August 14, 2012 - Yellowjackets, Skeeters and Leeches, Oh My!

Day 59
Trapper Creek Campground
On PCT detour trail
Willamette National Forest
Miles: 27
Trip: 1055

(In the interest of efficiency and maximizing sleep hours, tonight's journal interest will be in bullet point form)

Trail Mix

• Insect invasion of tent. Yellowjacket attack!
• Mosquitoes revenge: worst since Northern Yosemite. DEET was applied without hesitation. Upside: mosquitoes are excellent motivation for fast hiking.
•  Took an alternate route off of PCT (aka shortcut). Flatter, wetter, fewer miles. No shame, only gain.
• Snausage swayed older hiker named Just Bill to take alternate route. I think he hoped for company. He wasn't disappointed - invited Just Bill to join us for lunch.
• Lunched with leeches at lake. No swim for me, thanks. Leeches looked like tiny eels, almost six inches long! Mosquitoes got enough blood from me, leeches get none.
• Enjoyed talking with Just Bill. Animated, enthusiastic, active - hope to be that way at 70! No lack of respect for senior citizen thru-hiking gentlemen. Just wish I saw more Golden Girls!
• Campground feels like luxury hotel: cold tap water, outhouse, picnic table...and OCEANS of huckleberries. Never seen bushes so dense and heavy with berries.  Can't wait to harvest breakfast!
• Still feelin' speedy. Hope not to burn out before Bend. So far no 30-miler, but there are still three days of hiking left!

Shaggy says:

   The mosquitoes struck back this morning with a vengeance. It seems that hundreds were waiting for us to get up and out of our tent. I didn't deal with them for long, reached for the deet in no time. Snausage was out of camp early and we left shortly after. Its honestly hard to enjoy camp with hundreds of mosquitoes buzzing around your face.
   Made great time to Windego Pass, where I met Just Bill. Hotshot showed up as well. We then had to decide weather to take the Crescent Lake alternate or not. Snausage did a really good job convincing us to take the alternate, promising less mosquitoes, easier trail, more water, and 7 less miles. We were sold. Today I really enjoyed hiking with Snausage, Just Bill, and of course Grolar Bear.
   The alternate was alright. Flat for the most part, very easy miles. But the dust was horrendous. These trails are used by horses a bunch, I think they tear up the trail pretty good. But we had plenty of water and very few mosquitoes.
   I was exhausted all day today. I woke up last night needing to pee, eat, and drink water. Of course I waited for over an hour before doing any of that, so lost a lot of sleep.
    These days seem to fly by. I often get completely lost in thought while hiking by myself. I no longer think about the motion of walking, it mostly just happens. The miles fly by and I feel great.
   We made it to a campground around 7 pm. I think we hiked nearly 29 miles today. This campground along Trapper Creek has huckleberries everywhere. Groaler Bear, Snausage, and myself are paying $15 for this campsite. I would have hesitated but I was exhausted and the huckleberries are amazing. This is the most I have ever seen, and I will certainly eat my $5 worth of berries tomorrow morning.
    We have 77 miles to Bend. Plan to get there on Friday. If we do make it, we will have hiked over 325 miles in just 12 days. That will be a new record for me, and is amazing for Lauren too. Time for some much needed rest.