This morning we started a little later than usual so we could get a little extra rest after neither of us slept well. The mosquitos were still killer, even mid-morning we still wanted to stay inside to keep away from them, but eventually we had to get up, pack up, and mosey up the trail.
While we were filtering more water out of Craig Creek for the day, two more thru-hikers ran into us and stopped to filter some water as well. We got to chat for a few minutes before they moved on and we finished packing up. We likely won’t see them again since we are moving rather slow in comparison.
The first couple miles of our day felt like they were completely vertical, and it was truly a thigh-burner. We topped out at more than 10,600ft today, our highest elevation so far. After those 2 miles it was largely an easy-going trail. We exited the Lost Creek Wilderness and went a couple more miles down into what we referred to as “the meadow that never ends” since we were in it for about 6 full miles. We had minimal shade but still found a couple places to sit down, air out our feet, and eat a snack.
We did about 10 miles today and ended up just outside the meadow in the forest for the night. We followed the usual routine: set up the tent, eat dinner, wash up, pee, set up our things inside our flimsy structure, bundle up all the excess things in our packs, cover the packs with the rain covers, and crawl into the tent for the night.
It’s about 8pm as I’m writing this, and I’m listening to the rain fall onto the tent and the ground around us. We couldn’t have timed this ending any better.
