Day 7, 2022 - Elk Lake and back to the trail

July 23rd

The cut-off trail from Elk Lake back up to the PCT Northbound.

I had slept from 7 PM last night straight thru, except for one vague memory of Beau coming in the trailer door, until the alarm went off at 0500. All the windows and the door of the trailer were opened and it was 43 degrees. I closed things up and got Runningbird some coffee and a morning snack and then we were kicking into gear.

Oh Running Bird got a new pair of shoes! Did I mention we went to REI yesterday mainly for her to get a new pair of shoes? And they look sharp! She was stepping out onto the trailhead by 0630 with two rough, high-mileage days ahead of her before we see each other again and where the trail is still closed. From there we’ll leap-frog ahead as required and then keep on going.

After dropping Peggy Beau and I returned to the trailer for some breakfast and house cleaning then drove to the Ace Hardware in La Pine only to find they didn’t have what I needed. We topped the tank off with fuel and headed back. I had a late lunch and then went down to the lake. There were about six other dogs playing water frisbee so I reluctantly let Beau join them. He did have a blast but no concept of the goal of the game. He spent most of the time following the retrieving dogs into the water and then run off once they returned the frisbee. He got a lot of good exercise and I eventually had to trick him with the help of one of the other dogs to get him back on leash. I’ve never had a puppy before and if I were being graded for my training ability I would definitely flunk.

Runningbird’s SPOT dinged me in the late afternoon with the “I’m Okay” signal and included an alert that her batteries were low. I left her a voice mail and a text hoping she might see them. A little while later I got another “I’m Okay” and this time the battery alert was not present so evidently our communication worked. She had covered 24 miles today in 10.5 hours. An animal. The new shoes? No, she’s just a bad-ass.

Tomorrow will be a long, busy day for all of us and the temperatures are picking up.