Through the Green

First thing I noticed after waking up, was how cold it was. It had been a very cold night compared to the last weeks. Not sure if it was due to me camping close to the a large reservoir or just a shift in the weather. It made for very slow break-up of camp. When I got out however I quickly found my stride, motivated to get to the Hyatt Lake resort to get some hot coffee and breakfast. At the junction I called the restaurant, asking if they could pick me up (I knew that they shuttled hikers back and forth the to the trail), and within 5 minutes a car showed up. I was the first one in the restaurant, and it was nice to chill out in the comfy toasty diner. On the flat-screen tv Friends was playing episodes from the first season. Happy days.
I got shuttled back to the trailhead a little after 1000. Halfway through the car-ride I realised that I had forgotten to fill up my water-bottles, but I didn’t want to trouble the gentleman to drive all the way back for me again. Surely I would figure it out. Back at the junction I learned that it was another 7 miles to the next water-source, and I had a only a couple of swigs left. Fortunately it was still quite cool out, and I decided to just hike it, and possibly be thirsty at the end of the 2 hour stretch.
To get there fast I started cruisin’ and made for quick progress. After around 2 hours I arrived at the campsite where I gladly downed a liter of water and filled up my bottles for the next stretch. There were a bunch of other camping guests around and I chatted with a couple of them. A gentleman offered me a drink, and I sat down at their campsite a bit, procrastinating hiking further. I finally got up, said hello to the camp-host and after grabbing a snack (big breakfast had diminished my lunch-appetite) it was time to hike out. Because of me getting off trail several times this morning I’d not covered a lot of miles, so I figured it would be comparable mileage to yesterday.
In the late afternoon I reached a clearing in the woods, and to my surprise I was rewarded with blue skies. What a welcome sight. I looked around and did see that there was still a lot of smoke lingering in the valleys, but it did give me hope that there might be some smoke-free days ahead of us.
The last water source of the day would be an old-school water pump. I arrived there around 1800, and filled up 3 liters which should get me through the night and the next 10 mile stretch. There would be a campsite 3 miles out, and I started hiking fast, because I was looking forward to chill. The forest I’ve been hiking through today was absolutely amazing. It was so green it looked like a scene from a movie. Very cool.
Just before reaching the spot I stopped dead in my tracks. On the trail, some 50 feet away stood a huge black animal. Big bear?! Without my glasses, it was hard to make out in the distance. I heard rustling to my left, and saw another black animal slowly moving through the woods a hundred feet away too. Oh-Oh. My heart was now pounding in my throat. Allright, time to do as you’ve been thought. I started bellowing loudly and moving my arms around as I approached the large animal on the trail, hoping the scare it off. It did not seem the least bit fazed by my efforts. It was when I got close enough to see better through the dusky night-fall that I realised it was nothing more than I very, very large black cow. I started laughing out loud, understanding that the animal to my left was probably his buddy, and felt my heart-rate slow down. When I approached it cleared the way for me and I hiked on. I saw the intended campsite nearby, but unfortunately when I arrived, it had already been taking by another hiker. Checking my maps I knew that I had another 1.5 miles to go, and it was now getting dark fast. Unwilling to dig into my pack to get my headlamp I started crushing the last miles, lighting the trail with the lamp on my phone. Of course this was the moment where the trail suddenly changed from soft, and mossy pine-needle cushiony terrain, to razor-sharp, volcanic rocks. Wonderful timing. By the time I finally reached the campsite it was almost dark. I threw down my pack, got my headlamp out and quickly pitched my tent, happy to be inside. Where I thought it would be another relatively short day I managed to squeeze out over 26 miles. Not too bad.