Day 2. Chair

Mile 8.6 – 27

We hiked several miles in the morning and stopped for a snack at a trailhead and large river. Nearby campers offered us Gatorade and strongly discouraged us from climbing the rest of the hill in the heat of the afternoon. A fire in the late 90’s destroyed the vast majority of trees in this area, and pine saplings were only just beginning to spring up. While the short bushes and wildflowers were beautiful, they provided little to no shade. We hiked, slowly, up the side of the mountain, stopping what felt like every ten steps to drink more water. We felt like we were almost over hydrating, but the dry air seemed to evaporated any water that made it into our mouths.

The view from the top was amazing and well worth the climb, but the true reward was a water spigot that a nearby fire station left public for hikers. Alongside the spigot was a bench and a chair. Chairs are one of the things I always miss while hiking. Beyond the obvious beds, showers, and ice water, a good chair is one of the few things nearly impossible to find in the wilderness. Of course there are plenty of logs and rocks, but the back rest is the important part. It was hard to pry myself away from the rusty folding chair, but we still had to hike several miles down the other side of the ridge.