July 27th
I woke up to a pretty nice day, but a few warm gusts of wind up from the valley indicated it might get warm. Soon, the other hikers (Kimchee, Moonbeam and Wash Pot) passed me. I enjoyed hiking with the latter two for awhile. We got separated in, you guessed it, a meadow. Stupid me followed a sign that said CDT, but the route had changed.
While bushwhacking to get back on trail, I ran across a large moose antler. I am told people pay good money for these. However, it was heavy and I was not going to carry it. It was impressive to realize that moose grow these, carry them, and then shed them.
The forest in the morning was very impressive. It was one where some huge old trees had been logged in the past 20 or so years. However, the loggers had left other large trees. So the forest had the feel of openness, had the gravity of big trees, and would be able to provide large valuable trees in the near future. Compared to clear cutting, this made so much more sense.
One of the southbound hikers ahead of us had sent Wash Pot a message saying we were entering a 10 + mile stretch with no water. We had to fill up at Aldus Lake and the next water would not be until a later lake. I caught up to them at Aldus Lake, dutifully filtered 4 liters of water, and started hiking. Every time I passed a creek or spring, I wondered whether this person knew that it was legal to get water from sources other than lakes. By late afternoon there was about a five mile stretch with no water, but carrying unnecessary water is annoying.
We had been going in and out of the US Department of Agriculture Experimental Sheep Station. There was a sign explaining roughly what was going on. It is intending to improve the stock and also see what plants the sheep eat. During the two day walk through the area, it seemed to me the most successful experiment they conducted was to make the sheep invisible. Never saw a one. (Of the several signs explaining Experimental Sheep Station activities, they all misspelled “gaurd dogs.”)
There was a long series of climbs to finish the day. What great views. Water, of course was scarce on these ridges, but the views made up for it. I passed two sets of northbounders, they looked pretty ragged.
The mosquitoes really amped up late in the day. It finally got to the point where I stopped and broke out the DEET spray. Normally, I can tough it out until camp and then put on my wind shirt and rain pants. At last, I came to the trail juncture where water was alleged to come from a spring. I was glad to see three of the four speedy hikers had set up camp in a cluster of trees and also that the spring flowed fast and cool out of the side of the mountain.
I set up camp as it grew dark. There were thunderheads on the horizon, but clear skies overhead. It was not clear if we would stay clear or deal with lightning on the Divide.
After dark, a bull elk started practicing his call. He needed the practice because it sounded awful.
backpacking over the hill 