Day 173: slow going, epic views

Monday 10/8/12
Miles 2449-2468 (19 miles)
Elevation 4,815'

Stoked this morning wasn't as cold as yesterday morning. There was only frost on the outside of the door flap. And the water was only a little bit frozen. It's funny, we started at 9:30 today and did only 19 miles, yesterday we started at 11:30 and did 18 miles. What the hell?!? Lol. Well, the first half of yesterday was a steady downhill so that helped. I was able to walk at a pace of 3mph so that came fast. Today was a lot of uphill which really slows me down.

Actually, all of Washington thus far has felt like a huge uphill. Lol. Hence we're not moving very fast. Plus it's getting dark a lot earlier too. I usually have to put on my headlamp at around 7pm and keep walking for a couple more hours. It's weird to be back in a place where there is such a dramatic difference in sunset time. In Hawaii we don't have daylight savings time, because the sunrise and sunset doesn't fluctuate *that* much throughout the year.

The leaves have been getting very red and yellow. I forgot about fall colors. I suppose on the mainland you can tell seasons by leaves changing color and temperatures dropping. In Hawaii you can tell seasons by which side of the island is getting surf, the amount of rain we're getting, and what kind of migratory birds are on the island.

We passed by this *amazing* lake today, called Deception Lakes. Haha, I like the name. It is my 2nd favorite lake I've passed by on trail. My favorite being Lake Aloha which was just outside of Tahoe. Deception lake was soooooo clear! Like Hawaiian waters. Like the alpine lakes of the high sierras. Kyle jumped in. He's crazy. Lol! I got video of it too, which I will post at some point in the future. I think they call it Deception Lakes because it's deceivingly warm looking. Hahaha!

We saw Chameleon today. He's a hiker who we've been in the vicinity of since central California, I think. He is a local here, so it was neat getting some inside info on this whole area. Dang the views were amazing. It's times like this that I wish I had a good camera. Instead I'm just using my iPhone. Lol! I keep running out of memory (I have the 8gb phone) so I keep deleting apps on my phone so I have more room for photos. Lol!

For the aspiring 2013 hikers, start thinking about your resupply strategy. Are you going to do food drops? Resupply as you go? Half and half? The great thing about food drops is that you don't have to think about resupplying at your town stops. The bad thing is, your tastes will change and you will probably get sick of certain foods. The benefit of buying as you go is you can alter it to your tastes as you progress up the trail. The negative is that it is such a huge pain in the ass, and when you roll into town you will usually be so tired you don't want to move, much less grocery shop. Plus, once you leave SoCal, a lot of town stops are tiny middle-of-nowhere towns and the grocery stores (if there even is one) is expensive. Plus, a lot of hikers go through a food crisis in northern california. Nothing you have in your food bag will look appetizing. I wen through a food crisis in southern Oregon and it was mainly from me being sick and not able to eat. So anyhow, start thinking about how you want to do this. I got food drops, Kyle resupplied as he went.

If you're doing food drops, start thinking about who your resupply person is. If you're doing just resupply boxes, your person is like your lifeline. It really helps if your resupply person is Internet/text/email savy. Some places you go you will have Internet only. Other places you'll barely have signal so conversations can sometimes be hard to understand.

Oh, lastly, if you own a food dehydrator, think about possibly making and dehydrating your own meals. I know a few hikers who did that and not only is their food delicious, it saves you a lot of money in the long run. There are recipe books around. I dunno off the top of my head. You can also make your own fruit leathers too.