Day 15. Something new.. lava!

Day 15. Something new.. lava!

7/24/ 2019

1744.1 to near Fish Lake 1767.5

23.4 miles

I wake up grateful for a clear sky (still no smoke or wildfires) and for another day of doing my favorite thing all day (hiking!). I love the rhythm of walking, getting water, drinking, eating, resting.. and repeating. 

There are delicate white monkshood flowers (as well as the usual blue variety) around the spring I stop at in the morning. I’ve only ever seen blue monkshood and it makes me wonder who the pollinators are and if they are different for the various flower color morphs. So I sit and take a break. Watching. Hoping to make some pollinator observations. And appreciate that I can just sit and look. What a life this is!

Late in the afternoon, I take the turnoff for the South Brown Mountain Shelter. The directions for the water pump say it needs two people (or three) — one to work the pump and another to catch the water. I try a few times to work the pump, but I don’t have the strength. Or maybe I could muster the strength, but I worry about straining that hard since I got the hernia last year. It just doesn’t seem worth the risk.  So I lay down and watch the sky and listen to the hum of the flies and mosquitoes for an hour until another hiker arrives. Luckily, it is a strong guy and we get our bottles filled in no time!

Further down the trail, a dayhiker strikes up a conversation and asks what I think about all day. Does the mind ever quiet? I have to think for a while. I realize that the mind does get still sometimes. Especially after many miles. Mostly I think about my surroundings- the plants, the smell of the air, the butterflies, the rocks, the views. Other time, I think about how much I love hiking and the PCT. My heart feels so full of joy when I'm out here. Sometimes, I wonder I will ever have another love in my life as deep as this love for the trail.

In the evening, I get to something new-- lava rocks! The trail through the lava is incredibly smooth. It makes me wonder who build this marvelous trail. 

I find some trees down a slope past the lava. Then mosquitoes find me. Its the first night I hurry to retreat into my hammock and zipper the bugnet secure. I fall asleep to the sound of their buzzing.