Day 122 - Lakes in Fog

Saturday August 15

The rain last night quit around midnight. Then the wind picked up and it was gusty for several hours. I could hear the gusts coming as the trees swished about. All I could think about were several of the nearby dead snags. Would this be the time they came down? Fortunately, nothing came down, and the wind dried most of the rain from my tent. 

I was back on the trail at 5:45. I had a long climb up to the ridge. I had one last look at Deep Lake before I crossed the ridge.

The clouds hung around the mountains all day. When the trail would come to an overlook, I often could see little but hills shrouded in clouds. Several times the trail even climbed up into the clouds! The blowing fog made everything damp. 

Of course the rain wet down the bushes alongside the trail. I put on my rain pants and raincoat to keep from getting soaked. The nice thing about walking a trail that is heavily used is that other people were walking ahead of me. That meant less water remained on the bushes when I went by! I soon noticed that my rain pants weren't needed, and they were starting to get me wet from my own perspiration. I took them off for the rest of the day. 

The trail today took me past many beautiful lakes, including Deception Lake. I liked the way the moss reflected in the water.

I did see several grouse. Their explosive takeoffs always startled me! I also saw a mother deer and her two fawns. They are so cute when they leap away through the forest!

By midday I reached Mig Lake. It had several good campsites, and I picked one that was more secluded and sheltered by trees from wind blowing off the lake.

My dinner tonight was Spaghetti with meat sauce, enhanced with Fritos, pepperoni, olive oil and a dash of "slap yo mama"!

Some people have asked me how I know when there is phone service. Most of the time I have no service at all, so I leave my phone in "airplane mode" to keep it from running down the battery. If I need to use the phone, either to send a message, make a call or upload my blog, I'll check to see if there is service when I reach the top of a mountain or if I can see a city or major highway. Often it makes a difference which side of a mountain you are on. Sometimes I'll just check for service when I am going to use the phone for something else. I often get frustrated when I really need to contact someone and the signal is so weak that it won't even send a text message. On the other hand, sometimes I can send a text message, even when a phone call won't go through.

I am camped at Mig Lake, PCT mile 2468.5. I hiked 22.8 miles today. The elevation here is 4,665 feet.