Devils Backbone, June 12th

The flies were active so early. I tried to wake up and get going early in the morning to avoid them. I was the first to leave camp. I was told that the out house was disgustingly filled with flies. So I decided to dig myself a cat hole somewhere up the trail on top of the Priest where there was more wind. The flies didn't seem all that bad until I filled that hole up. Then I dropped my roll of toilet paper on top of my turd on the edge so all of the layers had a bit of brown on them. I had to take time peeling all of the edge off and in the meantime a swarm of probably 100 large black flies were all over my poop. It was so disgusting. Particularly when I mixed and burried it because they all flew up and around me.

The morning was all downhill but I was still getting sweaty. It's going to be a rediculously hot day. As soon as I got to the first shelter halfway there was a small waterfall with a pool about waist deep and I went right in. It was really cold but desperately needed. It was really nice at that shelter. We played music and relaxed. Wunderbar, Bankeds trail name, and Car Jack were here jar packing up camp. I haven't seen them in awhile.

The swimspot

The next section of trail was all uphill for miles and it got pretty steep. It was Three peaks mountain and it a extremely hot. I felt like I was just melting. I was soaked with sweat, just dripping from everywhere. The rash on my back got really bad today. Putting on body glide, an anti-chafing stick helped but it was still bad. That climb was just miserable. I stopped for awhile in one place my body in the shade and my legs and feet in the sun and felt like my legs were cooking so I quickly pulled back then even quicker I took my shoes off when I realized my shoes were cooking my toes. My feet were so hot but my shoes were on fire. It felt like a pan on the stove hot, it burned to touch the front rubber on them. I never expected that.

On the way down Dirty Duck and I found some interesting wild life. Everyone else in our group is thinner and faster so we were the slow pokes, the heat took a lot out of us. Uncle Puck took a wrong turn out of the shelter and went a mile southbound on the trail before realizing his mistake.

We found 2 really awesome salamanders.

And this interesting caterpillar.

This butterfly really liked me.

We saw a black rat snake then a rattlesnake.

We stopped in at another shelter for a break and a deer paid us a visit. She never got too close but want afraid of us either. It was nice getting to watch her graze while I sat down resting.

On the last mile of the sat day we passed a topless couple that we day hiking since they didn't have any packs. The girl in her early 20's wasn't just topless. She was only wearing underwear. That was a first for me, seeing something like that out here.

When we hit the road there was trail magic. A Boy Scout Troup was putting it on. I got a bunch of snacks and water. We were shortly followed by Uncle Puck. We had been warned that it took Scout and Sun an hour to catch a ride over to the Devils Backbone Brewpub, where we will be staying the night. So we started hitching early and it only took us 10 min to find a ride, not only that but a lot of people pulled over to offer rides not going as far or the right direction or apologize that they were full.

The Devils Backbone Brewpub is awesome. I love this place. They have a large property and let hikers camp in the field. They are set up for concerts and all the building are large, spacious, and fancy. The main building has a ton of awesome taxidermy. I ate pork belly, mac n' cheese, and banana pudding. It was delicious!

It was really hot out so I slept with my vestibule open for the first night out here. The stars were out and there were a lot of fireflies around. It was such a great evening.

Tonight at the Devils Backbone Brewpub I'm at mile 842.8 with 1347 left to go.