Day 142 : The green tunnel

8th September 2013
Mile 2256 to mile 2285 : Mt Adams to the Goat Rocks
Mileage : 29

I was hoping today for some stunning views of Mt Adams today, but views today were elusive. I arrived in camp last night just as he light was fading, and i still don't have a head lamp so i couldn't see how close to a nearby waterfall i was sleeping. I woke up at dawn to discover my sleeping bag was soaking wet from condensation, so i was pretty close. I tried to look on the bright side which was that the white noise from the falls meant i had slept the whole night without waking up once. I broke camp at speed so as to get moving and start warming up as quickly as possible. I waved good morning to Frosty and Goldie, with whom i had arrived in camp the night before and set off down the side of the mountain. The day proved more difficult than it should have been given the good weather and relatively easy terrain. For some reason i just didn't have much energy, and i struggled all day. I stopped on an exposed hill top at lunch to let my sleeping bag dry, and took in one of the few views of the day, before plunging back into the forest below me. Just after lunch Goldie and Frosty caught me, testament to how fast they were moving, and how i was moving as i left camp at least 45 minutes before them, and i leap frogged with them later.in the day as we climbed into the Goat Rocks wilderness. It was good to be above treeline again and to finally have good weather long enough to enjoys the views, and views there were. The setting sun set Mt Adamsalight and even illuminated the brown ruin of a volcanoe that is Mt StHelens. I arrived at my camp spot, as indicated by the map, to find a marshy meadow, and no good looking spots for me to sleep on. By this time the light was almost totally gone so i had to make do with a trailside patch yet again, but i didn't mind, at least my commute to work in the morning would be short! The final hurdle of the day involved my stove. From the outset i have been using a homemade pop can stove which uses as its fuel either denatured alcohol, or an antifreeze called HEET. At my last trail stop i couldn't find either, so i compromised with buying isopropylalcohol, which does work if it is pure, but i didn't see that the stuff i bought was only 70%, with the remainder being water. This stuff just didn't work. Usually my pot sits right on the stove and it does its thing in the evening quite happily unattended leaving me free to do other chores. Tonight though it took forever to boil the water i needed for my dehydrated rice, to the point where i almost lost my temper and threw it away. I persevered though and was finally rewarded with some tepid aldente rice that i ate in the dark ensconced in my sleeping bag, at least there was no condensation so far that night.