Day 4

Gee, something smells...

Just imagine 4 days on the trail with no showers, no deodorant, haulin' a 40+ pack up & down some pretty steep trails, and eating high carb/high calorie meals. Just brings tears to my eyes...

Third night on the trail and they are getting settled in for the long haul. At this point you are starting to get into a mental groove and getting used to the routine of setting up camp, pitching a dining fly, sumping your meals, and figuring out where everything is in your pack. Still ache and feeling a bit older, but it is a good experience. Hope the guys got to attend campfire last night at Crater Lake.

Today is a push day. The first two days on the trail were meant as "warm ups" to get everyone used to hiking the trails and the altitude.  Since they have now ditched their ranger, they are truely on their own. Today is a long haul for them with one of their longer hikes and a fairly significant climb. The are packing out of Bear Caves camp and heading into Beaubien (~8 miles). The trail they are planning to take is a very steep, rugged trail up over Trail Peak and down into Beaubien Camp. This will be the first hard climb for the guys on this trek. I always like to give them the technical perspective of the hike before they start to mentally prep themselves. They will be leaving an elevation of 8411' and climbing up to 10250' over the top of Trail Peak before heading back down into Beaubien (9400'). The first half of the hike may be a fairly hard climb, but they should be able to pace them and take plenty of breaks along the trail (slow & steady). No rush on this one. Today's goal is to get into Beaubien and enjoy a layover day. One interesting site to look for today is the B24 Liberator crash site on top of Trail Peak. Once they crest the peak, the rest of the hike should be all downhill slide into Beaubien.

The wing of the B24 Liberator

Hot showers and campfire tonight!   Boo-ya!