Day 87 : A low day

15th July 2013
Mile 1094.5 to mile 1113.5 : Echo Lake Chalet to Somewhere in the Desolation Wilderness
Mileage : 19

There are good days and bad on the trail, high days and low days. Today was a low day. It started off promisingly enough with my illegal stealth camping venture ending wi me back at the Echo Lake Chalet Store waiting by the phone to call Sophie on her birthday. Sometimes I manage to get through, but today the gods were conspiring against me and I didn't manage to get through. With way I hope you had a fantastic birthday Sophie! Between attempted calls to Sophie, I went into the store to ask them if they wouldn't mind charging my tablet for an hour or so. It turns out they would mind. Regardless of the fact that I could see at least two free sockets behind the till, the young male employee said he would get fired if he let me plug in my tablet next to his, which i could see happily charging next to the open sockets. I didn't get this get to me, and I went back outside to plug my tablet into the sun, and chatted to some other thru-hikers sitting outside. About half an hour later I looked at my tablet to find, to my dismay, that I shouldn't hav plugged it in directly to the solar charger and for reasons I can't explain it had totally drained the battery. This was not turning out to be a good start to the day. At this stage I gave up trying to get through to Sophie and packed up my stuff, my last chore being to fill up my water bottles. I walked back into the store whereupon they once again refused to help me out. I couldn't believe it. I can sort of understand them not wanting the liability of having multiple phones and computers lying about the shop, but not filling up water bottles, given there was a fully functioning cafe, was unforgivable. Trying not to convey my irritation, which by now, given my morning, was verging on anger, asked the same employee where I might fill up my bottles if not at the store. The helpful employee pointed me to the lake and told me I should get water there. I asked him if he meant the same lake into which I had seen a fisherman disembowel a fish, into which seen a motorboat owner spill some fuel, and in which i had seen children playing and probably peeing. He confirmd that yes this was the lake from which I should draw water. Thoroughly peeved I left for the trail at speed, and 5 minutes onto the trail saw a sign on the trail leading to some lakeside chalets undoubtably owned by the Echo Lake Chalet which said 'no lake access for PCT hikers', not simply 'hikers', but specifically PCT hikers. I know there are bad apples among any demographic, and have no doubt that PCT hikers are no exception, but to be so unhiker friendly as to refuse water to a hiker is close to criminal. I hiked on to the next lake, Lake Aloha, and got water there after 8 miles of hot hiking in the midday sun. That day, due to my late start, I only managed 19 miles before I lost the light and decided to stop. I was half a hiking day behind PRT and The WolfPack and resolved to get up early and catch them both tomorrow.