Oct. 27: Summit Lake

I kind of slept in a little bit this morning. And it was a long morning for leaving out too, so I didn’t really get started until 9 or 10. But I had enough food before the road where I could get to town that I could afford to take it easy for one day.

The first few miles was incredibly easy. Almost all downhill and no snags to slow me down.

When I crossed the road that led to Summit Lake, I met two members of the trail crew cleaning up that section and we had a chat about the difficulties of trail maintenance in the after-times. A couple of miles along the edge of Summit Lake later, I left the trail just before the trail left the lake. I sat on a beach framed by rocks glazed with ice while I ate my lunch.

Then it was back out into the woods and uphill for miles to get back onto the side of a high ridge. I made camp before sunset at a perfect site on the edge of a cliff. The views were gorgeous at sunset even though I was facing east. Plus, there were several bars of Verizon LTE, so I was able to catch up with a couple of people and download some more podcasts for the trail.

While technically not a nero, I certainly didn’t push myself hard, which meant all-in-all it was a pleasant day.

Total distance: 14 miles