Day 121 - Shelter Cove to Brahma Lake

Another long day up ahead. 27 trail miles, along with 2+ just to get from Shelter Cove back to the trail.

I got up at 6:00, packing up and going back to the store. Even though there is no cell reception here, the Wi-Fi is pretty good, so I did some chores, like ordering a new external battery that will wait for me in Bend, instead of the one from Lepow, which doesn’t work well at all.

I finally left at 8:00, and started hiking back up to the trail. I got there fast enough, and finally started my day.

My first stop was at the water in Middle Rosary Lake, after passing the lower one. According to Halfmile’s app there is no water source for the next 22 miles, but that’s probably just some mistake. Both campsite along the way are by lakes, and even though they are not on the trail, they are fairly close to it.

I hiked on and met a southbounder named Suzanna. She gave me some info about the closure after Olalie, and I told her about the cache near forest road 60.

I stopped for another short break, and was later joined by Numbers, Ball Hawk and Forest. It was nice just chatting with them a bit. I made a short stop next to the next water, but didn’t go down the side trail to it. I had enough on me.

When I finally reached Lake Charleston, where I intended to fill up, I went in for a quick snack and some water. Sitting there, I saw the heavy rain clouds come in, and started hearing thunder. I got up with 8 more miles to go, and started racing with the storm. It was 16:00 when I left the lake. Shortly after, the trail started going through burned forest, and with the constant thunders in the site it for a bit scary. It took me another hour or so to get back into a living forest.

At about 17:00, the first drops started to fall on me. I immediately put my camera, which was already in a zip lock bag, inside my waterproof backpack, and switched my hiking shirt with my rain jacket. But the real rain didn’t come, and I kept on hiking in thunders and occasional drops.

I met another southbounder, Beach Bum Buddha, about a mile before the campsite. The mosquitoes were pretty bad in this area, filled with small lakes. I’m sure the dampness and the rain drops didn’t help.

I finally reached the campsite at 18:40. There was already a couple here, tented up. The rain got a bit stronger when I got near, so I just set up my tent and jumped inside. After a while, during a brief dry moment, I boiled up water for dinner, then ate back in the tent.

Numbers, Forest and all of Smiley’s group also got here. But I’m holed up in my tent, as the rain drops outside.