy camp, nothing is organized like it is inside my tent. So finding stuff and trying to organize a pack just takes longer. Oh, and there was that second cup of coffee. I didn’t leave camp until 8:30!
The morning hike was relatively flat, just undulating up and down allowing me to bang out the 8 miles to Buck Lakes Road in less than 3 hours. This is one of the easier roads to access Bucks Lake or Quincy…not that I intended to get off the trail. But I could hang out and hope for some trail magic. And while I didn’t get any trail magic, I was surprised to see Sidewinder and Pac Man returning to the trail. After seeing Bark! and the Boy Scouts, they took more time off in Quincy to allow Pac Man’s ankle to heal more. After catching up, we took off together. Uphill. It was a hot and it was the middle of the day and we were climbing again. Thankfully, there was water about halfway up, so we didn’t need to carry too much, but it was dry for several miles afterwards.
Though we started together, they soon left me in the dust on the climb. I caught up to Pac Man taking a break at a campsite about 5 miles beyond Bucks Lake Road. His ankle was still really bothering him, so he was laying down with his foot elevated. This certainly doesn’t sound good, and it makes me feel a bit better about my own knee issues. Ever since getting back on the trail at Donner, the pain and swelling has increased. I spend a lot of time wondering what is causing it, but really all I can do is try to rest it when possible and use anti-inflammatory meds. And of course, the knee sleeve I used earlier got sent home, so I messaged my next personal trail angel to bring me one at Beldon.
The three of us wander off the trail to Three Lakes Campground. On paper it seems like a nice place, but the pit toilets are locked and it’s kind of steep to get down to the lake for water. I know, I’m whining. The upside is that the road is closed to vehicles so we have the whole place to ourselves. And some kind person left 3 cans of Dinty Moore beef stew! All three of come up with the same menu idea of mixing a package of Idahoan instant mashed potatoes with the stew. Good lord, what big meal, even for a thru hiker.
So tomorrow is Beldon Town. The upside is that it’s downhill from here, there’s town food and I’m getting resupplied again. The downside is that after Beldon, it’s pretty much a half-day of climbing out of there where the trail is on the south-facing slopes and there are lot of open areas. Uggggg.