I felt so much better this morning. Amazing what good sleep, actually eating some food and hydrating properly will do for you. I really should keep doing that. I met up with Jennifer and Liam again and walked with them for the first few miles. And the trail was actually quite lovely, it undulated gently through the forest with lots of “interesting stones” (boulders) strewn across the landscape. It was a really nice start to the morning.

But it wasn’t to last and after that pleasant introduction, I encountered my first climbs above 8000 feet. Heat tapped out and altitude jumped in the ring. On the climb my legs felt like they were drained of energy and I had to stop frequently just to breathe. It was an odd feeling. Oh, there was also some nausea and retching. All in all it made for a good time…

It was another warm day, so as soon as I got to Buffalo creek I jumped in and had a good sit in the freezing water. It would have been a great spot to camp, but I was there way to early in the day to contemplate stopping. I took the opportunity to fill up my water and came to the horrifying realisation that my water filter was gone. I had put it in my side pocket next to one of my water bottles and it must have fallen out when I grabbed the water. I know I had it at the last water source which was a good 4 miles or so back.

A couple of hikers came arrived at the creek after me so I asked if they had happened to see a water filter lying on the trail. And they had…about 3 miles back.

Shit.

So my choices were, go back the way I came to retrieve my water filter. All 3 miles. Or risk the water, with some purifying tablets I had just in case. The tablets didn’t get as much of the bugs as the water filter did, and it took 40 minutes to effectively treat the water…it was a pain in the ass, but there was no way I was going back the way I had come. No way in hells. Plus there was a hill or two between me and the filter so that answered that. I’d have to pick up a new filter in town in a few days. If I was lucky, a fast hiker might pick it up and deliver it to me…

I bumped into Jennifer and Liam again, and after telling her my water filter woes Jennifer gave me the trail name ‘Timex’. It’s based on the old Timex TV ads, “Takes a licking and keeps on ticking”. She said after the first few days I had on trail I’d earned it. Honestly, I kinda like it.

As is always the case from a river or a creek, the trail went straight up for what felt like forever. Again it went over 8,000 feet which meant I was going very slowly because, you know, needing to breathe and stuff. I hoped I’d adjust to it soon, as the trail was only going to get higher each mile I went.

The heat also made things a little harder, but fortunately there was a hailstorm near the end of the day, which helped to cool me down. I probably should have been a little more scared of the thunder and lighting but I just wanted those sweet, sweet ice bullets.

I reached the trailhead a little after 6pm. From there hikers can hitch into the small town of Bailey. Most folks usually hitch in, grab some town food and then hitch back to the trail but I thought it was a little late for those shenanigans, and did not want to go into town if there were no accommodation options (they were apparently all booked out yesterday). Town food, or more accurately town drink, was very tantalising though. But I decided to push on for a couple more miles to find a camp site.

NOTE: In Bailey you can camp in the hostel grounds and still have access to their showers etc. I really, really wish I had known about that sooner 😦

I found a pretty good camp site with some other hikers and set up for the night. I contemplated eating, but the thought of shoving food in my face hole started a fresh wave of nausea so it was straight to bed when I got to camp. Lack of appetite and nausea seem to be another side effect of high altitude. Maybe good for weight loss, definitely not good for hiking…