To Darby Day 3: Howling wind, crashing trees and forest fires

I’m starting the day at mile 565 and ending it at 590. A grueling 25 mile day. 

I was still exhausted from all the climbing yesterday. There were two more up and down passes to do. I fell in the creek between them and lost the drinking cap to my water bottle. 

Then the hills were less intense but I entered a very long burn zone with many blowdowns. The wind howled and I listened to trees fall. There was a forest fire burning in front of me. I wondered if it was on the trail. A few hours later I could see another forest fire burning on the other side of me. It was like being in hell. 

There was a long water carry through miles of burned forest and blowdowns  because comments in the app said they couldn’t find a spring. A helpful northbound section hiker told everyone how to find it. When I got there the men from last night and the Canadians were there. The Canadian man gave me a liter of water. 

The trail climbed through more burned forest with more blowdowns. As I labored the Canadian woman’s pack appeared on the trail. I assumed she was pooping but I looked up and saw her hiking without it. The trail finally leveled off in unburned forest and the Canadian man appeared without his pack headed back down to retrieve hers. Everyone today had come up to me from behind and essentially blasted me out of their way, including the men and the Canadians. At times I wanted to cry at how rudely I would be forced to jump out of the way. But nobody carried my pack. I was doing all the same miles on my own at my own pace. 

As I crested the summit into reasonably healthy forest it appeared I might make it to the next water source without dry camping. 

I plodded along, passing some nice dry campsites battling in my head which mattered more: to not exhaust myself with too many miles and get adequate rest or to camp among other people? Suddenly the creek appeared and there were no campsites nearby so I grabbed some water and went searching for a place to camp. Soon I was at Surprise lake and there were the German Belgians in their tent. 

I tried to set up my tarp but it was just too windy. I packed up and went further. There were the men from yesterday. It seemed a little calmer on their side of the lake. I found a spot somewhat far from them and managed to set up my tarp partially tied to trees which seemed more secure. The cold wind was still blowing. It didn’t look promising but my tarp held while I made and ate my dinner and wrote in my journal. 

It was such a long and brutal day. This is the Cruelty Delivery Trail. But on the bright side I carried my own weight and did as many miles as anyone else and I even managed to set up a tarp shelter in wind and it did not fall down.