25 September 2015, Friday

There’s been a patter of rain on the tent fly all night. Well, sometimes rain
and sometimes just dripping from the trees. O is out of the tent early while I
pack up inside. He goes down to check the water level
in the Duckabush.  It’s up, but quite passable for today’s ford.

I emerge from the tent. Everything is green-gray this morning. Mist
shrouds the mountains. Our hot drinks taste particularly good. The
grits soufflé should be adequate to power us out. We finish packing
up and are across the ford by 10:30 am. Our walk today is mostly
downhill, with a few climbs to cross tributaries again. We continue
our record of elk-spotting as 5 large animals cross our path and
crash off into the forest.

We stop along the trail on a comfortable log to eat lunch, then resume
walking. S suddenly realizes the hiking pole he had tucked outside
his pack is missing. He and K drop their packs and return down the
trail. After about 20 minutes they return – mission successful!
Today is also a warm-up day for tackling all the downed trees on
tomorrow’s hike. We clamber over at least six giants.

By 4 pm we arrive at Ten mile camp. It’s nice to spend some time here in
daylight. We set an excellent tarp hang around the huge trunks. It’s
one of our best!  We take out our soggy tents as well. At the moment
it is not raining, but the trees are dripping. I wipe down the
outside of the tent with my microfiber cloth. I love those things. I
can squeeze it almost dry and reuse it. Once the outside of the tent
is merely damp instead of sodden, we cover it with the dripping fly.
Then I crawl inside the tent and mop the water off the floor.
Satisfied that this is as dry as I can get it, I set up the sleeping
system. Good thing we’re heading for the desert next week. That’s
what it will take to dry everything out.

While O cooks up our mushroom pasta sauce with tortellinis, S & I
prepare our chocolate mousse desserts. We’re all calorie-loading for
our tree-climbing adventures tomorrow. After dinner I filter five
liters of water for tomorrow. We can always filter more along the way
if we run low. There’s time to relax and watch the Duckabush tumble by before bedtime.