What a miserable night. It was cold, and I got all twisted up inside my sleeping bag. My shoulders kept falling asleep and I had to keep turning. I was wearing all of my layers and my giant puffy, and was stuffed into the sleeping bag like a sausage. In the middle of the night I woke up and realized that I was getting sick. By morning, it was for sure, I’ve got a nasty head cold, probably from all of this hiking in the rain.
And the rain won’t stop. There isn’t even a hint of the blue sky that was promised. It seems that the clouds are locked in over this mountain. I bet it is sunny and warm everywhere else…
We had some coffee and a warm breakfast, and with nothing else to do and no energy to do it with, I crawled back into my sleeping bag and fell asleep for a while. Brad went for a hike around the lake while I was sleeping to check out the landscape. When I woke up, he suggested that we pack up and head back. Even if it turned sunny at this point there isn’t any way to press forward in all of the snow. I admit, I’m a bit relieved at the suggestion, thinking of how appealing our warm bus and comfortable bed sounds as my head swells and pains.
The hike back was much easier. There were a lot more footprints to follow from other backpackers tracking it out. We caught sight of our cute bus through the trees and it lifted my spirits, as it always does. I’ve been worried about leaving the bus there at the trailhead with all of our life in it. It would be devastating if anything happened while we were gone. But the bus was fine, just how we left it.
We moved to a nearby campsite to dry out our things and unpack, eat, and rehydrate. I can tell Brad isn’t feeling like himself either, and sure enough, he is sick now too! But the sky is clear at the campground, finally, and it feels so good to sit in the sun and feel fully warm for the first time in days.
There is no cellular where we are, but with offline maps we can sketchily plan out where to head next. With four days left before I have to be back to work, it seems like a good idea to slowly make our way north, and enjoy a few things along the way. Our next destination is tentatively Lake Billy Chinook, about an hour north of Bend and Sisters. Brad wants to rent a pontoon boat and go out on the lake. From there, who knows, but we’ll figure it out! Gotta make the most of our last few days of freedom.
