2013 Backpacking Adventure (Day 4)

August 6, 2013

Day 4:  Lake time!  (7 miles)

Dear Love,

     We started off our day on the shore of Lake Katherine with a breakfast of dehydrated eggs.  Mmm, yum... right?!  No.  The answer is no, not yum at all.  Nasty is what it was.  You tried your best to doctor them up and they did taste a little better after doing so, but they were still disgusting.  

While we were eating breakfast we spotted our mysterious friends across the lake from the night before and they were laughing and having a great time.  I imagined them mocking me, saying things like, "Ha!  We slept great!  You're such a baby for having nightmares of us killing you!"  I'm so weird, I know.  

We choked down as much egg gruel as we could then we were on the trail again.

  I was exhausted after a horrible nights sleep and felt like my legs were lead, but I sucked it up and  sang this song along the way to keep me going strong:

I will follow you

Follow you wherever you may go

There isn't an ocean too deep

A mountain so high it can keep 
Keep me away, away from my love

I must follow you

Ever since you touched my hand I know

That near you I always must be

And nothing can keep you from me

You are my destiny

I love you, I love you, I love you

And where you go I'll follow, I'll follow, I'll follow

You'll always be my true love, my true love, my true love

From now untill forever, forever, forever

 Oh, by the way, thanks for my new boots!  They fit great; better than my old ones ever did!  

When we got to our halfway spot at Stewart Lake we decided to soak it up as long as we could before trudging on.    We took off our shoes, soaked our tired feet, went fishing, ate lunch, and I even snuck in a little nap basking in the sun.  You kept making fun of me because whenever we stopped on the trail I would always seek out a sunny spot, like a lizard.

FYI, I had a love affair with the sun while we were camping.  I just thought you should know.  When I woke up every morning and came out of the tent I always went searching for the sun because I loved how it warmed my bones from the crisp mountain air.  As I would stand there with my face turned towards it, I always said a silent prayer of gratitude for being able to spend almost an entire week with you, surrounded by such amazing and inspiring beauty.  I feel so ALIVE in the mountains... so happy, peaceful and content!  

We started fishing almost the second we took our packs off.  It was so fun!  Within the first twenty minutes you had already caught 5 fish.  They were mountain trout so they weren't that big, but we planned to keep a few and string them up for dinner.

  After thinking about it for awhile we decided against it since we weren't spending the night at Stewart Lake. We would have been walking bear bait if we had fish dangling from our packs!  I even tried my hand at fishing and caught 3, woo-hoo!

I was a little reluctant and sad to leave our perfect lunch spot, but we had to be on our way.  It helped ease the pain that we saw wildflowers on the trail nearly everywhere we looked! 

We passed one more unnamed lake (more like a pond) before making it to our final destination of the day- Horsethief Meadow.  We had to bushwhack for a bit to make it there, but it just added to the adventure.

We set up camp as quickly as we could because it was starting to rain.  We huddled in our tent for awhile and decided the rain wasn't letting up anytime soon so we just cooked dinner from inside the tent.  It was so cozy and fun.  

     After eating we laid back and listened to the rain hitting our tent and watched the rain drops gather on it.  We told stories of growing up that neither of us had heard before about each other.  We started with significant life happenings in Kindergarten and went all the way up to High School.  I could feel myself falling more deeply in love with you after such a perfect day.

Love, Me