Day 48 : Koosah Mountain

Start – Koosah Mountain (1960 m)
Finish – Stormy Lake (1850 m)
Daily Distance – 35 km
Ascent – 620 m
Descent – 740 m

18:35, and the sun is already slipping behind the trees at Stormy Lake. Validation, if any were needed, of my decision to make after dinner tea for a change. Earl grey after lemon and pepper cous cous with tuna, I feel terribly middle class. Well, middle class except for the dusty feet and residue of several squashed mosquitos on my person.

The most interesting thing to happen today was that I was passed by a hiker wearing a long sword belted at his hip. Sadly, I didn’t have chance to ask why as he darted off again, disquieted by my uncanny resemblance to somebody called Chris, whose fate is still unknown. It looks as if I will need to withdraw my previous statements about all the weirdos hiking NOBO. Hopefully, we meet again so I can unravel the mystery of the PCT Knight errant. Hopefully, some quixotic task to win the love of a fair maid. Although I have a creeping suspicion, the reality could be something much dumber.

This section of the trail features both beautiful lakes and a smoky haze from nearby fires. This means I both smell like a charred sausage that fell between the grill slats to slowly carbonise on the embers below, and am also getting savaged by mosquitos when I try to write this outside of the tent. Sadly, this tentsite is just far enough away from the water that my dragonfly guardians are refusing to help. Sitting directly by the water though, a brace of dragonflies can really help keep the mosquitos under control. I get the impression that my appearance and attraction of the mosquitos is like ringing the dinner bell for an all you can eat dragonfly buffet.

Other than that, there is not much to say. My run of restless nights continued last night, which has left me feeling tired and lacking energy. For an unusually flat day, it has felt difficult. Fortunately for my bag weight, I gifted the last 2 Sprite cans in the early afternoon. Nick, a dreadlocked guy in his, perhaps, mid-30s, wearing sandals and artfully ripped corduroy trousers, and his travelling companion were toiling up a hill in the sun and looked in need of a pick-me-up. The only downside was that I thought there were 3 cans remaining as I’d planned to drink one myself…