Day 94: The Hills are Alive

June 29

Mileage 22

Mile 1161 to mile 1183

The silence of the hut was broken at 6:00 and replaced with the sounds of deflating air pads, burning gas stoves and the packing of backpacks. We didn’t rush but also didn’t linger as we had breakfast, coffee and then hit the trail.We were now rolling through elevations between 7,500 ft and just over 8,000 ft but still encountering large snow patches on the northern sides of the hills. Views of lakes to the south, surrounded by granite walls were straight out of postcards. The trail also crossed several faint dirt roads, surrounded by trees with blue spray-painted horizontal lines near the base, reminding me of trips out wood cutting with my dad and brother; never my favorite chore but we did get to explore some nice backcountry.

I came up on a long ridge overlooking Fordyce Lake and found Teton and Smilin’ stopped for lunch. I joined them and a few minutes later so did Section Hiker, several other hikers passed by while we lounged there and commented on the quality of our spot and its view, the simple pleasures taste so sweet.

I had noticed that the trail passes by campgrounds on Jackson Meadows Lake and we agreed to meet there for dinner to use one of the tables. Google and Surplus passed by, we hadn’t seen them since we left Vermillion Valley Resort, though before that we leapfrogged each other through all the passes in the Sierras with us charging up the passes only to be passed by them in the flats or during their early starts. It’s fun to run across the same people you saw weeks or months ago as it reminds you that you’re a community moving along this trail, a dynamic community, like all communities but only more so.

After lunch I stayed behind to lounge on the hill longer and noticed Teton had dropped a Ricola (how Swiss of him to be popping Ricola lozenges as he hikes). I grabbed it, popped it in my mouth and as I hiked over the grassy hill I was transferred in my mind to the Alps, waiting in vain for Seva to come bounding over the other side in a short dirndl. Unfortunately the lozenge dissolved and my apparition never appeared but instead the sky filled suddenly with smoke from a fire far away. I’ll fly back to Alaska on the 5th for a week and see Seva, not sure about the dirndl though, I’ll probably have to ask very nicely.

I caught up to the others near a small creek while they were getting water and we walked the final four miles to the campground together. Once there we had a swim and then just decided to stay, good move too as a guy approached our table with three beers. Once again this random kindness.