Start: 682.7
Stop: 710.8
Today’s miles: 28.1
Total PCT miles: 898.5
Today was another long day, but to where yesterday was long for not only the duration but also the work involved-today felt easy going, just a lot of easy miles were covered, if that makes sense.
There were no real climbs today. The terrain was just meadows and creeks in the beginning, a bit exposed, and then it turned into woods surrounding lakes and creeks, until hitting deep woods with lots of shade. Somewhere in the shade is where I ate lunch. Margot caught up to me and ate her lunch with me too.
A mile or so later, we came to a gorgeous lake. I had originally planned to eat there, but I’m telling you when that stomach growl gets that one deep deep rumble, all plans are thrown to the wind and I have to eat immediately. Haha. Anywho-we had to get water from the lake regardless, so we decided to swim there, too. Why not? It was beautiful and sunny, the water was refreshing and so clear.
We splashed around and then got out to dry off in the sunshine. My feet felt nice after the cold water numbed them some. If you didn’t know, I’m still mad at my new shoes. After we got to hiking again, I couldn’t keep my pace up. I stopped and took my shoes off for another little rest, when I still had 8 miles to go, and got absolutely swarmed by mosquitoes. They swarmed so fast that I just decided to put on my crocs and knew once I got a little ways away from the bugs, I’d put my shoes back on.
Except, I never put my shoes back on. The bugs were relentless that whole 8 miles, I was practically running in my crocs. When I got to camp and Marquis was there in all his rain gear and headnet, I did the same. He hadn’t set up camp yet, wondering if we’d push to the next lake. We’re at one now, but he was hoping the next one would be less buggy. They’re pretty awful.
We waited for Margot to get to camp to decide to stay or not. At least that was the plan. My feet are THROBBING. I tried propping them up on tree stumps and stretching and massaging. No dice. They still hurt. And the bugs would. not. stop. So, after maybe 10-15 minutes of waiting, I gave up and made the executive decision for me that I would be camping right here, regardless of what they want to do.
Once I was working on setting my tent up, Marquis relented and started setting up too, right as Margot appeared. She said she wouldn’t have wanted to push on anyway. We all set up and ate our dinners in the safety of our tents. My feet are absolutely hating me right now. I’ve got them propped up on my pack and I’ve taken more ibuprofen. I can only pray it kicks in. Because this is miserable. I hope y’all are much more comfortable than I am right now. Sweet dreams, guys.