tcmauer

CS1027.8 to CS1041.4 (1027.8 to 1041.1)

Daily miles: 13.3

So morning did arrive and here’s the picture to prove it.

Plus, my stomach feel fine, so no giardia. I’m the last one to leave the camp, which is par for the course, and spend long moments admiring the trees and fidgeting with this and that.

Most of the day I spend in my own head, which isn’t always a bad thing.  My pack is lighter now that I have no bear canister and no snow gear, so my body just moves along like it knows what it’s doing.  Up and down, through forest and hillside covered with wildflowers and small prickly bushes.  Flies are out now, but mostly I can out-walk them.  They’re only bad if I stop and try to eat lunch.

I decide to stop early and set up camp.  I can leave my stuff behind and walk a side trail up to Asa Lake. I don’t know anything about the trail or the lake, but it turns out to be only a quarter mile away and is more like a pond tucked away in the woods.  I was hoping for a longer walk and something more dramatic.  I lay my stuff down and sit on an old fallen tree, and play my music out loud since no hikers will come up here.  PCTers basically never go off trail, since our trail is long enough already.

The evening hours are pleasant, someone’s built a fire, and I rest on pine needles and dirt.  A small river goes deeper in the woods, so I sit and listen and smell the nice combination of smoke and dirt and pine.