Day 87 Surprise Creek

14.1 miles

With only 14.1 miles to tonight’s camp at Surprise Creek, I had all day to get there. There was no need to rush this morning. Today would be all about taking the time to appreciate the scenery, all the small things such as the incredible abundance of wild flowers and fungi; and a day of self care, taking it easy, finding time to rinse and dry clothes in a creek and take a swim. Turning off my alarm last night, it felt like a little luxury to be able to sleep in, rising when my body said it was time to rise. 

While putting on dry socks and shoes they were immediately wet on the first steps out of camp owing to heavy dew and condensation on the open grasses and vegetation lining the trail. Unsurprisingly where we camped under the shelter of pines, zero condensation. Anything out in the open was covered. 

Hiking for an hour and half I stopped for a quick break around 9:30am and realised I only had another 10 more miles for the day. Wow! I can walk super slow and will likely reach camp by lunch time. So much time in the day that I am not used to. I’m sure I will be able to fill it. 

What really struck me today was the painted landscape from the wildflower display. Whole swaths of vivid colours across the colour palette. It was incredible to see and appreciate. 

Sure enough I arrived at camp in the early afternoon with plenty of time to relax. Surprise Creek Camp sure was a surprise. It was a terrible site with only two established tent sites under cover of pines and the bear hang metres away from both. Parks had grouped up at least 6 hikers to stay here tonight. 

I had just set up camp and hung my food bag, sitting down to chill in the shade when I heard a deep huffing not far behind me. Thinking it was a bear I shot around to see what was going on. Luckily it was just moose. It was sitting on the ground in the shade doing exactly what I was doing only 10m from my tent. I’m not certain if it was there the whole time I was setting up or if it just cruised in and sat down. Still moose can be dangerous and I monitored it. 

After about 10 minutes it rose and started heading towards my camp. Just in case I grabbed my bear spray, taking the safety off and watched this thing walk right through camp and right next to my tent. Keeping obstacles between us I let it do its thing as it moved off. 

With the rest of the afternoon ahead I took the time to find a secluded section of the creek and stripped down to rise out my sweaty clothes. It was too shallow for a real swim but cool and refreshing nonetheless to have a splash down body rise as well. 

Attempting to dry my clothes in the sun, the sky clouded over and thunder started to build. It was easier to simply wear my damp gear and let body heat do the drying. 

Later, all the other hikers expected to arrive at camp trickled in: Etienne, Bluejay, Redline, Tweeter and Monkey Man. Space was tight and tents were almost touching. The multiple food bags hung up were essentially hanging over the top of some tents. Parks could have easily established the bear hang 100ft away in another clump of trees, away from the tent sites as recommended but hadn’t. Make it make sense. 

Just as everyone gathered away from the camp to cook our dinners the skies opened up and started it started to pour. Perfect timing! With no options to retreat to tents to cook and eat we all just had to brave it. I grabbed my umbrella from camp which at least provided some cover and allowed to me eat without getting wet. Everyone without the same luxury voiced their jealousy and stuck it out with just a rain jacket for protection or reluctantly just putting up with the rain. Dinner was a quick affair. Cook kits packed up and bear bags hung in record time as everyone retreated to the security of their tents for the night.