Wayah Shelter (and Happy Birthday to me!)

Back on the trail and now that I’ve corrected my power issues for my phone I am going to try blogging at night and posting when I have a signal.

It’s COLD tonight. It’s cold every night. Even when it’s pleasant it’s windy and that makes it cold. The hikers all are in their tents well before sundown. I’m doing the same. Bathed in green light filtering through my tent and blind to anything going on outside of my wind-shaken walls I listen to the sound of zippers and crunching footsteps for the brave souls making last dashes for the privy. They’ve all eaten their weird meals and smoked some pot. It officially the end of the day for us. As for me, I’ll put in earplugs later. It’s easier to sleep. I’ve triple checked for food or anything else that could draw the creature I fear the most to my tent… mice. I hate those destructive little dudes. Bears suck too of course, but… I dunno… I just don’t worry about them. I assume they’ll leave me alone. If not, someone will let you know. (Ha!)

Tonight I was too cold to change out of my hiking clothes. I’ll sleep in my namesake tights and sleeveless running shirt. My socks are next to my head. I’d rather they weren’t so close to my nose, but they dry well there.

In my sleeping bag I have multiple ziplock baggies. They contain: my wallet, my power block for my electronics, and my water filter (so it won’t freeze). It’s a mummy bag. It’s close quarters in here. My phone will find its way into my bag before I go to sleep. Cold is death to battery powered devices.

Tomorrow will start at about 7am. I’d like to start sooner, but sunrise isn’t until about 7:30am so I’ll get up and first light to pack up. It’ll be cold and miserable. It always is.

It’ll be totally dark by 8:30pm tonight. I’ll probably be awake until 10pm. I’ll sleep until 1am or so and then I’ll doze off and on until about 5am when I’ll get a solid hour and a half before the day starts. Every hiker I talk to has this sleep pattern. It’s not enough sleep, but I never feel tired during the day. (Or from 1am to 5am now that think of it.)

My arms and hands are out of my sleeping bag and are freezing so I’ll say my farewell for this evening.

Peace. Love. Hiking. – Elfmeister