CDT mile1692.7, miles hiked 23.4
The parting of the waters
When I woke up I had a few more moments to chat with a SOBO who arrived late and camped with us, his trail name was St. John the Baptist. He was a nice young guy who had hiked the PCT last year he let us know who was ahead. Cheezy and I are about NOBO number 14&15 right now, a few friends have gotten ahead and we learned that Kenobi rolled his ankle in the Winds and it ended his hike.
The first miles this morning came easy the terrain was relatively flat and uneventful. We did walk through some nice river valley and meadows and enjoyed the views of the granite peaks above. At our first break, I was looking at my maps and noticed we would be passing the parting of the waters. This is a very special spot on the CDT as you reach a spot where two ocean creek splits and you see water head to the Atlantic and the Pacific. We were all excited to see this special spot.
SOBO’s are in full season, from Left to Right BlueSky, Allgood, and Toes
The three of us took a long hour lunch to let Johnny get some rest and also to dry out tents and bags from the previous night’s thunderstorm. When we set off from our break Johnny lead us at a brisk 3+ mph. About 1.5 miles from the parting of the waters we met 3 SOBO’s, it seems each day we meet a few more.
One of the guys was German and the Germans started having a long conversation. The other guys knew some friends of mine so we chatted for a good 40 minutes. They also informed me that I have 5 packages at Old Faithful, man it will be like Christmas for me. After a good long talk, we all set off in our opposite directions. They told us to make sure to take a zero in Lima and go to the bar where you get to cook your own steak, hell yeah!
A few miles later and we stood at the parting of the waters. A cold mountain stream that flowed to a fork in the river the sign read Atlantic Ocean 3,488 miles, Pacific Ocean 1353. It was cool to think that water I saw would flow to the Pacific and even some salmon I will catch will swim in water I saw go by.
Even tiny had a splash in the parting of the waters
We took a long break and cooked dinner on the spot. After dinner I soaked my ankle and then the three of us loaded up for our 1800′ climb up to two ocean pass. The climb was steep and about 3.5 miles but we made good time and enjoyed the views below. We walked by the first of two lakes, number one was dry but the second held some water so we made camp and enjoyed some lake time before turning into our tents.
Two ocean pass
