the Trail always provides

Day 51 ~ miles 850 - 868.2

We slept late today, until almost 7; I suppose our bodies needed extra rest after the physically and mentally demanding day yesterday.  I think a really difficult day every once in a while isn't such a bad thing; it makes us realize how great the trail is on most days.  We would climb to Selden Pass later in the day, but it was so refreshing to wake up and not have to think about hiking over a challenging pass first thing in the morning.  Our morning hiking through the valley was gentle, with not much change in elevation; just what we needed after yesterday.  Our mantra on the trail is "the trail always provides", and the easy terrain was perfect. 

We forded Evolution Creek, one of the most well known fords on the trail.  The creek was wide, about 30 yards, with water up to our knees. The water looked fairly calm, but was swift and more powerful than it appeared.  It was also ice cold, and the temperature caused tremendous foot pain, and eventually numbness.

We retrieved some water from a stream before lunch, where we found someone's spoon and bag of various powdered drink mixes (imagine taking a break to eat a meal and not having your spoon, terrible!).  We carried the things from the stream, not sure who they belonged to or if we would even see them.  A few minutes later, we ran into the kids having lunch.   It turned out that the stuff belonged to Barbie.  In exchange for returning his things, he gave us each a pack of Pop-Tarts.  We had been worried that we didn't pack out enough food for this section, so we have been eating really skimpy and trying to stretch our food. The Pop-Tarts will help a lot.  Once again, the Trail provides.

We hiked up to Selden Pass in the afternoon; our guidebook describes it as the easiest pass.  It was my favorite pass so far (Moonshine disagrees).  Rather than barren, sharp and dramatic, Selden is soft, alive and gentle with lakes on either side, pine forests, grass, and streams and cascades all over the south side.  Best of all, there was hardly any snow! 

The trail provided us with an awesome day.