Day Two: Hyatt Lake to Brown Mountain Shelter

 

I had a rough night sleeping. Getting into camp at 8 PM and not going to sleep until about 10 PM was rough and I had an uncomfortable night tossing and turning. I was hoping that the next day would be better. I still got what I thought was an early start and I was hiking by 7 AM. Right away, there was a water stop with a faucet and a sign that said Potable Water. I was all for that because it meant that I did not have to mess with my filter which was effective, but slow. That turned out to be an ample description for me also, effective, but slow as many people ended up passing me on the trail. Whether it was on breaks or just coming up behind me, there seemed to be a lot of fast hikers around. 

So much so, that I actually developed a pain in my neck from looking over my left shoulder for hikers coming behind me. There was only one person that I recall leaving in the dust and he was an out of shape Oregon only hiker who had hiked the whole thing a few years ago. He was smoking a cigarette when I ran into him and was planning a short day. I would never see him again but there were many young people who I would see daily for a lot of the rest of the trip who flew right past me. The trail went by Hyatt Reservoir and Howard Prairie Lake both of which I could see from the trail, but I would have had to leave the trail to really see them. Most of the day was spent hiking through the woods with one water stop at Griffin Pass. When I arrived there, it was like everyone who had ever passed me that day was gathered at the one shady spot near the spring. I was sticking with my strategy of stopping every so many steps, so I took my pack out to the spring to fill water and was off. I didn't feel like interjecting myself into the friendships of these people who had known each other for many days. Today was filled with forest hiking including a climb up to Old Baldy.

 The climb wore me down a little and after 40000 steps, I was pretty spent. My back hurt, my feet hurt, and I was struggling to hit the 50000 step limit that would propel me into camp at Brown Mountain Shelter. When I got to Brown Mountain Shelter, I was determined to camp there. I found an empty space and set up my tent. I was not the only one with this idea and soon the whole area was packed with people. No one stayed in the shelter as it looked run down. The picnic table was the most popular hang out spot, but I didn't feel like competing for space so I made my dinner at my campsite. I did go introduce myself later and many of the people I met I would continue to run into on the trail for the next few weeks. I was just happy to get in bed early. On this night, I put on the earplugs and the headband over my eyes and it was time to get a decent night's rest.