I took my sweet time getting out of camp on purpose. I felt better than the day before and didn’t really feel like rushing. I woke up at 4, but didn’t hit the trail until quarter to six.
I felt pretty good all day. I started the day off with a big climb up a dozen switchbacks, but the climbing just continued after that. After 5 miles, I stopped for a break, and I thought I’d pick up a quick game of Slay on my phone to finish it off. But then the game, which usually takes no more than 20 turns, ran on for 47 turns and the break ended up lasting an hour and a half. But hey, what does more rest hurt?
A couple of hours and a quick descent later, I crossed Hail Columbia Rd and saw a small cardboard sign in the trail promising the greatest trail magic I’d see seen in my life ahead on trail. A brief sniff yielded no scent of any steaks grilling in the vicinity, so I knew the sign must be mistaken. Indeed, there was no trail magic to be seen anywhere.
I did have some trouble finding the trail here because it seemed like many others had as well. I didn’t spot the tiny CDT sign at a major intersection and didn’t know which set of footprints to trust. I took the wrong road at first, then turned off through the woods to go where Guthook said the trail was and found it, then looped back to see where I had gone wrong and reorganize returned to the same confusing intersection. But no trail magic anywhere.
There were no nice lunch spots anywhere in this area, so I ended up throwing down my ground cloth in the first trailside shade I found.
A mile and a half later, I came out at Konda Trailhead. The long roadwalk started here. I stopped to dip some water out of Lowland Creek just a bit down from here. This was a long relaxing break even with the flies going nuts.
Then began the roadwalk. I was going to stop along the road at 5 for dinner, but I was still feeling pretty full from my last snack break and decided to wait to 5:30. But by 5:30 I was at the interstate 15 underpass, and who would want to eat under an interstate? I went a little further to the start of Nez Perce Rd, then decided I should check to see if I could get pizza delivered here since there was plenty of cell service.
While I was checking, a farmer who lived there came by on a ATV and stopped to check on me. When I told him what I was doing, he offered to let me use his phone, even though he should have been able to clearly see me sitting there using my own phone to do exactly that. I told him I had plenty of service and he brought up using his phone again. It was very strange. Anyway, he left and I was able to determine that apparently 20 minutes up the interstate was outside delivery range for some reason. So I got out my own food and cooked dinner.
It was nearly 7 by the time I started down the road, which meant it was nearly 8 by the time I got to the trailhead, but I still managed to get set up, get water filtered, get inside and ready for bed, and get my daily blog writing done by just after 9. Running a little late doesn’t seem to throw off the schedule all that much.
Trail miles: 22.3
Distance to I-90: 26.9 miles
