5/14/17

Day 21
Miles: 285.5 to 301

It does not happen often that we walk nine miles before 10:00 a.m. It happened today though and at that exact time we crossed a refreshing stream and found beautiful sandy campsites on the other site so we dumped our backpacks, took our shoes off and waded in the cold water for quite a while and then we lay on the sun and took a short nap.

By the time we were ready to go, Amanda, Larry, and Swayed strolled in. Amanda’s feet hurt badly as several new blisters popped up. I taped them for her, the least I could do.

We hiked together for a while and then Dave and I pulled ahead, agreeing to meet at a cabin that was about four miles away. 

The miles flew again. At noon we stood by a tall bridge over a wider shallow creek. The path to the cabin was on the other side. 

Before we crossed, Dave and I decided to let our feet enjoy another refreshing dip and so we descended down to the water. We knew we had some time before the rest of the group shows up, enough for foot bath and lunch.

We considered camping by the stream but when we got to the cabin, sign announced that it was day use area and camping was not allowed. It was not clear if the day use was just up here around the picnic tables or if it extended down to the water, and so we abandoned the idea of camping by the creek and when our trail family arrived, we pushed on another 3 miles.

It was a good move because by doing so, we crossed the 300 mile mark and of course there was a photo op to document the achievement.

We strolled to camp at our usual time around 5:30 pm and like always chores were done, and our tummies got fed some hot food, which today was ramen noodles with Parmesan cheese.

Then we slipped into our sleeping bags, hoping the forecast that called for 26 degrees tonight got it wrong.