Day 13 - Blowdowns, Burn Areas, and Beargrass

July 1

19.3 Miles

Meadow Along the Lewis and Clark Range

Woke up around usual and got ready for a dry sock day which is exciting for me because the wet shoes and socks have been destroying my feet. I wrapped up the blistered areas and put on clean dry socks which felt amazing. I also shoved down some ibuprofen to help as well. After about five minutes of walking came a ford. Damnit.

I took off my shoes and socks and forded barefoot and the ice cold water numbed my feet making it not as bad. When I got to the other side I had dry socks and shoes, mission accomplished. All morning we hiked through an extensive burn area like the second half of yesterday which means you are exposed to the sun pretty much directly. Thank god for my umbrella, it kept me from burning and overheating. Along with all the burn area comes fragile dead trees which fall all over the trail called blowdowns. There were a bunch and it turns hiking into a jungle gym and becomes quickly tiring. Fortunately there was a bunch if beargrass in the area which made it semi-scenic (can see it in the picture below) instead of a dead burned wasteland. After about nine or so miles we took lunch at a makeshift campground right out of the end of the burn area.

I also got my feet wet multiple times which sucked but was able to dry everything out during lunch. After lunch it was a slow hot hike uphill and I felt pretty out of it. I was super dehydrated. It made climbing a bit of a pain in the ass and a good part of the day was uphill. Slowly but surely we came to a trail junction around five thirty and took a much needed rest because we were about to climb up around the north wall in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. The climb was worth it because the alpine area up here along side of a towering rock face is quite an awesome site. We hustled through to save daylight and got a few miles along the wall to a campsite for the night. The bugs this stretch have been horrible and as I type this there are probably 150 black flies, mosquitoes, and regular flys in between  the  mesh and outer rain fly of my tent. Sleeping to a buzzing tonight!