Day 105 leaving diamond lakes

27th July
Apart from a few animals possibly a squirrel rustling my tent I slept well and as we had planned an easy day so we weren’t getting up too early.
We both emerged from our tents around 7pm but by the time we had done bathroom chores and packed up it was almost 9am..we then decided to visit the store to grab a few things get a coffee. We walked in I grabbed two packets of cold meat a cherry pie, chips and a coffee and juicy brought similar. Juicy tried to pay but couldn’t find his debit card. .the cashier asked him his name. When juicy answered the cashier handed him his card..juicy must of left it there yesterday so it was lucky that we called in to the store that morning.
We sat outside and drank our coffees then it was time to hit the trail if a bit later than planned.
It was about 3 miles back to the trail head.
We were about half way when a car stopped and offered us a lift..we got in and were soon at the trail. Our driver then thrust handfuls of snickers into our hands. We thanked him then began up the trail .it was about a 4 miles climb to mount Thielson .we set off together but soon juicy was disappearing into the distance. It doesn’t help as i’m stopping to take photos and chat to other people.
Eventually I’m at the top or rather the pct junction. Juicy is sat there chatting to father and son hikers. I join them. and as i’m taking my break Gram. Hierobics and Blue sky arrive
Then we all set off , the next destination water. As we walk we are dwarfed by mount Thielson a huge rock outcrop. We seem to circle around it.In and out of forests we walk until soon we are dropping down to a Creek. The water is ice cold and I top up m ywater surly it must be lunchtime and so we drop out packs and grab our food bags.Juicy cooks up the rest of us all have tortillas and fill them with all different things mine is cheese ham and crushed chips yummy.
While we are eating Grams and Hirobics wash their socks .
It seems fairly busy today as several families hike by
Time to walk the final destination for today is a lake so water maybe a swim!
I seem to be making better mileage as I was slow on the first section this morning
I pounded down the trail it was sunny but with a nice breeze and the miles seemed to be falling, but to be honest I hadn’t really looked as I had just been following the crew but from a distance. Ahead they stopped at a sign pointing out thst we were st the highest point in Oregon and Washington. We stopped and took photos then it was time to walk. .The other guys seemed to sprint off into the distance. I wasnt even going to try to stay with them so plodded on in my usual way ill catch up later.
As I came over a hill the lake appeared below wow that looks good
I began to circle down and was soon on the shore it looked do idyllic
There were two other hikers there Lizard & xxx plus the crew..we all set up our tents then gathered at the shore and cooked together three of us had mac cheese , grams had couscous juicy had tortillas.
Then we all went swimming foolishly after drying off we chilled out before heading back to our tents where we watched an amazing sunset
Oh no Deer today sob Night