Dsy 51 July 15, 2017

Daily mileage 23
Total mileage 863
Hiked from 5:15 am to 6:00 pm

OK, I have to admit that I am trying to recall this day a month after I hiked it.  I got the original entry wrong (basically a repost of day 50) so .....

I hiked with some trepidation today because, despite what the Sobo hiker told me yesterday, I figured I would likely run into extended snow today.  And I did, but nothing terrible.  The first stretch was a bit sketchy, and a slip would have resulted in some degree of bodily damage, but luckily my microspikes remained in my pack rather than actually being any good on my feet.  Sometimes I wonder at what I was thinking.

I ran into a trail maintenance crew on my way down to the A Tree spring.  I just cannot thank these volunteers enough for the hard work they do cutting away blowdowns from the trail.

This particular blowdown will take alot of work to clear.

The afternoon involved what would prove to be the last of the snow for a few weeks.  But again, there were sections of snow that may have not been long to cross, but a slip, particularly on one section, would have resulted in sever damage to the hiker.  And again, all I could think about was what my headstone would read: "He died with his microspikes in his pack. What a dumbass".

Part way through the afternoon, I came across a father and son out scouting for deer in the upcoming hunting season.  Now, why you need your rifle out with you when doing this was beyond me, but they had the guns so I was not about to ask.  In our discussion about wildlife, the dad seemed to be a bit flummoxed when I told him that bears were omnivores, same as us.  He then proceeded to tell a fellow hiker that the trees across the trail were not the results of blowdown, but were the results of bears pushing on them.  It was really hard not to mock him, but remember he had the only gun between the two of us.  And, he was wearing the tee shirt of a certain reality show president, so his mental stability was certainly in question.  I broke away from him as politely as quickly as possible.

I was initially hoping to stretch out my mileage a bit farther today, but when I saw the campsite that I ended up in, it was too good to pass by.  And I was whipped. 

Home for the night.