18.5 Miles
At some lake
After pushing laterish last night, it was a pain to get up this morning and there was some trouble finding the spring nearby as well so we didn't leave camp till a little past 9. The first few miles today were easy dirt road walking and then we came to some fantastic new trail which kept you from having to walk down some ungodly steep dirt road. The trail was fresh and about a half a mile longer than the road. It also had huckleberries along side of it!!!!! The nice trail quickly turned to a lightly traveled bushwhack where they haven't completed trail clearing yet. Back to the huckleberries...I love huckleberries and thimbleberries and blueberries and basically any berry I can pick while hiking. After he first five miles of the day we started an uphill that will last until tomorrow taking us up over 3000 feet of elevation gain. The huckleberries distracted me from the uphill for a while until I got high enough that the plants weren't ripe anymore.
Once reaching the higher country, views were choked out by the wildfire smoke still and what looked to be thunderstorm clouds were looming over the mountain we had to hike around. Nothing like chancing hiking up exposed with a potential thunderstorm brewing. The rain started and the wind picked up but I felt like the storm was going to blow over and it did after a brief shower. With our late start the hesitation due to weather up high and the fact that almost 75% of the day is uphill, we didn't get out 20 miles in for the day but we came close enough. Now that we are in the high country again and near a bunch of water and lakes, the mosquitoes are rampant and out for blood. As I type this now a symphony of mosquitoes y between my mesh and my outerwall; if I had to estimate I'd say at least 75 of them flying around. It may suck to have mosquitoes around but it sure beats horseflies.
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