I slept so hard last night in the hotel. It was the first solid night’s sleep I’ve gotten since I arrived. Woo hoo!!
I knew I wouldn’t hit a water source until 13.5 miles in, so I was heavy coming out of the gate with food for 5 days plus 2-1/2 liters of water (someone needs to invent dehydrated water because it sure is heavy “fresh!”). I started hiking at 9:30 and the trail was rough from the start. Lots of uphill with rocky terrain and the forest was not nearly as scenic as it has been.
The trail didn’t start out very scenic
I didn’t worry about wildlife today, but rather countless mountain bikers since they were all zooming downhill while I trudged uphill. One came flying around a corner and about plowed into me! He did apologize though.
Ruh roh–bear scat!
The bees were absolutely relentless all day. If I stopped for even 5 seconds, they’d start swarming. I don’t know how I avoided getting stung because I finally got fed up and started swatting at them. I ate lunch on the run because they were even worse when I pulled out my food! So I only took my pack off for about 10 minutes the entire time I hiked and my body definitely needs “pack off” breaks to reset when it’s this heavy. Needless to say I was not the happiest camper by the time I walked into camp!
I tried to stop here for a break but the yellow jackets drove me off!
Glimpses of the lake made the climb worth it
I am camping at Watson Lake and there are multiple first come, first serve sites around the lake that you must claim and register for when you arrive. After all the day users left, I was the only one left for awhile except for a lone tent in the site next to me and a car with a NJ tag. There’s still no one on the site and it’s almost dark (and I arrived many hours ago). It weirded me out a little, so I took the tweezers from my Swiss Army Knife and fished out the registration form from the metal box that campers slip them in! It’s registered to a female, so that’s comforting if/when she shows up. The mom in me wants to know if she’s ok (her car has a college sticker on it so I’m guessing she’s fairly young). Hmmm….
I am thrilled to have a bear locker to store my food so I don’t have to worry about a proper bear hang! Tomorrow is another long water carry (16+ miles with no source) so I hope I sleep well!
I loved this vegetation floating on the lake’s surface