Sometimes Nature Comes When Nature Calls

Day 102-July 24th
Destination: Grider Creek Camp
Miles: 20
Cumulative Miles: 1395.5

We woke up this morning to find that the bears had paid us no attention thankfully. We had good rest, and only 20 miles to do today. After a couple miles we reconnected with Weather Carrot who we would hike most of the day with, taking breaks together in the shade, and eating lunch next to a stream.

Today carried fairly easy miles, in the sense that the trail was not rocky, and there was little climbing to do. But it did get hot today, especially as we dropped in elevation close to 5000 feet. Furthermore, at times our trail was so overgrown with ferns, big leaf maple, and other lush vegetation, it made it difficult to see the trail, to see if there were rocks or stumps that could trip us. We made it through without incident though, and Psycho's ankle seems to be getting better.

We parted ways with Weather Carrot not long before camp. As he is only section hiking, he does not need to maintain momentum like us. Lucky him.

Late in the afternoon nature called for Apricots, and she answered. Removing her pack and stepping a little off trail, she knelt down to find relief. In the midst of her "break", she heard a stick break and looked up. Ten feet in front of her was a bear playing peeping tom. At once she stood up and grabbed her pack while yelling down trail to Psycho. The bear fled the scene immediately running towards Psycho but down hill and off trail. He never heard nor saw the bear for he was further back than Apricots anticipated. But when he rounded the corner and saw Apricots' ashen face he knew something happened. She recounted the events, and Psycho held his tongue when he wanted to ask, "Did the bear scare the piss right out of you?"

Following the scare, we made our final mile descent down to Grider Creek Campground where we took a pseudo-bath in the creek water to wash off any oils we may have picked up from the poison oak, and our own sweat which poured like rivers out of our pores today in the muggy heat.

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