July 19

1742-1774

In the morning we pass by a sign on the trail offering food, drinks, and ice cream. Delighted to get a hot breakfast we follow the side trail where we are directed and find… Nothing.

ahhhh! We eat bars and electrolyte water instead on the side of a dirt road. Lately we have been seeing an interesting feature of trail construction- when a large tree has fallen on the trail instead of cutting a section of the log the trail crew is cutting out a foot step. Often times the step is well above Amber’s waist. It seems like it would be more difficult to do this than to actually cut away the log. It drives Amber crazy.

All morning we have been seeing signs and hearing rumors from other hikers about an on trail BBQ about 15 miles ahead. We race to get there at 2pm only to find that the BBQ is completely out of food. NOOOOO! We have another meal of energy bars and electrolyte drinks on the side of a dirt road.

Luckily, berry season is beginning in the PNW. Today I eat wild strawberries, huckleberries, thimbleberries, as d raspberries. It is a 4 berry day.

There is a long dry stretch at the end of the day, 15 miles without water on trail. I make a short detour off trail to a back country cabin with a manual pump water source and wait for amber.

I wait about 30 minutes and she never comes. I get back on trail, unsure if she is in front or behind me. We had planned to make it to a small fishing lodge by the end of the day, so I continue along half convinced I am ahead and half convinced that she is.

Volcanism is very apparent in this area. The trail passes over massive fields of volcanic rocks. At the end of the trail I get a tremendous view of Mt. McLaughlin, a 9,400 foot dormant volcano. It is the largest volcano between Shasta and the 3 Sisters.

I make it to the highway at 8:30, and assume amber is behind me, since I haven’t seen her for hours. I set up camp right next to the trail so she can see me when she walks up, but she never arrives. We both have all the gear we need, as this is not a big crisis, but I fall asleep, waking frequently and wondering where she is.