Day 70 - Lakes Everywhere!

August 27th

20.4 Miles

Above Washakie Creek

Night one in the new tent was semi-succesful. There was a decent amount of condensation from being near a lake and all zipped up and because we didn't set the tent angles up properly the mesh touched the rain fly and condensation dripped into tent and onto our sleeping bags. It's not to big of a deal but the more we set it up the better we'll get and then the palace will be perfect. 

I started off around eight and going over Hat Pass first thing in the day was a treat with the morning sun shining on the surrounding area.

A majority of the morning Spins and I spent passing lakes of all shapes, names, and sizes while flip flopping back and forth with Panama and Beth. The clouds were light and harmless looking until around lunchtime about ten miles in and the overcast gray atmosphere began drizzling. It didn't last too long nor was it terribly intense so it didn't bother me a bit. 

After lunch we never caught back up with Panama and Beth. They took off and are headed as close as possible to the Cirque de Towers tomorrow morning. The lake around lunch and the lakes after lunch were all grazed and covered in shpoop (our word for sheep poop). At the next passing of a lake, a dog sat there all by himself and I figured he was a herding dog and a couple seconds later I heard the bahhh-ing of the sheep in the distance. As we moved on past lunch it was like a energy sucking brick wall had hit Spins and I. We were both feeling spent and tired and really sore. I think the combination of lack of sleep, water, and an overall less amount of gorging ourselves in town had taken a toll on us. Still you have to make the miles so we pushed on further until we made it to our twenty mile spot for the night, a nice flat campsite about a mile and change away from the Cirque of the Towers turn onto the alternate (and one of the prettiest places in the Winds might I add). Attempt number two at the tent set up was more successful but still not perfect. By the time we get in town in a couple days we should have it mostly perfected and then I can seam seal it to make it fully waterproof. Tomorrow is the Cirque of the Towers alternate which will be fantastically scenic...I just hope it won't leave me as sore as the Knapsack Col alternate did.