Day 119

Trail miles: 23.6

Total: 1815.6

The mosquitoes were bad enough that I immediately put on my rain clothes and bug net and kept it on for the first like 10 miles. It was so hot in the suit that all of my clothes were drenched in sweat. I had to take it off once we began the waterless section. I couldn’t lose unnecessary water. Oh I almost forgot to mention the bear! No pictures unfortunately, probably because of how shocked I was. I saw it run behind some trees. When I sidestepped to bring the bear into view, he was staring right at me! Then the bear turned around and ran down the hill. So cute. It really brightened my spirits. Wish I would have gotten a picture! It had the perfect pose for one. 

The spring toward the end of the day was concerning. The comments said that not only was it a long walk, but it was difficult to follow and steep. One comment said there was a pond not too far from the trail if you head NNW 345 degrees. Surprisingly I was able to follow it and there was a Lilly pad pond just over the hill. The water was warm and brown, but I needed it. I had to walk on a log out to the center just to get to a spot that was deep enough to take from without getting my shoes all mucky. I barely saw anyone all day. I could have kept my flipper in its case and no one would have noticed. I think I saw more southbounders than northbounders. After my lunch break I entered a burn area that was very exposed. And just while we are going through a heat wave across the world. I was thankful when it started to rain! I haven’t seen rain in a while. Lucky it came to cool me off for my last uphill climb before camp. I decided not to push 30+ miles to camp. Maybe I should have since it seems like everyone else did. Maybe I could have planned better to make it more miles last night to the lakes to set me up better for today. Short walk into town tomorrow, maybe 6 miles.