It’s difficult to have a bad day, let alone back-to-back bad days, when there are so many wild huckleberries and blueberries around. These wild blueberries taste more like blueberry than any blueberry I have ever had before. One of my new favorite things in the world is tossing both blueberries and huckleberries into my mouth at the same time. If this flavor could be captured, it may be the most effective antidepressant ever.
I am feeling very blessed today. Not in a, “I’m so blessed to be out here,” kind of way, more like a, “I am blessed to be so lucky.” Is lucky a synonym for blessed? Brianna’s mom, Penny, always says that we have someone watching over us because of the good fortune we seem to run into everywhere we go. I know better than most that it only takes one wrong spin of the roulette wheel for fortunes to take a turn for the worse, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t enjoy the win streak while you’re on it.
Lucky Things
We had a huge hill to start the day. Every time we stopped for a breather, plump huckleberries were next to us, waiting to be picked.
Today was the first day of the past few without overcast skies. Every time we started a big climb into the sun, clouds would appear from the other side of the mountain and shade us from the heat.
Unlucky Things
(To balance it out)
The zipper jammed on my sleeping bag and ripped a hole in the side of it. We are stuffing the feathers back in every morning until a stick can be attempted.
The zipper jammed on my puffy jacket and ripped a hole in the pocket. No feathers are escaping, but the pocket is unusable.
Today’s biggest stress was northbounders. It’s not having to wait while they pass from the opposite direction, though we did see more today than any other day so far. The stress is camping related. We have observed many northbounders setting up their camps between 4 and 5pm, and the sun doesn’t set until around 8:15pm. While they are faster than us and can still get big miles in on early days, we have to hike until at least 6:30pm on most days. This leaves us at a disadvantage.
It’s mentally challenging to arrive at where you had hoped to be done for the day and find you need to get creative or hike on in search of something else. This is a solid reminder that we should probably stick to southbound hiking for future hikes. The camping problem is something these bubble hikers have to deal with on the daily… no thanks.
For tonight, our tent sits next to a rock overhanging the Waptus River. The ground is a fine dirt that gets into and onto everything. Luckily, being as dirty as we already are, a little more dirt doesn’t mean much.
