Pushing Through

Had a good night's sleep at Mountain Crossings Hostel. The bunkhouse was packed; as always, Forest slept with me. Some of the guests seemed bothered when they saw him. Rather than have anyone get irritated, I decided to give a short demo of all the things Forest does for me. As I suspected, he stole their hearts, and we had no problems.

My back is doing well (I have a plastic disk and fusion in my spine), but my left foot has gotten a bit painful. I thought about taking a zero day (i.e., no hiking) today to give it a break, but decided to forge ahead when I saw that it is supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow. We put in 11 miles, but I think I looked like a water skier who fell but refused to let go of the rope. LOL Thank heaven for Forest; he definitely has his trail legs and helped keep me going.

Tonight we are camping near Low Gap Shelter. It's a nice spot next to a water source, made even nicer by a hot meal and coffee, thanks to last night's resupply. There are bear cables here, too, for folks who have food in their packs that might attract bear. It is so critical on the trail to keep food and garbage well away from your person and your tent.

And a note to home: I couldn't do this without my wife working so hard behind the scenes. She meticulously plans each resupply package, weighing it to be sure that I don't exceed my maximum weight target of about 30 pounds. 💗💗💗  My pack weight decreases from resupply site to resupply site, as Forest and I consume food, but it's critical that I don't overload myself. Forest only carries about a day's worth of his food and his clothing, for an absolute maximum of 6 lbs.