Day 2 (104)

Miles: 21.6

Mileage: 2,169.9

It was a lovely chilly night. Not cold, but cool enough to put on a long sleeve layer and slip into my sleeping bag leaving it unzipped.

We woke up around 6:30, having fallen asleep around 8:30 p.m. Traveling takes it out of you. Slowly, trying to remember our systems from last summer, we packed up and headed north.

We made good time over our first big climb and things quickly warmed up. It was forecasted to be 90 degrees down in Portland, so it wasn’t as warm at 3,000 feet but we still felt the sun.

Lots of sweating meant lots of water intake. My two liters lasted until a mile before we stopped for a hot lunch. The last water for 10 miles, we filled up our water bladders and cooked the first of the new meals I made this spring.

Last summer, we went with store bought meals that were light on flavor. So, this year I took the store bought meals and used them as a base to build from. I added garlic powder, onion powder, dehydrated vegetables, textured vegetable protein, or dehydrated refried beans to every meal.

This was our first taste of how all that dehydrated stuff would act in practice. It turned out well. Our 1-liter pot held it all and we are with glee for the first half. Then things got tight as our stomachs filled.

That’s a good sign. We haven’t yet developed a hiker-sized hunger, so the fact that we struggled to eat the meal today suggests that it will be an appropriate volume for when we are super hungry.

The last five miles of the day were harder for me. With a full water bladder and a full stomach, I slogged up the last big climb. My feet are a bit sore, but nothing like last year. I just have to trade my biker legs for hiker legs and then we’ll cruise.

Tonight we’re camped closer to 3,000 feet, so I’m hoping for another chilly night so I can snuggle into my down layers and sleep hard.