Date: 2018-03-27
From: Gooch Mountain Shelter

To: Lance Creek
Miles today: 9.6

Last night's rest was way better than the few previous nights. Patrick woke up to find acorns in his shoes. Some woodland creature found a premade hole to store their food. Unfortunately, that store wasn't permanent.  Today's weather cold but good hiking weather. It was one of the clearer days with visibility at least ten miles from tops of mountains. At one point we walked into the clouds, the environment instantly changed with a super dense fog. There were large rain drops falling every 30 seconds. With only a few actually hitting me. During lunch time I found out that my plastic spoon couldn't handle cold peanut butter and it snapped in half. I ended up fixing it with duct tape and sticks.We met many more through hikers today. Even a person from Austin! Her name was Mudfoot and she was traveling with her friend Cricket. They told us their real names but trail names seem to stick better.  We started talking about the guy Overkill. He's made a name for himself on the trail. We haven't seen him wheel through yet. He might still be camping out at Springer mountain shelter.When we got to our destination at Lance creek the camping spots were entirely full.  It was bound to happen since that area only had 6 spots. We decided to fill our water there and push on to camp somewhere down the trail. Lance creek was also a place were there was an outbreak of noravirous the previous year. We made sure to filter and use chemical treatment on that water.About a mile from Lance creek we found an offshoot trail that lead to flat ground. When camping off trail there are no luxuries like bear boxes or bear lines. We had to set our own bear hang using the PCT method since bears have figured out how to snatch food using the traditional method. You need a limb at least 15 feet high and 6 feet from the tree trunk. It's really hard to search for a tree with that perfection in this forest. We eventually found one. On my first try using a rock bag, I threw the bag over the limb but didn't hold on to the other side of the cord. The entire cord flew over the limb. Patrick said you have to hold on to the other side! The second time the rock bag got stuck between the fork in the tree branch. No matter how much I pulled, it wasn't moving. We ended up taking the loose end, trying it to a rock, and throwing it over the branch. With Patrick and I hiding behind a tree, I pulled with all my weight. It finally broke loose and shot at us like a rocket. Luckily we were not in its way! My rock bag tore as well from all the pulling. 2 broken things in a day!  After about an hour and another 10 rock throws we got it on the branch! Patrick said my trail name should be stuck bag.During dinner, 3 hikers showed up wondering if there was space. We gladly made room for them since they were also pushed out of Lance creek. One was from New Hampshire and talked about hiking in the white mountains. He said the weather changes drastically since the peaks are in the jet stream. We'll see in about 5 months what they are like!We offered them to use our bear hang to hang their bags but when we tried, the rope wouldn't budge. I feel that tree is cursed for bear hanging.  We're camping up high in elevation tonight, so it's a little colder that usual. Tomorrow we conquer blood mountain and hit or first resupply at Neels gap. Apparently they heat up whole red baron pizzas for you. Sounds amazing after hiking 40 miles!