8/19/17 – Huckleberry Feast

Day 117
Miles: 2,226.35 to 2,233.04

Total miles hiked: 1,592.00
I have to admit getting up from the comfort and warmth of the bed at Trout Lake Valley Inn was not an easy task. I was curious though what the breakfast would be like. I hoped for something of better quality than your typical chain hotel breakfast where you get individually wrapped pastries that are so full of preservatives that they don’t expire for two more years, and some cereal. My hungry tummy draw me out of the bed around eight. Five minutes later I had beautiful waffle in front of me, prepared by the manager, and a cup of coffee, and some fresh fruit. There were doughnuts too, old fashioned, both glazed and non glazed, and bagels with cream cheese. It was good.

We had couple hours before check out to get organized and to arrange a ride back to the trail. Dave called trail angels on the list we got from local grocery store; but being Saturday many of them were out and around and at first we didn’t have much luck.

Things turned when we made it 0.7 miles to the grocery store. Dave talked to few more people there and one of them agreed to take us up at 2:00 p.m. We had little bit of time which was good because in front of the store we bumped into Andrea and Jonathan, friends we haven’t seen in months. We spend good hour or so catching up. Just like ours, their journey is not a smooth sailing, but now after the fact, they have some really funny stories to tell. 
Doug, our driver was semi retired music teacher, local to the area, and we enjoyed good conversation with him during our ride. We talked for 20 more minutes at the trailhead and it was close to 3:00 p.m. when we finally hit the trail.

All of our hike was uphill. Getting 10 miles was an ambitious goal considering our late start. It would be doable but midway there we decided not to push that far. So we collected water from a spring by the trail, feasted on giant huckleberries, the trail was lined with the bushes and it was impossible not to stop and pick. We even picked a cupful to add to our oatmeal in the morning. 
Out destination changed to a meadow with a view of Mt. Adams which was about 3 miles shy of our original plan but it was a lovely place to enjoy the evening and to camp.
Finger freezing cold came shortly after sunset and after setting my camera for some star shots (hoping Milky Way would be visible tonight) we crawled into the sleeping bags and stayed there for the rest of the night.