Distance hiked today: 25.2 miles / 40.5 km.
It seems like the trail usually has looong uphills followed by loooong downhills, as we wind up and down mountains. Today was more of a roller coaster, with lots of shorter ups and downs, which made it seem more difficult. Maybe it was just the heat. The views were great though, and I walked through another short burn area from a previous year. We've been quite lucky so far with no fires this year. 🤞
There were quite a few blowdowns in this stretch that we had to climb over or limbo under. I've got the technique down - right hand on the log, left foot on the log (ideally on a branch stub so it doesn't slide), swing the right foot over and hop down. If it's tall enough to go under, lean back and hug the tree while swinging under it to the other side. Pictured is Giggles monkeying over a particularly tall blowdown.
We planned to camp by a lake about 6 miles from the next road where we plan to go into town tomorrow morning. We walked fast to get there early enough for a swim, but the bottom of the lake was murky and stirred up too much mud so we probably would have gotten more dirty by going in. I just washed my legs instead, and rinsed my shirt which had accumulated big salt stains from sweat.
Giggles pulled out her "brick" to eat after dinner - milk duds and Reece's Pieces that had melted together into a solid block. A new trail concoction.
Total trail mileage: 1594 miles / 2564.7 km
