Mile 1907.6–1914.4 (6.8 miles)

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Rose: Staying overnight in the Maiden Peak Shelter again Thorn: grocery shopping for resupply in the morning—stressful Bud: lake swim tomorrow (hopefully this stretch of trail doesn’t shut down)

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This morning mom and I packed up our bedding and went to the store to go grocery shopping. I needed to buy 10 days of food for this stretch (Willamette Pass—Santiam Pass, 4.5 days) and the next stretch (Hopefully the Lionshead will reopen and we can hike through the Mt Jefferson wilderness, 5 days).

In some ways the shopping trip was fun, because Fred Meyer’s had so many food choices and mom was buying. In other ways it was not fun: the stress of counting my meals, trying to figure out what to buy, and answering mom’s questions. I bought too much food. Far too much. My pack weighed so much when I got to trail.

After grocery shopping, I frantically organized 2 trips worth of food. I was 20 minutes late meeting Magic Beans and her mom at Eugene’s REI. Beans and her mom said goodbye, and the Beans piled into my mom’s old Subaru. Mom drove us to Willamette Pass while chatting and asking questions. We shared stories. Mom and I said our goodbyes on the side of the highway. Beans and I were both eager to get back on trail.

The 6.8 miles to Maiden Peak Shelter were increasingly smokey from the fire bear Waldo Lake. At the shelter, we waited out a thunderstorm. I sat in silence remembering my ski trip there 7 years ago while Beans took a nap. A couple waited with us for a bit. We Yogi-ed some water from them since the shelter is a dry camp

We still had quite a lot of daylight left, so Magic Beans and I played Rummy while waiting for people to come in to stay the night. After five round, Beans solidly won 245 to 20. We were hoping and expecting for around 4–5 people that night. What we got was a giant 10-person tramily and the hiker Rogue.

It was too much hustle and bustle after the quietness of the afternoon. As the cabin began to fill, Beans and I went to claim our sleeping corner in the loft. Outside, we joined several people for dinner in the dimming daylight.

This tramily tells us that this section of trail is actually in danger of being shut down from the Waldo Lake fire. Ffffuuudddgggeee. We’ll figure it out tomorrow.

Maiden Peak shelter: 13 people total and three tents outside