Day 149 Trout Creek Middle Zero

10.41 miles
From Trout Creek (mile 2178.8, elevation 1228)
To follow-up camp (2188.9, elev 2276)
Upload 2032
descend 993

When I first woke up at 5:30, it was already drizzling. The forecast said it shouldn’t start until 10:00. I turned off the alarm and curled up in bed until 9:00. When I poked my head outside, everyone else’s tents were still up. So no one rushed to cover kilometers in the rain.

The sun peeking through the lush foliage along Trout Creek near the campground

I used some extra stakes to give myself a little more space in the vestibule of my tent. I am dry, warm and comfortable here. I ate breakfast and then updated the diary notes on my phone for the next two hours. Then I pampered myself by making myself a hot lunch.

After the rain stopped, I packed everything up so I could get some miles in today. Just before I took down my tent, it started to rain again. I stopped my luggage, crawled back to my tent and prepared another blog post before the rain stopped again. I think I have 9 of them ready to charge when I have connectivity. I finally left camp around 2pm, so I wasn’t expecting to cover many miles today.

The chorus girl left the camp late in the morning. AKA and Mirthful got moving a little before me. They were also almost packed when it rained again. They reacted like me and returned to their tent for a while longer.

Along the way, I passed by AKA and Mirthful on Panther Creek. They stopped to prepare dinner while I just fetched water. I continued about 1000 feet on the next climb. That’s 1,000 feet less to climb tomorrow.

Mirthful and AKA at Panther Creek

Bridge over Panther Creek

Bridge over Panther Creek

Trail approaching my camp

Autopilot

Setting up camp tonight was interesting. Many of my actions seemed to be dining on autopilot. I’ve made them so many times that I didn’t really think about them.

Fatigue

As I was walking up here, I was thinking about how I was starting to feel tired of this hike and the monotony/discomfort of walking so far every day. It felt good to rest in my tent this morning. I feel like my focus is almost shifting towards «finish» instead of «experiment.» I want to try to keep my attention more on the experience.

Home arrangements

This afternoon I spent a little time making sure everything was in good condition at home. My son has been taking care of the house and the cat, but he will be moving out of the area tomorrow. Since I originally thought I would have already finished the tour, I set up other arrangements to take care of the house or the cat while I was on the tour. I sent a few messages to check that all the arrangements were in place.

my campsite

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