The land scape has changed drastically, from flat and open to gentle and rolling even treed in most places. It was a beautiful morning as I hiked on, but a hard rain last night softened the road so it was back to the heavy super sticky mud. This is exhausting to hike in and was a struggle all day. In fact I was hoping to get 45km done today but had to quit at 35 as my hip flexors got really sore from lifting all that mud. Its literally like adding 5lb weights to each boot. Half the time you feel like your moon walking as you lose a step sliding back in the heavy slick. A thunder storm with a hard rain made it worse. I had to stop when it broke to pitch camp for fear I wouldnt be able to. In fact as I write this the low rumble is still looming. Besides I needed to dry stuff out. Its a damned if you do damned if you dont moment. You wear the rain gear you get soaked by sweat anyway and between the heavy mud and the slippery slopes it was hard work so sweating was inevitable. But when that happens you have to worry about heat rash as well. I felt it coming I decided to call it a day. The heat rashes can be a bloody mess and with 5 days until the next town I dont want to take chances. I saw two more Bears today. One just ran across the road in front of me. The other was a different story. I had stopped at a creek for water and as it turns out a Black Bear had the same idea. As I was focused on my foot placement I didnt see it until last second as it didnt me. It jumped up from the creek bed in a big leap then just stood staring. For a split second I reached for my camera because what a shot it would have been but when it stopped and turned toward me I opted for the Bear spray as I was close enough to see its eyes. I gave a huge yell and he took off again but then stopped to look back. He did this a few times before melding into the forest. I also met up with a bunch of off roaders on quads and side by sides. A really nice bunch who brought me a beer and some granola bars. Have a great night everyone...
Posted on: Mon, 02 Jun 2014 01:28:41 +0000
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