Day 33 : Bear Lake

Start – Bear Lake (1465 m)
Finish – Panther Creek (275 m)
Daily Distance – 42 km
Ascent – 740 m
Descent – 1925 m

When planning a new town-town section, I typically take the total distance to be walked, divide it into default 30km walking days (plus or minus a bit depending on ruggedness of terrain and the amount of elevation gain), and that gives me my theoretical number of days for the section. This allows me to divide the total ascent for the section, by the walking days, to understand the average number of metres I need to climb in a day.

Up until now, this method has worked surprisingly well, with only minor deviations from the averages on a day-to-day basis. Today did not fit the model. The average metres of ascent for this section should be in the region of 850m per day. Despite walking comfortably my longest day, which was incidentally far from comfortable, I still fell short of the average figure. It was only by walking so far that I managed to get at all close, and much of the motivation for that was to complete a 1600m decent, which I knew my knees wouldn’t enjoy.

Still, at least there is now less distance required until Cascade Locks, even if extra elevation to tackle.

Tonight, I am camping near the improbably named Panther Creek. Given the ever escalating fierceness of the water sources, which I am camping next to (Trout, Bear, Panther), I really can’t imagine what comes next. Sasquatch stream? Kraken creek?

Addendum – Having spoken to several teenage fishermen yesterday evening, I can confirm that Bear Lake, unlike Trout Lake, has both a lake and trout. Although no bears that I am aware of.