Day 140

Day 140 (pct 30): 33 miles

It’s been a while since I put in a good night hike until 1am but with as cold as it’s been and my inability to get up early when it’s cold this is what I gotta do. Finally I did 2 passes in a day, which I was supposed to be doing everyday to keep my pace up but became extremely difficult with the weather. I went over selden pass pretty early in the morning and it was child’s play. On the basckside going down it was pretty easy for a while then the trail was frequently covered by a thin sheet of ice on rocks from snow melt. This was a little dangerous but not too bad. I don’t know what it was but I was moving pretty slow. Around midday I decided I had a enough battery to listen to some music for the first time in like 4 days and then I got rolling faster.

Shoutout to logs. Big day of log crossings on rivers instead of fording them. I feel so strong yet vulnerable walking on a log above a river. Sometimes they’re stable, something they’re really not

Later in the day I went over Silver Pass which was also pretty easy. There were some amazing campsites at the top with and epic view if they wouldn’t be deathly cold at night but would be great in the summer.

I took a long break at silver pass to eat food for the first time all day. After I ate I was changing into my under armor long Johns since it would be cooling down soon. Less than 2 minutes after I was buck naked, Hombre (who I met earlier in the day) rolled up to the pass. He almost got a free show.

The night hiking was pretty good. It was a near full moon so the mountains looked really cool glowing in the moonlight. I felt good and was moving fast until I hit this mf Lake Virginia. There was this part where you basically had to cross a skinny part of the lake and there were a few rocks above water but not enough to get across safely. With as much luck as I’ve had recently I went for it again. This time it didn’t 100% work out. I made a long jump onto a skinny rock but wavered a little when I landed and dipped my left foot in the water.

I dropped both my trekking poles but thankfully they floated and didn’t stray too far cause I wasn’t gonna jump in to get them. I knew my risky river crossing luck had to end sometime. I just wish it wasn’t at night.

After this my morale decreased a little. The trail also became harder to navigate. There were semi frequent snow patches that covered the trail which you had to climb over then grinding the trail after bag was a challenge. Around 1 I was pretty tired so I set up camp at the first flat and snow free spot I found. It was another cold night and now my sleeping pad is completely wrecked. It’s deflated within 10 minutes of blowing it up. For as much time as I’ve spent in my tent the last few days with the cold and storm and everything I really haven’t gotten that much us sleep cause of this.

For my fellow AWL’s out there, in the low morale of the night I listened to the Buster’s guy episode of PMT. After relistening to it, definitely one of my all time favorites

May is mental health awareness month. Please consider donating to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention at the link in my bio!

Song of the day: bulls on parade-rage against the machine