I can’t say this was a particularly interesting day. The weather was mostly fine. The trail was mostly fine. Plenty of views, sure. But it didn’t feel too different geography-wise other parts of this section. And it certainly didn’t change much throughout the day.
I dozed off for another 18 minutes after the 6:30 alarm and had a nice dream. I didn’t feel particularly peppy or focused and, after grabbing a bag of unfiltered water for the road, started hiking around quarter after 8. I went down a bit, carefully jumped over some wide creeks to keep my feet dry, climbed a hill, and took a break there while the water filtered because my bowels said it was time to.
I should say the trail was a two-track 4×4 road from the time I started and stayed that way nearly all day. As I crossed some low rolling hills toward Lake Morrison, I saw a Jeep leaving the area, the only sign I had that vehicles actually use these roads.
I took a late morning break overlooking the lake. It was mostly classy clear skies, but the wind made it far too cold for swimming. I’m worried it will be a while before I can get clean at all.
Leaving the lake, I saw the first snake I’ve seen since I can’t remember when. It was just a little baby, very fast, and assuredly and rightly terrified of me, so it was gone before I could even start videoing.
A mile past the lake, the road passed just above a spring, the only source of water on trail for the next 10 miles. I grabbed another unfiltered liter or so for safety.
The road went straight up hill for a mile or two. It was so rutted, washed out, and rocky that vehicles had started driving up adjacent to the old tracks, mowing down all the sagebrush in their way. I also walked beside the road.
At the top of the hill, the road joined the border/divide, and I stopped for lunch, having traveled only a bit over five miles in the last five hours. But things would be much easier from there. The water filtered while I ate.
The trail stayed right on or near the divide for more than ten miles, and that whole stretch, the border was being followed by that same pair of 2-track ruts. There weren’t really any trees up there. It was just follow the road up a steep hill, look around to see if the view has changed, follow the road down a steep hill, take a snack break on the grass in the sun. And there go five miles.
I did see a couple of deer headed away over the hill, but other than that, nothing to entertain me but my thoughts. Not even podcasts–I doubt I’ll have enough battery for tomorrow even with the savings from that, but every little bit counts.
Again the second half of the day involved all the thick, dark clouds rolling in. It’s big sky country, sure, but that sky seems to produce regular sunshowers even when there is no big cloud above you to supply the rain. Luckily, the wind was much less potent than previous days, even up on the ridge, so it wasn’t too cold in the shade of the clouds.
Supper was, like the previous break, just sat on the grass in a random spot on the ridge next to the road, a spot that looked like everywhere else. It was a few more miles past that when the trail finally left that road to pass next to a fenced spring in a rare wooded grove. It rejoined a road just around a bend, but this road was blocked by falling trees.
And since the ruts of the road made a nice flat dirt spot there and vehicles nor people can pass through trees, I set up a tent right there in the road in front of that blockage. The mosquitos swarmed heavily throughout the process, but they had been pretty heavy all afternoon. I’d had my headnet on since lunch and reapplied repellent at supper. I took off my shoes and socks before entering the tent to make the move faster, and none followed me inside. It was a warm night with little wind, some light sprinkling of rain, and no particular need to bundle up.
But I learned why my feet hurt all day. I’m not even going to try to describe what the ball of my left foot looks like. I think I’ll tape it in the morning.
Trail miles: 16.0
Distance to Leadore: 13.1 miles
what’s that in the water? 
