Day 164: Slowing Down

Hiked 9.9 miles, staying in Carl A. Newhall shelter.

Once again Whistler and Strawberry Donut's alarm went off at 5:30.  This time they were up and out in an hour and I was able to fall back asleep for a while.  The rest of us slept in late and took our time getting out of camp.  The plan was to only go about nine miles and stretching that out to a whole day would be all the more difficult if I got on trail at the normal time.

On top of Chairback Mountain looking across at the
next ridgeline we have to hike including Whitecap

Left of the above photo

Looking to the right of Whitecap

Descending the huge rock slide on the far side of Chairback

The only mountain for the day was Chairback Mountain, at the end of the ridge I hiked yesterday.  I got out of camp a bit before everyone else and sat on top soaking it in for about 45 minutes until they joined me.  It was a long descent down to the bottom of the ridge, though most of it was fairly easy grade.  The mud is still pretty prevalent which made for slow going in places.  Along the way I passed 2100 miles!

Looking back up at Chairback Mountain

9 AM photo

The East Branch of the Pleasant River

Everyone enjoying the sun on the other side

I got down to a gravel road that runs through the valley and found some trail magic!  Someone had left some Snickers and bags of trail mix.  Shortly after the road I forded the West Branch of the Pleasant River and found Barbarrosa, Ambassador, Timber and Little Engine relaxing on the other side.  Apparently when they passed the trail magic five minutes before me it was empty.  Barbarrosa was particularly bummed out about this and decided to cross the river again and hike the half mile back to the trail magic.

Rainbow Dash fords the East Branch Pleasant River

Why Not and Barbarossa enjoying lunch on the river

Carbon is too focused on eating to bother posing for the picture

While I watched his pack for him, Carbon and Why Not showed up and hung out.  The four of us continued another mile up the trail to the intersection with the Gulf Hagas trail where there was a great riverbank in the sun that made for a great lunch spot.  It was noon and we only had four miles to go so we were not pressed for time even a little bit.  Because of this I walked the .1 down the Gulf Hagas trail to check out the waterfalls.

If it had been warmer this would have been a great place to cliff jump

We lay out in the sun by the river for a long time before hitting the trail again.  All four of us lollygagged along for the four miles to the shelter.  We still got to the shelter by 3 though.  It was weird getting to camp so early, none of us really knew what to do.  Along with Carbon, Barbarrosa and Why Not, also joining us for the evening is Firehands, Peaches, Big Red and Yooper.