July 28, 2012 - Fewer Skeeters, More Hot Tub

Day 42
Just beyond Trough Creek
Shasta National Forest
Elev: 3050 ft.
Miles: 23
Trip 800!!

I knew there would be days like this - tired, hot, bored with walking. And yet, I'd rather be here hiking than almost anywhere and anything else. Okay, drinking a beer in a hot tub crossed my mind a few times. But even as tired as I felt, I still understood that this was my dream, and today was just another aspect of that dream - walking twelve hours through a steamy forest on five hours of sleep. The lack of sleep was courtesy of a few giant (bigger than we've seen since Yosemite, anyway) mosquitoes which crashed our camping-under-the-stars party last night. Andrew finally got fed up and pitched the tent, but both of us had already lost a few hours sleep to the evil buzzing. So we started hiking a bit late again today, and I couldn't seem to motivate my legs the rest of the day. Maybe there's a point in any physically intense endeavor when the body says "No way. I need some rest time before I do any more of this craziness." I just felt heavy and stiff all day. Maybe it's just a symptom of getting older...

"It is not our toughness that keeps us warm. It is our tenderness that makes other people want to keep us warm."

Shaggy says:

  The mosquitoes were active last night. We had planned on sleeping out, cowboy style. All went well for about an hour. Then I could not take the mosquitoes any longer. As soon as I was about to fall asleep, the sound of a mosquito buzzing towards me filled my ear. Finally I could not take anymore and I set up the tent.
   Fell asleep quickly, but another hour later, I woke to a bloody nose. I think that all the dust lately really messed my sinuses up. It stopped bleeding quickly though, and back to sleep I went.
  6 am and we were awake. Not by my choice. Lauren wanted to get a big mileage day in. I could have slept much longer myself.
   On we went though. Guess we were both exhausted. Never made great time today. Lauren was stung by a yellow jacket. I had the bear rope rock hit my lip/shoulder/chin. Ow. We are both tired. Havent had a zero mile day since Bridgeport, some 525 miles ago. Looking forward to a day off in the town of Mt. Shasta. Sleep now..

(No pictures today...)