Day 139: Old Friends
August 27: Mile 2198.19 Green Lake to Mile 2216.00 Campsite
Today was a day of reunions. Well, actually it began yesterday when we crossed paths with Ina and Chris, a German couple that we hadn’t seen since probably Tehachapi. It’s so crazy how old friends will just pop up randomly out here. So we stopped and talked with them for a while and caught up. They told us that they did all kinds of flipping and skipping in light of the snow in the Sierras. They even said that they had just been with Dr. McDirty and Cougar while in Cascade Locks and had also seen them when they went to Portland. After checking the trail registers, we think we’re now two days behind them.
When we stopped for breakfast at Blue Lake there was a group of weekend hikers that had camped near the shore and they had several dogs with them (which is basically heaven for me). One of them, Sage, a skinny white dog with beautiful black speckles and splotches, came over to us and leaned into me as hard as he could to get away from the flies that had been terrorizing him. So cute! He sat there and we petted him for over half an hour while we ate our oatmeal. I wanted to claim him as my own so bad!
At lunch, we had to sit pretty much on the trail since we were hungry and didn’t feel like finding a more proper spot off the trail. As we were eating I noticed a bearded man walking up the trail towards us (which is pretty much every person we encounter). I then realized he looked familiar and after inspecting his face I called out, “Adam?!” The man looked at me confused and upon recognizing my now very hairy face he exclaimed in a Polish accent, “You’re alive!” It was Adam who started at the Mexican border with Glowworm and I along with Dr. McDirty and Cougar. I hadn’t seen him since probably Tehachapi and the last time he saw Glowworm and our South African friends was when they were descending into Independence just after hiking through Forrester Pass and Kearsarge Pass following me getting air lifted. He never knew the outcome of that instance (he didn’t actually think I was dead) and was shocked to see I was still out here and hadn’t quit after that. So we spent almost the whole of lunch catching up with Adam and reminiscing about our time in the desert, which not only feels so long ago, but also feels like a completely separate trip. I love being able to see these people that I became so close with after thinking they were only memories.
Around 4:30 we crossed a road with a sign saying that there was trail magic nearby so of course we went to and Adam, Chris, and Ina were already there. They had beer, and tacos with beef, mushrooms, spinach, cheese, sour cream, and Siracha sauce. Yum! I think I had about eight tacos and four beers. Later in the evening Geared Up, the trail angel, put on The Secret Life of Walter Mitty on his laptop for all of us to watch. It was such a fun and relaxing evening. We didn’t make near the miles we were hoping to, but we didn’t eat out of our food bags so we essentially have an extra dinner now. After the movie we camped near by with full bellies. A good day.
