Day 34 - Bored and Beat Up

July 22

23.1 Miles

Four Miles Before Lost Trail Pass

The morning was a slow start for Spins, myself, and Flyboxer who was camped up the hill from us. There was a small uphill this morning and then we got water for the first eight miles of waterlessness. The smoke from yesterday cleared which is a good sign that the fire is a decent distance away from us still. The hike turned into burn area yet again and stayed that way up until lunch at the only water source for the day. 

I took a nice long lunch with Spins and Flyboxer and slammed as much water as possible and cooked my lunch so I didn't have to carry cooking water later in the day. Burn area and waterlessness was the theme of the day. After lunch there were three potential spots all down steep inclines off trail at three, nine, and ten miles away from the lunch spot respectively. Being the risky dumbass I am sometimes, I only took two liters of water figuring there would be some in three miles. Being the risky dumbass I am sometimes, I also chugged one liter right before the three mile off trail water spot. We got there I ventured and nada....no water. Well shit, one liter of water and six miles until the next source. 

Dehydration kicked in and with the lack of water so did chaffing and my feet started to get the salty sweat rash they've had recently. Blisters I can do but the friction burns on all my toes and the bottoms of my feet are making hiking really really painful. I've been taping up my feet, stream cleaning my socks everyday,and swallowing ibuprofen like a champ but I think a good old town washing and shower will do the trick. 

So more boring burn area until six miles later where I was hot and dehydrated and walked down some steep thick brush with blowdowns everywhere to find no water. I was pissed......and thirsty. Could the third water source be the charm? Don't know because I did't waste my time bushwhacking to find out. By this time my feet were wrecked so I stopped changed socks and retaped my feet. Three miles from where I stopped was a Gibbons Pass that had a dirt road junction that led of trail to a main creek. So I went on along waterless by this point to the pass, down the road, and had dinner at the water. The fire smoke was thickening by now and the sun was making the sky quite colorful, possibly the only interesting thing of the day. After dinner Spins and I hooked back on the CDT and hiked until we were four miles from the road to take us into town. Going to get up early, nail that four miles, and hitch into Darby, MT in time for some breakfast. Today was blah and kind of sucked but you'll have those days sometimes. Woo Hoo town tomorrow for Spins' and Flyboxers' day early birthday celebrations!!