Today's miles: 5
Total miles: 882
Today is our two month anniversary on trail!
We tried to sleep in today, but there were so many hikers camping at Vermilion Valley Resort that we were wide awake with the noise at 6am. It was still drizzling a little, but it soon cleared up, so we left our tent pitched for the morning to dry.
We had a nice, lazy morning at VVR. Sansei, Rotisserie, Papa Bear, Katie and I had breakfast at the restaurant in the store and then took naps in the sunlight. Katie and I did laundry and took showers, and then hung out with Bird Haus, Tapper, Games, Reason, Lighthouse, Sunset, Pony and St. Alfonzo for most of the afternoon. We packed up our stuff around lunchtime and then ate another big meal in the restaurant before heading out.
Rather than walk the four miles around the lake, as we had to get here, we opted to take the ferry back. Even though the water level was still really low, VVR was running a few skiff boats across the lake to shuttle hikers back to the trail. Each skiff could only hold four people, so Rotisserie, Sansei and I rode over first, followed by Katie and Papa Bear. It took long enough that we didn't start hiking until 5pm.
We tried to get as far as we could in a few hours. It was an uphill climb, headed toward Silver Pass, which was 3,000 feet higher than VVR. This time, though, I had headphones and my ipod that Tanner had sent me in my last resupply box. It was wonderful listening to music for the first time on trail, jamming to my favorite songs and making the hike go by more quickly. Unfortunately, I forgot how old my ipod was, and how terrible the battery lasted. After thirty minutes it went from fully charged to dead and now I had a useless paper weight instead of music. Bummer.
We ended up hiking five miles and reached a nice tent site beside the rushing Silver Creek. We were starting to get mauled by mosquitoes, so we put on our headnets and set up tents quickly.
I joked aloud about my broken ipod and the thirty minutes of music that it had offered me.
Sansei said, "you know, I don't like that you have music now. You don't make nearly as many funny noises while hiking! I kept waiting for an original Bramble song or your silly squeaks when you do river crossings, but there weren't any. It was too quiet."
I laughed. "Well, you're in luck, then, because I don't have any more music!"
"Yay!" said Sensai. "Er... I mean... awwwwww, too bad."
We dove into our tents to avoid the bugs and talked to each other through the mesh. Katie and I went on a mosquito killing spree inside our tent, laughing as we shrieked and killed the nasty buggers. I was in a silly mood and began bellowing a song from South Pacific in a deep, operatic voice, "Some enchanted evening!"
Everyone laughed and then we heard the distinctive sound of Sansei crunching on some oreos that he had bought in VVR.
"We want some!!" Katie and I yelled at him.
"No!" he yelled back. "I'm already in the tent!"
"Room service!!" we hollered. "Room service! We need oreos!!"
"Ughh, fine," he groaned with a laugh. We heard the tent unzip, and then his voice saying in a high, squeaky tone outside our door,
"Housekeeping? Housekeeping?"
"Yay!" we grabbed the oreos from him, happily crunching, and heard Sansei go next to Papa Bear's tent with the treat.
"Housekeeping?" he squeaked. "Me love you long time?"
We were giggly and happy and laughing ourselves to sleep.