7/18/12

    Today was rather eventful, more so than usual. For me, the day started at 3 AM. I was honestly paranoid about the food not being hung in a tree. I heard some branches snap and thought to myself that its probably a bear, or a deer, or at least a racoon. Whatever it was, I am sure it wanted to kill us in our sleep. So I shined my my light around. Finally spotted a set of eyes, glaring into my light. It was the eyes of death I thought. Then it darted off, crashing branches, it sounded large. Lauren finally woke up, asked what I was doing. I always try to play it cool when something is wrong, so I told her I was just waiting to see the sunrise... with my headlamp on... at 3 AM. She simply told me to go back to sleep. Which I eventually did. Maybe our snoring would keep the beast back.
   Around seven, we awoke. I looked all over for bear tracks... only found some deer tracks. They say that sasquatch covers his tracks, maybe thats what it was. He likes these Northwest areas right?
    We started hiking late, but we hiked fast. A sweet swimming hole on the Wild and Scenic Feather River awaited us. We got there at 11, and stayed until 1230. The water was great. Easy Miles, an lawyer from Portland joined us. It felt so good to swim in the cool water.
   We then began a climb out of the river valley, 3300 feet up. We noticed a helicopter flying around us. I thought, maybe someone is getting rescued. Or theres a fire nearby. The helicopter made several runs past us, soon we noticed the bucket it was towing underneath, definately a fire nearby. We eventually rounded a corner and noticed a red gu on everything. Guess the helicopter is dropping more than water. Rounded another corner to find heavy smoke, and 15 firefighters. I was worried we would have to turn around. But they said hike on through. The fire was tiny, probably less than an acre. Well under control too. They said it was probably a hiker who started the fire though, as a campsite was nearby. Its such a dry year, I hope folks are being careful.
   The rest  of the day was rather uneventful. We hiked 25 miles and until 830 again. Lauren's shin is hurting again, hoping it feels better tomorrow! Now I need sleep.