Night Eleven – Carter Gap Shelter
With the Thunderstorms and rain from the previous night I hadn’t gotten the best sleep and I was slow to get started. I was hoping the rain would be mostly over but I couldn’t get service to get an updated weather forecast. Finally around 9:30 am Mad Dog and I decided it was looking fairly decent and we didn’t want to wait anymore. We we’re aiming to get to Carter Gap Shelter about 12.5 miles away. In between was Standing Indian mountain and a fire tower.
As we set off the rain had mostly stopped but there was still the foggy mist that had been making basically all the supposedly great views a bit underwhelming. By the time we made it to Deep Gap Mad Dog was considering a side trail that would bypass Standing Indian mountain but I finally did manage to get a weather report and it looked like the rain was clearing up but it was being followed by a cold front so night time temps were dropping. I decided I was going to continue since the rain was pretty much done and Mad Dog decided to go as well.
Unfortunately the view from Standing Indian looked basically like every other view point I had seen so far, because I was still basically hiking in a cloud. But by the time I got to the fire tower things finally had cleared up and I got my first view. It is amazing to look out on the mountains and valleys. I could actually see the trail we had just done in parts.
We got to Carter Gap Shelter fairly early and after unpacking a bit we both went down to get water. Walking back to the shelter I think I nearly jumped out of my own skin because I had been so used to being alone that when I saw Flamingo it was a shock. Flamingo, named for his bright pink pants had just gotten in from Dick’s Creek Gap having hiked 24 miles that day. He is attempting to do the triple crown of AT, PCT, and CDT all in one year. I personally can’t imagine hiking without a stove or many of the comfort items that I have. The morale boost of looking forward to a hot dinner when I finish for the day is huge for me, but as they say HYOH (Hike Your Own Hike). I decided to offer Flamingo a cup of hot chocolate because it was a cold night, and I always have a bit of extra food, which he was happy to accept.
And then things went south when I realized that Flamingo was a sleep with your food hiker. For most things I don’t judge what other hikers do, but the two things I do take issue with is LNT (leave no trace) principles and good food storage. When it comes to food if you are not storing your food properly you are contributing to nuisance bear problems and putting both other hikers and bears at risk. Nuisance bears get shot. Personally, because I don’t want to hassle with hanging my food and the potential of not being able to find a suitable tree, I carry a bear canister. They are mandatory in a lot of the national parks in California so I owned one already and to me it is worth the weight. I said nothing to Flamingo the rest of the night or the next morning. I just sucked myself into my quilt and fumed until I was able to get to sleep. Fortunately he will be well ahead of me soon.
