We both got a pretty decent nights sleep in the Silver Lake leanto the night before. I was dozing and waking regularly but that’s my normal routine when I’m not home.
Joe and I got up at a decent hour and were on the trail by 8:30 which was still late but an improvement from the day before. We left the brother and sister who were going as far as Whitehall and getting off the trail due to some very uncomfortable chaffing issues.
We both felt really good that day. I was even keeping up with Joe, I felt strong. We saw a huge beaver dam, crossed a couple of suspension bridges along the way and we were really enjoying the day. Joe casually mentioned a couple times that the new thin socks he had put on that morning were causing his skinny feet to slide around in his boots. Other than that I felt like we had finally hit our stride.
We stopped at Mud Lake for lunch. Mud Lake earns its name. Don’t plan on filtering any water here. It looks beautiful but as soon as you get close enough to filter the water you’re up to your ankles in mud and the water is filled with debris that stirs up from the muddy bottom. We did a few ounces and gave up. Lunch was the first time we tried the Muscle Milk powder. It was a great idea that didn’t work out so well. The Ziplock bag kept opening up in the bear can and everything was covered in Muscle Milk all the time, including us. We would have been very attractive to all sorts of critters. Joe and I treated some blisters at lunch. I always have some in the same spots that turn into no big deal but Joe had a whopper that developed on his heel that morning thanks to those thin socks. As we were preparing to leave the brother and sister showed up on their way to Whitehall.
We hiked on for the afternoon and stopped at a stream to filter some water. A family with kids minced their way through the stream at about my speed and the little boy cried and cried about getting mud on his crocs. We knew we were close to civilization then, they hadn’t walked far. After ‘losing’ and ‘finding’ the GPS, onward we hiked, crossed a road at Whitehall where the family had most likely come from and continued onto the trail. We arrived at Hamilton Stream leanto about 4PM where we planned to spend the night. I felt like I could go on and lobbied (not very hard) to continue on and stop for a room in Piseco at a motel for the night instead. By then my hair was almost unbearable. It was thick and stuck to my head like glue. I’d worn a bikini swimsuit in lieu of underwear and brought a clean one thinking I would get to clean up in the lakes and streams we’d pass. My plans never transpired due to the need to gather water and the fear of leaches. Every time I turned my head in my sleeping bag my hair slimed along. But at this point that whopper of a blister on Joe’s heel had turned into a gaping hole of missing flesh about an inch wide and a quarter inch deep. He couldn’t have continued on that night if he wanted.
Joe made an early dinner and then we went back to the stream 0.3 of a mile back to filter water for the night and the next day. We tried for an early night to bed with plans to get up an on the trail by 7AM with just a protein bar to get the day started, stop in Piseco for breakfast and to pickup some food at the general store called Casey’s. Then we’d carry on to Spruce Lake for a 17 mile day. By 7PM I was starving again but the food was all tucked away in the bear hang and canister far from where we were sleeping so I tried my best to sleep. When we’d arrived at this leanto it was covered in animal fur about an inch long and white. Probably we had taken the coyotes sleeping quarters for the night. But the rodents didn’t care that we were there and I could hear the pitter patter of the their scratchy feet. They were very active and kept bouncing off my sleeping bag and I was quietly beating them away while Joe slept. It was a long night.
Words of Wanderers 