Day 2

I slept so much better last night! As I was finishing typing out my blog at 10 or so, I realized that I was falling asleep and just dragging my fingers across the screen and not even spelling words anymore. Turns out selecting random characters on the keyboard doesn't produce a very coherent daily overview...

From roughly 10:15 to 12:30am I slept great. Then, there was a deluge of rain, like someone was pouring a bucket over my tent, and a storm instantly broke out. Lightning would flash in the night sky, and a couple seconds later, a loud crash would sound in the not so distant distance. Sleeping in a tent with metal poles is a little worrisome during a storm, but we were so tucked away next to the stream we were camping at I wasn't worried about it. Lightning would also have to get through a cubic mile of rhododendrens, so we were completely fine -- that's impenetrable.

After the storm died down, I slept from 1 to 6:45, only waking up once or twice to toss and turn. 

At 7:00 I got up, started packing up a few of my things inside my tent, such as my quilt, pad, and pillow. I also took off my sleeping clothes and put back on my hiking clothes and a rain coat, since the woods were absolutely soaked and it was still drizzling. After finally stepping out of the tent, I went up the creek to where we hung our bears bags, took them down for everyone and brought them back to camp. 

I ate pemmican, some dark chocolate, and a little bit of peanut butter for breakfast. We took our time at camp this morning, just hanging out, eating, and stretching. We knew that we only had to hike 14 miles today, so we felt as though we had plenty of time. 

I don't remember the exact time, but I believe we got on trail around 830. Leaving from Justus Creek, we walked by Gooch gap shelter within 1.5 miles, and walked into Gooch gap at roughly 2.5 miles for the day. Here, a trail angel by the name of Big Sky (since he's from west Texas) was making bean and chorizo burritos for everyone. With free food literally in our hands, there was just no way to say no! After having 2, we continued on with our day. 

After Gooch, we really got into our hiking flow. There were a few minor ups and downs, but a good number of flat sections as well. Really just the perfect trail for making miles. 

At 10:40 we were on top of ram horn peak, and roughly 5 miles into our day. The view of the valley below was spectacular, and we stopped to enjoy it, stretch and grab some water. 

From there, we walked over to woody gap where we used the bathroom in their vault toilet, and dried out our rainflys and ground cloths that got wet tonight. We couldn't stay there too long though since the wind was making it really cold. Great for drying gear, not so much for staying warm. 

Hiking out of woody, the next attraction we hit was a good 20 minute climb up -- big cedar ledges. Basically, It's a big rock outcroppimg / ledge with a tremendous view. The view, mixed with the 55 degree heat, was a very, very nice combination. 

We were 7.5 miles into our day at this point and feeling great. The difference between this thru hike and the last in terms of initial injuries / pain is astonishing. Apart from my right ankle being decently sore and something that I'm watching, I feel incredible. My feet are sore at the end of each day, but we're also doing more than 30,000 steps each day so that's reasonable. Last time, my hips, knees, shoulders and ankles were killing me. It could be the experience gained since then, but the lighter pack weight makes a huge difference. Right now, with only one meal left (breakfast), before my resupply tomorrow morning, my pack weighs somewhere around 15 pounds, with a liter of water. That is super simple to carry! 

From the top of Big cedar ledges, we walked down to lance creek, where we started our last section of the day, the ascent up blood mountain. Last time when walker and I were here, it probably was raining a quarter to a half inch an hour, and by the time we got up and over blood mountain and walked into neels gap, we were utterly drenched. This time, we had 50 degrees and blue sky. It was 4 miles from lance to the slaughter creek campsites, which is where we are right now. All 3 of us have a mail drop / resupply food box coming into neels that should be there by tonight / tomorrow morning. 

Speaking about plans for the morning, we'll wake up as per usual slightly after first light or the sunrise, and tear down camp. We have .7 miles and 550 feet to get up to the top of blood mountain. From there, we go down a couple miles and hit neels gap. There, we will charge our phones and battery banks, eat some food, and perhaps, take a shower. As for the total planned miles for tomorrow, we're looking at anything between 15 to 17 -- just depends on how much time we spend at neels. 

Realistically, we've been making good time. Yesterday we hiked from 730 to 5 and went 17.5 miles. Today we hiked from 830 to 330 and went 14 miles. Both times include breaks and trail magic along the way. So, if neels doesn't take all to long, then we should be able to do 16 tomorrow. However, there's really no rush, so again, we'll just see how it goes. 

Okay, daily recap: 

- hiked 14 miles

- from mile marker 14.3 to 28.2

- from Justus Creek to slaughter creek campsites

- high temp was 55 and blue sky

- low temp (morning) 45 to 50

- low temp (tonight) 28 to 32

- ascent: 3,517 feet

- descent: 2,162 feet. 

Thanks for tagging along,

Tyler M. 

P.S. 

Walker's blog can be found here.

Spencer's Instagram can be found here. 

Absolutely no pressure to do so, but if you'd like to support my hike at any point, feel free to email me at tmcpherson139@gmail.com and we'll set something up. Whether this is sending us 10 bucks to get some food, or driving us somewhere to take a hot shower!