What a great birthday hike! Today with Karen and Julie, I hiked to Janus Lake, gaining 2,000' in elevation over 7.8 miles.
We hiked 1,000' in elevation up to Union Gap Pass, then descended sharply to Janus Lake. Then hiked arduously up to Union Gap Pass again, and descended steeply to the car. The extreme up/down reminded me of hiking in the Olympic Mountains.
On the Pacific Crest Trail, we met two thru-hikers coming from Mexico to Canada. They were almost done.
Two men started two weeks ago in Canada, heading south. One had a large dog with him. I don't know how he can possibly carry enough dog food. His dog was thin after two weeks.
PCT thru-hikers looked lean and fit. Their packs were like an extension of their bodies, pared down to the essentials. The men had beards.
They are hungry for fresh fruit and vegetables. I gave the first hungry thru-hiker we met grapes and carrots from my lunch. Karen gave him a fresh tomato. Julie handed him a bag of cookies.
"This tomato is incredible," he gushed, inhaling it. Next Karen handed him a large, chocolate ball. "I made it from chocolate/mint, vegan protein bars that got rock hard," she said. " I whirled the bars in the Cuisinart with dates and added more mint."
When he tasted it, he nearly swooned. The look he gave Karen said, "I'll follow you anywhere."
"Here's your birthday cake," Karen said, handing me a now-famous chocolate ball. "I brought one for each of us."
Belated Happy Birthday. I'll bet Janus Lake is cold! Do you ever dip in? I hiked through Glacier National Park many years back and swam in Lake McDonald. It was early summer and I nearly froze my butt off. But the lake was so clear and pristine, I braved it...
With the insulating capacity of a grasshopper, I would get hypothermia.
At most, I stick my feet in frigid alpine lakes for a nanosecond.
@LiterateHiker As my yiddisha grandmother used to say when we didn’t load our dinner plates to overfilled, “You eat like a bird!”
Sounds like you had a great birthday hike.... and super scenery.
That a fly agaric mushroom .. highly poisonous?
I don't eat wild mushrooms except Morels. No idea if the orange mushroom is poisonous.
@LiterateHiker my identifications are not definitive, so I never pick and eat mushrooms ... I ocasionally grow some ... but anything red generally means don't eat me