August 24

Distance: 21.9 miles | Ascent: 4440′ | Descent: 4280′

Mile marker: 1047.0

Lunch: J&A – mac n cheese with pulled pork (A, A+)

Dinner: J – sausage stuffing (A), A – spaghetti mac (B)

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Due to the prior short night of sleep and yesterday’s challenging climb, we slept in a bit and enjoyed a slightly slower morning at our idyllic lake campsite before hiking out.

The trail was fairly uneventful except for a little bear cub we spooked. He scampered up a tree to hide from us “predators.” We’d never hurt the little guy with his adorable fuzzy ears, but he was just surprised by us. He only hung around for a few seconds before descending the tree and scurrying off into the woods, presumably to mom.

We wove through forests, meadows, and rocky ridges, taking in the enormous views of the surrounding mountains. Once again, we came across a grouse wandering the trail, largely unbothered by our presence.

In the afternoon, we noticed some thunderstorms forming in our direction of travel. Fortunately, it didn’t rain or hail on us, only a few sprinkles while we stopped at a small lake to grab water. The lake was home to trout, newts, and a cute and curious little snake!

When we crossed over one ridge, though, the trail was muddy and slick. A northbound hiker, drenched, asked if there was more rain ahead. We lightened his spirits by telling him no, but he just been caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Happens to all of us eventually.

We wound up at a campsite tucked below a ridge and near a spring. We had been hoping to reach a site on a ridge a few miles out, but the daylight was quickly fading and the lightning strikes on distant ridges gave us some pause. While trying to decide whether to push onwards or settle for the spring, we encountered a NOBO hiker from the UK in a similar predicament. The lightning had all of us on edge, and he too was changing plans to avoid sleeping on a ridge.

We settled in at a slightly lower elevation and hoped for a dry night. We squeezed our large 2-person tent into an itty bitty 1-person site and agreed to wake up early start to make up the distance we didn’t hit today.