Day 156- Hiker Bridge Party

From Stehekin at mile 2580 to Six Mile Camp at mile 2591

There was a hiker reunion when at the High Bridge bus stop again. We saw Oops looking a little worn down. Super Girl was there. I hadn't seen him since Kennedy Meadows (mile 700). I hadn't even known Super Girl was still hiking--last I saw him his plan was to hike only CA.

I ate two slices of bakery pizza before Portrait and I left the parking lot. I'm not sure what I was thinking when I bought only two slices. We also trimmed some of the straps off my GoLite saving me a few ounces.

As people left the parking lot for the trail half went up the dirt road alternate and half stuck to the trail. The road was washed out a few years ago and the guide book made it sound like hikers risk death going that way (but they save a mile). We took the trail. If a short cut sounds harder and more time consuming we're not really interested. I also don't want to do anything that will hurt my tendons more like walk on unstable rocks for miles.

The trail was nice anyways. It had a few small ups and downs and it's really hot out for the end of September so I got pretty warm. The smoke had cleared out though. It felt like the first time in days that we were able to look up and see blue sky.

My pack was feeling light. It didn't feel like I had just left town with a five day resupply on my back. It was hard not to wonder why I hadn't swapped packs earlier. The GoLite doesn't feel as padded as my North Face and it's not as light as Portrait's pack, but it was lighter than what I was used to.

We had been following the Stehekin River the whole afternoon. Sometimes it was out of sight but we could still hear it down in its gorge. We hiked closer to the river and it rose up out of its gorge to meet us. From a ways away I saw a bridge with someone on it. We guessed it was Tortoise and so it was, but not just him.

We found a whole party going on. Bone Lady, Cheese, Bucket, No Amp, and Tortoise were all sitting on the bridge. Half the group had their jackets on like they had been there a while (which they probably had). Tortoise tossed everybody a couple of Starburst--if you didn't catch it the candy would probably fall between the cracks and fall into the river below. The whole group was thinking about camping on the bridge. It didn't seem like a nice idea to me--too cold with wind coming up between the cracks. We stayed for a bit and left them going over maps and mileage.

Bone Lady, Cheese, No Amp, Tortoise, Buckket, and Portrait

The trail went up after the river, but not very much. We crossed another small creek at the horse ford instead of the neat looking suspension bridge--it was too far uphill for my tired tendons. My tendons really started to ache 0.8 from camp. I think they know when the day is almost over.

The camp was 0.1 off trail. Lots of flat areas to pick from. We picked a tent site by the noisy little creek that was our water source. No one else showed up by the time we finished dinner around 7pm or by the time the tent was up at dark. I guess they opted for the bridge.