DAY 132: IT'S STILL RAINING

miles: 29

Another day of rain.

Are you kidding me?

I'm beginning to wonder if this is normal weather for this time of year... and my hunch is that it is definitely not.

When the clouds start darkening, my spirits are dampened. I surrender and put my pack down, dig for all of my rainproofing gear, and start getting ready for the worst. Which is really unpleasant, to say the least.

I'm going to say it: I hate hiking in the rain. I hate hiking in thunderstorms. And I hate being wet and cold. I don't mind being JUST wet or JUST cold, but being cold AND wet is my nightmare.

We officially entered the Three Sisters Wilderness today and all four of us were excited to hike this section of trail - it is supposed to be gorgeous! Similar to the Sierra's in a way, but very different I hear.

After only 3 miles, the clouds started unleashing the sprinkles and we all stopped to get out our pack covers, rain coats, rain pants, and other anti-rain gear (aka I am not sporting a full on poncho).

Rain proofing ourselves.

This is the land of lakes. Three Sisters Wilderness is one of my favorite places to backpack - Ben, Angela and I took a 4 day backpacking trip with our good friend Christy a few years ago to Mink Lake. It was extraordinary! Although a bit bummed about the gloomy weather, I am secretly thrilled to be hiking through familiar territory, and such a beautiful place.

Angela! Christy! 

Ben's first note in the dirt addressed to me.

Scouting out the perfect sitting spot for lunch is a must. It's hard to move once you've sat down.

Actually - speaking of sitting down - it is extremely hard to get moving again once I've stopped and taken a break. Not only am I exhausted but my feet feel like stubs when I stand up. This isn't news, or anything new, it's been happening for a while now. It is worse when I've taken a day or two off. My feet turn into numb stubs that I have to suddenly balance on. They become useless and I have to hobble until the feeling comes back again and the pain dies down.

Is this normal?

I wonder that every day.

Aptly named "Island Lake" 

Ben's bee sting.

At some point during the last 5 miles, Ben got stung by a yellow jacket. He was prompt in taking Benadryl, but it still managed to swell up later.

I was in a bad place at the end of the day, grappling with the excruciating foot pain that set in. Do I need insoles? Is it just me? Is it something I'm doing wrong? Is it just the fact that I'm walking 30 miles a day? They were screaming at me. And something else unsettling happened on this day: a new pain. A new sort of pain sprung up and alarmed me. It was sharp, focused, and identifiable. It was on the bottom of my foot, right where my arch meets my heel.

Plantar Fasciitis pain.

Disheartened by this new sensation, I was in bad spirits when I reached camp. How would I go on if I actually had Plantar Fasciitis?

We found camp at the beautiful Sisters Mirror Lake, prematurely, due to the new foot pain, and we were glad to stop.

And now for some fungi photos, compliments of Ben:

The latter half of today was supposed to yield fantastic views of South Sister but the clouds and mist kept getting in the way, which was really frustrating. We didn't get a single glimpse of any of the Three Sisters. So I'll end my blog post with a few less than ideal photos of some spooky cairns.

This Cairn.