Day 31. July 25.
I woke up in a pretty good mood, my feet slightly sore from the lava rock. It was chilly.
Hiking by 6AM. I enjoy hiking in the early morning hours as night creatures settle down and day creatures wake up.
I climbed a good sized hill as the sun was rising. I could see smoke in the air. Summer in the west is about forest fires and it looked like the season was starting.
Next, I dropped down into a meadow. It was cold and dewy. Off to the side, something red caught my eye. It was a deflated mylar balloon. One of my pet peeves is people buying these helium filled beasts and then letting them go outside. I have done this myself when I was younger. But backpacking has shown me how ugly it is to find these in remote natural settings.
After a wonderful walk through a lupine-filled forest, I popped out to Obsidian Limited Entry Area, an area protected because of its fragility and rarity. I could see why. On top of wonderful springs and creeks, there were amazing outcroppings of obsidian, a shiny black stone. My ineptitude with a camera kept me from capturing the full beauty, but if you can imagine walking through an area with sparkling black stones all around you would have a feel for it.
I ended with a walk past a waterfall, Obsidian Falls, which was great, especially as the temperature was going up.
The rest of the day was spent going through forests and meadows. I met a lot of weekend hikers. Apparently there were many good loop hikes in the area. I also saw a few trail runners.
One meadow I came to had a wonderful creek. Waves of flowers crowding the banks. Wonderful cold water I couldn’t wait to drink. Some weekend hikers came along and their dog, not on a leash, walked in to the creek upstream and laid down while I was getting water. No apologies. No efforts to stop it. I waited to see if they were going to get water so I could go upstream and lay in the creek.
I ended the day with a race. I saw that there was a resort with a restaurant about a mile off trail. Via satellite Helen was able to tell me when they closed for dinner. Despite the pack weight, I made good time. I found a site just before the trailhead, pitched my tent, hung my food, grabbed my Platypus 2 liter bag, and made quick time to the Elk Lake Resort. There was a band playing, small serving sizes with big prices, and a great view. The server was helpful and charged my batteries and filled my water bag.
I got back to my tent and fell asleep right away. 26 miles and a full belly can do that.
backpacking over the hill 