Last night, as I was driving out to the trailhead for Sturgill Peak, I came upon two moose. One quickly disappeared into the underbrush below the road, but the other trotted ahead of my car. I had a devil of a time getting past her, because she would match my speed, slowing as I slowed and speeding as I sped. The road isn’t very wide or straight at that point, so I had to trail behind for a bit before I reached a straightaway where I could go fast enough to pass her. I felt bad after I did so because of the cloud of dust my car left in its wake. I hope she jumped down off the road once that cloud rose up.
It got cold quick up there. It’s about 5700 feet elevation. I pitched my backpacking tent and blew up my sleeping pad since I’d neglected to bring an inflation bag – my mistake. But it gave me a chance to try out the new camp chair while I blew it up. I sat outside for a while as light faded from the sky. Wind started to blow from the peaks, bone-chilling cold. I made a rookie mistake and let myself get cold instead of getting directly into the tent. I couldn’t warm up in my sleeping quilt, even after eating candy, so I went to the car and got Stinky.
Stinky is our old down comforter. I think it was our first “us” bed cover. At one point, it was left somewhere and got smelly, and we thought about throwing it away. Instead, it ended up living in the car. And one night, out camping, I was so incredibly cold that I grabbed Stinky to see if that would help. And although at that point it was still smelly, Stinky proved that it was excellent at trapping heat and blocking wind. It’s been a part of our car camping gear for years now. This was the first time I used it in a backpacking tent. It worked wonderfully last night to warm me up so I could fall asleep.
I got moving at 6 am this morning and was on the trail at 7:01. My phone battery was having a fit, so I decided to leave it at the car. That means I didn’t have a camera on me, which is a bit unusual for me. But I only saw a few things that I would have liked to capture that I hadn’t see on this trail before. Like the puffball mushroom the size of my fist, and the evil barbed wire gate that required from me a string of curses, yells, and the aid of an old post for leverage before I would re-close it. Plus some holes poked in my clothing.
I made it to the lookout in 2 hours and 49 minutes including breaks. I took a break at the lookout and used the pit toilet with gratitude. I thought about how Ambrose would have liked this hike. It’s intense, but less intense than the elevation changes on the Brownlee trail. It starts higher up, so sleeping at the trailhead is good acclimation time. And there’s a lot more accessible water on this trail, including a spring. I could see him using this as regular training. It only took me 1 hour and 40 minutes to get back down to the car. That’s what 1700 feet of gain does to my pace. Plus I took two breaks on the way up and only one on the way down. Though I did have to stop and pee twice outside of breaks on the way down.
I got back to the car just a bit before noon, which was perfect. I got home a bit before 1 pm and took care of drinking fluids and eating food and showering. I had a family zoom at 4 pm, and I have prepped my breakfasts and dinners. Though I am now realizing I prepped too many breakfasts because of the holiday weekend. Well, I’ll have some for next week after I get back.
I didn’t get outside again for yard work today. I figured that focusing on recovery would serve me better than pushing myself. I will continue mowing and it will eventually be done and I can start again. But the second growth is less.
I’m fasting tomorrow morning until after I get my blood drawn when the clinic in town opens at 9 am. I am planning to write myself little reminder notes because I’m pretty sure my brain will conveniently forget that I’m supposed to be fasting if I don’t.
