8/22/2023
Section: Milepost 1485.8 to 1468.2
Total Trail Miles: 1471/2650
Distance: 18.31 Miles
Moving Time: 07:11
Elevation Gain: 2733 ft
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I have incurred a fair bit of mental scarring sleeping in tents in bad weather over the years. Two trips stand out in my mind anytime I slumber through a night of wind and rain. The first was about 7 years ago. My sister, Claire, had come up to Bellingham and Amanda and I had taken her up on one of our mid-summer, mid-week climbing trips in Squamish. For shelter, we packed a well loved but seemingly reliable 3-person REI tent with us to sleep under the stars after hitting the crags. Overnight, a massive rain storm rolled in from the Pacific and dumped on us. When it had started I hadn't really been worried since the rainfly was on and secured. At 3 am I distinctly remember letting my hand fall to my side and submerging itself in 3 inches of water. The bathtub was still waterproof…but not the fly. We packed up then and there, at 3 am and drove back across the border before the sun was up.
The second waterlogged memory was a trip with a group of friends to the Bugaboos in central BC. Weather reports had suggested clear skies on the night we were slated to sleep on a high granite shelf under the spires but as we were going to sleep a massive wet, warm and windy storm blew in. At the time we were letting our friends use our freestanding tent, which did not require an anchor on the rocky shelf, but Amanda and I were using our Hilleberg which, while a 4-season tent, required solid staking to work well and all we had was stacked rocks on the 4 corners, which broke down quickly in the wind. Throughout the night, the tent fell down 5-6 times and I had to run around constantly to get it set-up again.
These incidents have stayed with me throughout the years, so sleep was tough to come by last night. …And, maybe that was warranted because when I woke in the morning, rain still coming down, I again found a small puddle on the floor of the tent. This pissed me off to no end because, in the spring, I had sent our reputable Copper Spur into Big Agnes to be re-waterproofed. They had it for 3 months and almost didn’t get it back to us in time but when they did, they assured me the whole thing had been restored to factory waterproofing. This is what I thought about as I sat in the dim morning light watching a steady drip fall from a seam union above my door. I snapped a video to send to Big Agnes for proof when I got service again.
Amanda and I didn’t move too fast this morning. The rain had a paralyzing effect on both of us. We took stock in our things. The sleeping bags, already pretty damp before the night, were even more so now. The sleeping pads were also wet but that wasn’t a major issue, it just added to the overall dampness. Our rain jackets were still wet - there’s just no drying those things out when humidity is over 80% and temperatures stay below 45F. All in all, it was a slow and very wet morning.
Today’s stage does a whole lot of winding into and out of drainages, climbing throughout the first five and a half miles while doing so until it reaches a USFS road, Bald Mountain Road, at around 4000 feet. The trail continues to wind in and out of drainages heading south and then east while descending 1800 feet to Fitzhugh Gulch along the McCLoud River. From this low point, the stage parallels the river before it crosses the river at Ash Camp, ~13 miles in. The last 3 miles of the trail regain some altitude to Butcherknife creek where we camped for the night.
It was 08:45 by the time we had finished breakfast in our tent and bundled up our wet things. Putting drenched equipment into stuff sacks and tetris-ing it into a damp backpack is just, generally, a sickening feeling but there is nothing else for it so we made it happen. The only thing that might be worse is putting cold, wet socks back onto your feet. There just isn’t anything too wonderful about getting going in a puddle in the morning.
The stage started off in the trees, and then continued in the trees and just, generally, stayed in the trees all day. It was a green tunnel day and, accordingly, I don't have a lot to say about the actual walking part of it. About 2 hrs in, we stopped on the banks of Trough Creek. Some sun was popping through and we thought we might be able to dry out the tent at least, and maybe our sleeping bags. Two French guys sat on the other side of the creek trying to give their stuff some sun to dry as well. We hung everything from some branches over a stream and I attempted to backflush the Saywer. Both objectives were largely unsuccessful.
After about 45 minutes of sitting we realized nothing was going to dry or filter quickly. We packed up and got back underway. The rest of the day was uneventful and most of it was spent on low ground with very little view out so…good solid green tunnel day.
Due to the late start we didn’t get too far, only about 18 miles and stopped just a touch early to see if we could get our things to dry in the evening. At Butcherknife creek we crossed, walked another ¼ mile and pulled over to the right side of the trail at a nice series of campsites close to the creek. We hung our stuff in the trees, though it was cold and damp. Our hopes weren’t too high. Amanda set up the tent and I got the gravity filter system working. We had some time so we cleaned our stuff as we were able and eventually climbed into the tent for the night. My sleeping bag is still definitely damp and large sections have clotted down making it less than effective - thank goodness the nights are still warm.