Chapter 6
@mycrazyadventurescalledlife
Mile Marker 98.4 to 109.8 (11.4 miles)
I woke up with heavy condensation inside my tent.
Last night, I set up my Zpacks Duplex pretty low, all doors closed, in anticipation of windy conditions. Luckily, it was pretty chill overnight. But then, as a result, all that condensation formed inside the tent which with the cold morning temperature, probably contributed to being much colder than inside than it is. It's my educated guess.
Beautiful morning view of camp by West Fork Pole Creek
And oh yes, I decided to grab the Zpacks Duplex on this trip, the same tent I used on the PCT four years ago. It is probably my favorite backpacking gear to this day. I liked the Tarptent Aeon Li that I used on the Tahoe Rim Trail, but I missed having the extra space of a two person tent. I love that I can lay everything out inside the tent once I arrive in camp, especially when it's buggy outside. And when it's raining inside, I can cook, eat and spread out and everything stays dry. I love it.
The hike out was slow going. Well, actually, I went too fast at first and I could feel my heart pounding, feeling tachycardic, and a bit short of breath on the uphill. So half an hour in, I just stood for a few minutes, closed my eyes, and did some breath work to reset my body. A meditation of sorts.
The uphills still required some effort, needing to stop and catch my breath every so often, but moving at a pretty good pace otherwise. My body doesn't really adapt to high elevation, I've noticed.
It was still a bit smoky today. I wanted some rain to clear it up, but did not wish for any thunderstorm.
Still smoky but amazing view
Marmots, my favorite alpine animal. Always excited to see one.
Thunderstorm started rolling in around noon as I was approaching Cataract Lake. But it looked like it's still mainly on the northwest side, though dark clouds were forming over the ridge by Carson Peak, in my direction of travel. But I wanted to go over the ridge at least, to the water source as comments on Guthook also states trees, trees that I could use for protection from lightning. Here on Cataract Lake are just alpine willows that barely tops my chest. Not much protection from lightning. Therefore I pushed on.
I stopped several times to assess the dark clouds ahead, listening to thunder that's close by. Though to be honest I probably stopped way too much to assess whether I should push through or come back down. But as I got close to the high point, there was no turning back. I hiked as fast as I could to the top and hurriedly hiked down to get to lower elevation on the other side. Luckily everything went fine.
Took a quick shot before going down into the valley as dark clouds rolls in
After getting to the second stream, I saw dark clouds coming in all directions. I grabbed a liter of water, and looked for a place to pitch my tent, hoping for the thunderstorm to just pass through. I found a very protected area off-trail, 3 miles before the highest point on the Colorado Trail.
As I write this, I saw lightning flash above me. Numerous thunder enveloped the area nonstop and rain continued to pour. I'm so glad I'm inside my tent, staying dry and warm, as it got pretty cold outside; 49 degrees as I checked my Garmin for weather updates.
I wanted to do at least 10 more miles today so that I can be at Lake City by noon tomorrow but it looks like I'll be spending the night here as the sky darkened all around me and pouring rain came. It's all above tree line for the next 10 miles (also waterless section) and it is just smart to stay put where I'm at for tonight. After initially having coffee and a Probar in anticipation of moving forward, I decided to get comfortable and inflated my sleeping pad and changed into my warm sleeping clothes. Luckily there was a small stream right next to camp so I was able to get enough water for tonight.
I only have 19 miles to hike to the highway to hitch into Lake City. I have one dinner left (which I ate) but I have plenty of bars and snacks (and plain Idahoan potato flakes) to fill my stomach if getting a hitch becomes difficult late in the day. Oh how I crave ramen at this moment.
P.S.
Rain continued past 8 pm with the occasional thunder, and then the wind started howling above. I'm glad I found a really good campsite.