Camp Pleasant was...well, pleasant. All the camps on this trail are very nice; with nice sounding names I might add. Two Bear is the only one with an even slightly scary name; unlike the camps on the Devil's Dome Loop. (the other consideration for my 5 day trip) Who wants to stay a night by themselves at "Nightmare Camp" or "Bear Skull"; not to mention "Devil's Pass" or "Hell's Basin". Can you blame me for begging my husband to come along? No, I made a good choice in switching my plan; one where I could look forward to feeling safe and sound at places like "Home Sweet Home" camp.
So, as I was 'pleasantly' relaxing at my fire, I decided I'd better go introduce myself to the guys. I stopped at John's site first. He let me know he was intending to come with a friend who backed out last second, so he had hauled all the stuff in by himself...and when he said "all the stuff", he wasn't kidding! He looked like he was car camping; I've never seen anyone pack in so much crap. Two lanterns? But he was just a sweet local kid with a few days off work who only wanted to chill; most definitely not the "non-weirdo" solo hiker the ranger told me about. That must be the other guy...the one staring up into the sky with his hands in the air. I decided to wait until morning to say hello to him.
Where's your lounge chair, John? |
Though, when I finally got up my courage before heading out in the morning, I was relieved to find him as nice as the ranger said. He explained he hadn't backpacked in years because of his bad knee from a long ago motorcycle crash. It was acting up, so he didn't think he was going to be able to make it all the way to Home Sweet Home...and just when we were starting to make friends! Oh well; maybe I wouldn't be minding some solitude myself in such a cozy sounding little camp.
At the top of the first divide |
Home is in need of some repair |
I didn't have enough energy to poke my head out of my tent, but listening to them I guessed there were at least 5 boys who sounded to be no more than fourteen. They were so excited (loudly excited, and who can blame them) to use their new hammocks...and the only place to set them up was right behind my tent. I'm not kidding; I don't think there was even 15 feet between us. There was no way I could even fart unless I was prepared for roars of laughter. Ugh, this night was going to be endless.
My nice quiet spot; before the invasion |
Post invasion |
My hiking buddy. See my tent in the distance? |
"You made it!"...
I could tell he was as surprised as I was. The climb to get there was torturous; I can't imagine doing it with a bad knee.We both lamented about the hijacking of our supposed "home", but we were each pretty happy to have our somewhat secluded spots. He said he would most likely be heading back in the morning, so we said our goodbyes. I should have known better.
Part 3 http://kellbell-whywouldanyonereadthis.blogspot.com/2014/07/marmot-lake-to-nine-stream.html
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