Mash and I woke up early to continue. I had slept so good in our almost wind-free campsite. Christopher and Jive Turkey accompanied us on the first stretch. Mash was a little ahead of me and waiting at the spot where we agreed to take a break.
‘I just saw a bear’, he announced. It hadn’t been a big one, but this had to be one of the first bear spottings there had been on trail so far. We had also received word that Lucky Charm, who had been out for 2 days because of food poisoning, was going to rejoin us at Walker’s pass, which we were about 12 miles from.
I walked with Monarch, an ex-firefighter, for a while. Contrarian and self-acknowledged oddball, he fit the mold of a thru-hiker. He said that with my hat and growing beard, I looked like every young man in Idaho. We talked about the state of the natural world. ‘Don’t let the perfect get in the way of the good’, he said, ‘Look at our surroundings. This area was burned years ago, now it’s full of life again. Our society is obsessed with trees. These shrubs here, they’re doing just fine.’
Something to remember.
At Walker’s pass we didn’t see Lucky Charm. We did however have lunch with Christopher and Raymond and shortly after came upon trail magic, consisting of fruit, sweet and salty snacks, gatorade and beers. A true feast. A trail angel told us he saw a girl pass by without taking anything of the food. Most likely Lucky Charm.
The afternoon was spent climbing up the mountain flanks, giving us some spectacular desert views. What a way to end this section. On the way, Mash found an orange, presumably belonging to Lucky Charm, so he packed it out. From the temperature he deduced that it hadn’t been in the sun for very long and that Lucky Charm couldn’t be far ahead.
I arrived quite tired, but not exhausted, at the 25 mile mark. There at the water source (which apparently contained some level of uranium, to our consternation) was Lucky Charm, healthy and well. The three of us had dinner together and caught up. Lucky Charm’s foodbag is massive, even though we only have 2 more days to go.
Today, we officially did 1/4th of the trail.