I woke up a bit late today, and wasn’t moving down the trail until after 8. My plan was to have breakfast while my phone charged at the hut yesterday’s hiker has recommended, so I set out with no breakfast.
The hut was quite nice. Clean, well-built and maintained, and was an octagon.
After a thorough search of the hut, I determined the adapter he’d mentioned had, indeed, been stolen. I dejectedly ate my breakfast with an under-charged phone.
I packed up my backpack, tightened the straps, put it on, and heard the sound of a strap breaking. One of the straps that held the lid on my pack had broken. I repositioned some other straps to hold the lid in place, albeit crooked. I could carry the pack this way just fine, but I’d look silly. Maybe I could get it fixed in Bend. This side-trip to the hut had gone badly.
My dad had just finished a hike in the Swiss Alps, where he went from hiker hut to hiker hut each night. There, the government keeps the huts stocked with food — they even helicopter in beer — and you pay on the honor system by leaving money in the cabinet. I was jealous.
All things done, I wasn’t out of that hut until 10. I was going to have to speed up an awful lot if I was going to do 30 miles today. I’d only done 3.
And speed up I did. The rest of the day was uneventful, just a lot of walking, really. A song was stuck in my head, which helped (“Home”, by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes). I’d whistle or hum, and vary the tempo to match my hiking speed.
Lunch was by one of the many lakes in this area. I was in a hurry, but it was right on-trail.
After lunch, I picked up the pace, and, for some reason, the high pace stuck. Maybe I should eat a brick of cheese with every lunch.
Late in the day, I came across two tiny, quivering chipmunks. They were standing in the trail, apparently unafraid of me.
One approached my shoe, and started to rub against it. I think they must’ve been young, fallen out of a nest, looking for their mother.
But, having been warned about catching plague from these things, I moved my shoe away and continued down the trail.
As it got later, I sped up, and the mosquitoes came out in force. I wore my head net and kept my hands on my pockets. One flew into my pocket and bit my palm.
I hiked until it was just about dark, then set up by a lake, and ate trail mix in my tent for dinner, so I wouldn’t have to expose my head to mosquitoes. I’d gone about 32 miles today.
