Day 134 Blueberries calmly, roars and flamethrowers

Day 134 Saturday 9-06 Blueberries calmly, roaring turns and flamethrowers
22.5 miles
From Charlton Lake (mile 1926.6, elevation 5678)
To the campground just before Island Lake (mile 1947.7, elevation 5387)
Upload 2189
Descend 2532

I realized that if I kept stopping and eating blueberries every time I saw ripe ones on the bushes, I would never make it to the Canadian border before winter. It may not even reach the border with Washington.

So I tried a different strategy. I didn’t use my trekking poles and freed up my hands to try to grab blueberries as I passed by. It’s a challenge when the branches are flexible enough to move when you touch them. But I still managed to pick and eat a lot of blueberries by picking them and taking them easy.

In fact, I picked these blueberries when I stopped for breakfast…

…and added them to my cold soaked oats

Last fall, several of us joined a group (about 70 people) that danced to Thriller as a flash mob at several local restaurants. They recently started practices for this Halloween and some friends asked me if I will join them again.

I had downloaded all the dance step tracks on my phone, so I recently started going through them to refresh my memory regarding the exact steps. I estimate that I will finish the PCT in early October, which won’t give me much opportunity to practice with the group.

I wonder if bears and other wildlife are afraid of the smelly zombie hikers who perform funny dance moves (“Roar turn”) in the campgrounds. I wonder if this will give other campers even stranger ideas about PCT hikers. I guess that’s your problem. «Drag back, jump, jump forward.»

I kept moving all day, completing 20 miles before 3 pm, the earliest I had done this entire hike. Just then it started to rain. There was light and it seemed to stop soon enough, but the thunder continued. Finally, just as I was entering another burn area, the rain starts to fall again, the thunder intensifies and throws some hail just to make sure that I will be uncomfortable if I continue on. Instead of being soaked and exposed to the storm, I returned to a flat spot I saw 0.1 mile back.

Multiple colors of needles on the same branches. I think it was a crooked pine.

One of the many lakes that the trail passes through in this area.

Trail while still had some sun

Trees on the edge of the burned area

burning zone

Once I set up my tent and was inside, I knew I wouldn’t be walking again today. I took a 45 minute nap before continuing with my afternoon/dinner chores. My Garmin says there is a 0% chance of precipitation tomorrow, so I prepared everything I could to get going in the morning.

My tent site (there are no poles supporting the tent at this time)

I did something else I’d never done before: boiled water in the lobby of my tent (x-mid 1). There is plenty of room in the vestibule, but I come from a scouting background where campground inspections require «no flames in tent» signs. Our troop creates fun signs, like ones depicting squirrels with flamethrowers to convey the «No Flames» message.

This was the first “No Flames in Tents” sign we created that got our creative juices flowing. The camporee we used it for had a “Post-Apocalyptic/Mad Max” theme.

So, I made sure to use my homemade windshield to better keep the heat next to the pot (along the lines of how jetboils do it, but not as pretty) and kept the flame pretty low (good for conserving fuel anyway; I got about double the expected amount of bills from my last pot). I also kept my hand near the stove/pot to control the heat. Even 1 inch from the pot, my hand didn’t feel hot. So I’m happy to report that my tent and I did not catch fire.

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