27th August 2013
Mile 2011 to mile 2042 : Yet another burn zone to Breitenbush trail junction
Mileage : 31
Average mileage since day 101
So my cunning and fox-like plan to keep the foot of my sleeping bag warm as I slept didn't quite work out as anticipated. I think in all fairness, I did prevent the bag from water ingress from the outside of the tent. What I was less sucessful in preventing however, was the evaporation of water egress from my feet inside my sleeping bag, so my sleeping bag ended up wet anyway. I was disappointed to say the least. It seems there is no winning when it comes to keeping my sleeping bag dry with my tent poncho combo, so i'd have to go back to the drawing board if i were to find a solution that I could work for me in northern Washington, where rain and the wet would be the normal state of affairs. Packing away my wet sleeping bag I started off up the trail skirting around 3 Fingered Jack before heading toward Mt Jefferson. Dan, my impromptu Sisters trail angel, had told me to expect the trail to be in poor condition in this section with lots of of rocky sections that would be difficult on the ankles, and he wasn't wrong. It wasn't too bad in most places, but it did mean that my average speed for the day made it dificult to get up to the 34ish miles I had planned for the day. I ended up sleeping on the north face of Mt Jefferson in a meadow trying a new tactic for my sleeping bag. Tonight I would try upzipping my sleeping bag along most of its length in order to let it breathe, and instead of erecting my tent, use it as a cover directly over it. This proved to be an evern worse idea than the previous night's.
Hi Patrick,Chris House here, good to here from you. Jealous of what you are doing. Absolutely right to do this stuff, and whilst domesticity has its plus sides, this life experience is better!! Just laughing with Mr. Roberts about the time in Mauritius when you almost went up in smoke. We were having a sneaky beer on our side of the camp site when we saw a 'Hollywood style" flame shoot into the sky. Luckily you only had an arm wound and singed eyebrows. I guess you are getting plenty of camp craft practice currently. Anyway, all the best. Will read more of your log now. Hope everything is what you want it to be. Regards, Chris
ReplyDeleteYes, your fame (or flame) went before you and that's why I used to hide my best frying pan when you came home from Uni. It couldn't keep up with your bacon & eggs habit.
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