Aug 9th, Day Nine

Where we jumped across the washed out bridge.

Creek next to our tent.

This morning we woke up to the same sound that put us to sleep the night before, rain pounding on our tent.  It seemed to have rained heavily all night, and some small chinks in the armor of the rain fly had been revealed.  The last thing we wanted to do was break camp in the rain so we waited a bit.  Finally with the rain at the lightest we assumed it would get, Miles made his move.  He hopped out of the tent, and proceeded to put on cold wet shorts, a cold wet shirt, cold wet socks, and cold wet shoes. 

The Basha Kill.

In the area right next to the tent where dinner had been cooked the night before there was a stream rushing by; it was about three inches deep and three feet wide, we sure got lucky in our tent placement.  As we started hiking we realized that every possible low point on the whole hillside was rushing water.  The morning part of the hike was down into the Basha Kill, which was like a big marshy river.  All morning we heard nothing but water rushing around.  At one point we needed to cross a half washed out bridge that was partially submerged in the flood.  Miles had to just jump as far as possible, and hope that the bank was shallow enough to stand on; we lived. 

FOOOOOOD.

The one thing that kept us going as we walked through the swamp was the knowledge that at the end of the swamp was a town, and in that town there would be hot food.  We dreamed of getting a hot meal and refilling our supplies.  When we finally did happen into Wartsburg the rain had just stopped, but we were still dripping wet so we found a place with an order window and outdoor seating.  A girl came to the window and asked what we would like.  Miles ordered two burger and fries combo meals, the girl kinda glanced around to see who was with us, then set off to make the food.  She brought them out shortly.  Miles proceeded to demolish both of them, and then ordered a large three scoop ice cream.  He claims it was an amazing meal.   The girl, we found out her name was Erika, said she had never seen anyone eat that much there before, but we didn’t get our picture on the wall or anything cool like that.

Beautiful storm aftermath.

Storm clouds leaving the valley.

After a resupply we headed back out of town and up another mountain.  As we started to climb the mountain a heavy thunderstorm rolled through again and soaked us for another hour or so, just to remind us that it could.  When it departed though, we were on top of a hill and the clouds that it left behind were amazing.  We were also surrounded by tons of huckleberry bushes, like enough to where we can finally understand how something as big as a bear can actually live off of them.  The bad part was they made the possibility of finding a campsite impossible.  We had to walk six more miles before we found anything that resembled a suitable campsite.  They tell you in the guide book that you are allowed to camp in certain areas, what they don’t tell you is that there is no way in hell you are actually going to be able to camp there in real life. 

Storms make gorgeous sunsets.

This is what the area your allowed to camp in looks like.

Traveled 15.6 miles of trail. 

-SM-

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