Day 6: Blowout Mountain to Powerline Corridor (15 miles)
I woke up this morning to a windy, wet world. A damp cloud was sitting on the mountain top where I’d camped and the wind kept making the trees drop their dew collection on my tent.
After briefly putting off the inevitable, I put on nearly all of my layers and got myself sorted and packed up. It was definitely a grab-and-go breakfast.
The first 5 miles of my day passed in a bit of a zombie blur. It was damp and cold, then a bit humid. I slowly began to shed layers. One nice thing about the greyer morning though was how much the wildflowers popped!
I stopped to make oatmeal and have a coffee at my first water source for the day, a pretty stream at the bottom of some switchbacks. The sun even tried to come out while I was enjoying my coffee!
After my break I was in for some ups and downs, as well as some forest road crossings. I gained a ridge and stopped for lunch. Unfortunately the weather had other plans for me. The sun got hidden away by some dark clouds which dared to spit rain on me.
I quickly ate my peanut butter tortillas and hit the trail again. After that point the challenge was the wet bushes along the trail. Even my ankle gaiters couldn’t keep all the wet out. Thankfully the skies did start clearing. The touch of sun coming through the clouds reflected off the lupin along the trail, which collect the water between their leaves. It was as if there were diamonds along the trail!
Lupin collecting rain drops
I stopped for another break at an old forest road campsite just past a small mossy spring. I’ve collected water from a few mossy springs these last couple days… the water just trickles out of the hillside. While the water is quite fresh, it takes a couple minutes to get a full litre of water and I’m grateful for my filter to clear out the bits of bugs and other debris from the moss.
After hydrating, eating a snack, and trying to dry out my socks a bit, I was back on trail for two more miles. I crossed two more roads, stopped at another mossy spring for water, and made it to camp around 4:30.
My camp for the night was a perfect forest campsite at the bottom of a narrow valley. I even had company for the night, getting the chance to chat more with the trail family that I had been leapfrogging for the last few days. Only a couple more days to go for this section!
Lovely forest campsite