Friday, August 23rd

Friday, August 23rd. Day 66

Today's miles = 18.4 Total CDT miles = 993.4

Last night I suggested to Baboon that we sleep in the privy. Now, hear me out... the privy's at the campground were brand new log cabins. They did not smell or have any trash or dirt in them. They were perfect shelters minus there also being a pit of poop 15 feet below them. There was enough space on the floor to sleep four people and to be honest they were a hundred times nicer and less smelly than most of the shelters on the AT. Baboon disregarded my suggestion and we set up behind some trees on a slant. It STORMED throughout the night and my sleeping pad and sleeping bag got wet. In the morning after he returned from using the privy he said,"Ya know Spins, we really should have slept in the privy."

I ate my breakfast and drank my coffee at a picnic table this morning. I really do love picnic tables! During breakfast this morning I watched a squirrel steal a potato chip away from a bird. I got rather mad at the squirrel because it was me who gave the chip to the bird in the first place. I then spent a bit of time trying to coax the bird back so that I could give it another chip. The poor little bird was so scared of the squirrel that it took more time than Monkey had patience for. But eventually the bird got a chip and all was back in balance in my world. We started hiking by 8:15 or so. Right before the trail started from the campground we met these two men from Chester county PA. They were out for a week in the Wind River Range and we hiked with them for the first two miles today. Their trail took them elsewhere after that two miles. The morning hike went by quickly and followed Green river. It was a silty glacier run off lake surrounded by jagged peaks. All day today was remarkably beautiful. Lunch was 12 miles into the day and of course right after I finished up eating it began to rain. It has rained in the afternoon pretty much every day in Wyoming like clockwork. A ways up I climb a couple was coming down as we were going up. The man looked familiar and so I asked him if he had hiked the PCT last year. He had and his trail name was Strider. I had met him a few times along the trail last year. I stopped to catch up with him for a bit before hiking on.

About 2 miles from Peak Lake -where we are camped tonight- we had to climb up to 10,700 feet. At one point the trail just ended and turned into a jumbled pit of boulders. I began to scout around for the trail and found what I thought was a way to get back to trail. Baboon being the one currently holding the GPS said that it was not and that the trail went through the steep jagged pit of boulders. So, we began to climb hand over hand up these giant boulders. It was arduous and exhausting. I spoke up again and said that I didn't think it could possibly be the trail. About an hour of climbing up later I saw a trail on the ridge. Baboon said, "Ya know Spins, I guess we should have taken that way up that you saw down there.". We had no choice but to continue on the path we were on and try to get to the trail. Eventually we were able to (after some sketchy climbing). We looked down the trail and saw that the whole boulder field could have been avoided if we had joined with the trail down at the base of the climb. We laughed it off out of good sport but I think we both were a bit upset. That was not how I wanted to spend the last few miles of a day's hike.

We made it to Peak Lake tonight and have some gnarly climbs ahead tomorrow. Hoping for decent sleep.