Day 11 (16 Miles)

I resolved today to have a breakthrough day with respect to mileage. It did not work out as expected. Diamond Peak was heavily snowbound and an avalanche had wiped out a section of trail during the offseason. When I arrived at the avalanche site, footprints went off in all directions. I pushed ahead with my best guess and sure enough I was lost in no time.

This was the second time on the trip that I had found myself lost and this time was tougher for a variety of reasons. For one, the snow made moving around in any direction tough, so I was tending to favor snowless tracks whether or not they were best. Two, it was difficult to orient with my map and compass becuase of the forest cover. Last but not least, my frustration with being lost was exacerbated by my expressed goal for the day -- the more time I spent being lost the less chance I would have to do more mileage for the day. This last thought might seem absurd but getting a lot of miles done can be good for personal morale if a trip is proving to be a challenge.

I did find way back to the trail, after an hour of being lost, and I was physically and mentally exhausted from the ordeal. I pushed on, vowing to take a break when the opportunity presented itself. When breaktime came I crashed hard, unable to get walking again for another hour. I then decided that Shelter Cove, which is where I was going to pick up a resupply package latert in the day, would probably be my finishing point for this day.

Shelter Cove proved to be a welcome change. I picked up my package at the general store and ate a couple of hot dogs and drank some sugar. I met four other hikers who were also staying there for the night. Two of them, Penguin and Hydro Heidi, were thru-hikers who had started in Mexico and due to bad weather in the California Sierras had "flip-flopped" or gotten and ride to Oregon to complete this part of the trail now, and then finish California later.

That night we all sat around the campfire and told stories. It was very good for my morale.