½ way between Deer Creek and Duck Lake – Squaw Lake
@ 9600 – 10,300 (+ 1148 ft) – @ 12.1 miles
Free Maps Online – Day 9 – Map 12 and 11
Photos Open to the Public on Facebook
Things are getting tight. I awake, check my food supply and find that I have 3 Cliff Bars and one dinner left. That’s it. It will be enough, but it will be uncomfortable. I have been eating two Cliff Bars and one dinner every day. I am starting to discover that this is actually not quite enough food each day. And now we have a full day of walking ahead, an evening camping, and another 9.4 miles the next day before the ferry to VVR…
Purple Lake was lovely. Between Purple Lake and Lake Virginia, I met a PCTer named Lucky Nalgene. We chatted a bit about passes and snow and terrain. While chatting, two more folks popped up from behind me, Alex and Sye. They were also going to VVR, but they were taking a different trail than we were using. Floyd joined us and we all chatted a bit. Alex and Sye headed off to Lake Virginia and we made a quick plan to meet there to look at maps together. I stayed a bit to talk with Nalgene about his solar charger.
We stopped for a while at Lake Virginia, talked with Alex and Sye, and moved on. I made a dumb choice and took the harder of two rock hops across the Lake Virginia outlet and fell in the lake. It was a fine and short fall. No injuries. I only fell in to about waist deep. Nothing in my pack got wet. I did have to remove my shoes and wring out my socks, but that was the worst of it. And, a great place to reinforce a lesson about safety and care. I made better decisions after that.
We found a great place to camp near Squaw Lake just short of Silver Pass and as we were setting up, Alex and Sye showed up. They were moving on, but stopped to chat and give us some food! I had mentioned the food situation earlier and they were eager to help us out. Alex gave us a mashed potato dinner she had put together with great ingredients, as well as two fancy bars. One was a pistachio/sesame bar and the other was a honey/sesame bar. Both very nice! It is lovely to not be hungry or worry about becoming hungry! Big thanks to Alex and Sye!
My feet continue to heal on the treatment regiment I have worked out, and I am not experiencing any discomfort on that front. But, I am also running out of Duct Tape. I think I have enough to make it to VVR…