Twas a gray and cloudy day, at the beginning, and it stayed that way. In the 100 mile wilderness, there are a couple mountain ranges, and today I entered the Barren-Chairback Range, climbing Barren Mt. Compared to other ranges, it was not very high, but still, a mountain. Here I was up in the clouds and everything breathed mist, but it never really rained, though I had the rain cover on the pack. Maybe because I had the rain cover on the pack.
At this point, I found another stick to use, making a makeshift pair of hiking poles, and that worked okay for most of the day – well, until one snapped when a backpack accidentally landed on it. Then I was back to a single stick. It still worked tolerably well.
This was one of those fortunately rare long stretch with no water sources; I had to be very careful to conserve water, but even so, I was really thirsty by the end of the day!
I was lucky enough to find a tiny flowing stream at the end of the day, with an unofficial campsite a couple hundred yards further on. Spidey happened along a bit later and camped as well – he was not feeling well. Me, I was feeling really hungry, and cooked a double pasta portion tonight.
It threatened to rain later, but I just laughed at it. My waterproof bear bag was already hung, and I was snug and dry in my tent; the ground was soft and pine needley, and I had company. All was well. I turned on early, as the days are getting shorter and it gets dark at 7:30 now. Plus I have to do the rest of the Range tomorrow – 9.8 miles covering several mountains.
I hike on!
TRAILS, TRIALS, AND TRAVAILS 