Day 43: Revenge Of The Ticks

May 23, 2017
Mile 572.92 Campsite to Mile 592.89 Campsite 

These long water carries are going to get old real quick. We had another 19 mile water carry today. The weight isn’t so much of an issue anymore, but having to conserve it and withhold chugging a liter at a time like I want to is a challenge. 

To help ease the need to drink more we started the day a bit earlier so we could hike in cooler temperatures. I only had a liter and did a whole nine miles on it before reaching the water source. It wasn’t too bad except for the last mile or so and I definitely started feeling parched.
Fortunately the spring was in some shade so most of the people around the spring were taking long breaks before moving on. Glow Worm arrived shortly after I did and we left around 11:00 to find some better shade for lunch as the sun was beginning to expose most of the area around the spring. 

We hiked for about three miles before settling on some shade in the saddle between a a couple peaks and ate lunch under a pine tree. The relaxation didn’t last very long, though. Glow Worm somehow managed to lay day on a tick metropolis and got dime sized welts all over her from their bites. Since it was still far too hot to move on she just grumpily moved to another spot and covered herself up with bandanas (Which didn’t actually help anything. She wound up with even more ticks afterwards). 

Don’t ask questions.

So after fending off an army of ticks for several hours while waiting out the heat we hiked the final seven or so miles into camp. We saw Cougar and Dr. McDirty briefly after after we left our lunch spot on top of the hillside, but haven’t seen them since.

Tomorrow should be a shorter 16 mile day and there should be a few creeks as well. The plan is to spend like three hours at each creek and spend all day hopping from water to water.