Today should be a relatively short day, so I slept in by listening to music and didn’t get out walking until 7:15. The temperature was very comfortable last night. I stayed outside of the bag for most of the night but eventually had to crawl inside and get cozy.

The game for the morning is “Can I find a better campsite?” Whenever you pick a campsite you never know if this is as good as it gets, or just around the corner is there a better one. I was very happy with my spot last night. And even though the morning did show several decent spots, I don’t think they were any better than where I actually camped.

Today should be about seven and a half miles of trail plus seven and a half miles of road walk into Gilman. The last bits of trail are supposed to be pretty swampy, but as of now it’s mostly hills and eskers on pretty good trail.

After about an hour the trail comes out to a beaver pond and I’m able to dance across the logs and keep my feet dry. That is, until the very last step. As I stepped off of the log on to the mud, of course my foot slipped and I gave a valiant effort of about three or four steps trying to regain my balance but it was to know avail. I went down in the mud on the same side as so now I have muddy feet, muddy legs, muddy pants, muddy shirt, a muddy pack, and a muddy scar.

I am able to clean myself pretty well with my handkerchief, but now my handkerchief is filthy so it won’t be removing sweat from my brow today. I didn’t hurt anything but my pride. But it definitely puts a wet note on the rest of the day.

I have already passed two roads and come to the third a few minutes after my slip. This road will bypass the last three and a half miles of the trail and take me straight to the highway that I will be roadwalking on in a few hours. I seriously contemplate taking the road and skipping this last bit of trail since I am now wet, and I know the rest of the trail is even wetter.

I sit there at the intersection for several minutes before deciding I should just go ahead with the trail. I have missed a few pieces on accident, but there’s no reason to short circuit and skip this piece on purpose. After all, I did the 1.7 mi Grandfather Falls out and back so why not the last three and a half miles of this little section. I’m still going to get into town in the early afternoon so what’s the point and getting there two hours earlier.

I head up the trail and climb another lovely esker. My decision has been made. Just 5 minutes later I come to another beaver pond and see that this one is flooded even worse than the last one. I begin to second guess my decision to continue on the trail for I know this is not going to be the last beaver pond.

But luckily the trail has been rerouted uphill, so this one is not a big deal at all. The rest of the morning was more woods than beaver ponds, thank goodness. The areas that were bad either had reroutes or plenty of logs to walk on. No more slipping.

Some of the bridges are shaky and saggy in in desperate need of repair.

While other bridges are overbuilt fortresses.

And some of them go off into Infinity.

When I could hear the highway just be on the edge of the woods, I found a big rock to sit on and have lunch. I tried an experiment with Lipton chicken noodle soup to try and cold soak it yesterday. That experiment was a total failure. Raw noodles are essentially dried flour and that’s about it. The cold soup version just tasted like flour and chicken. So this time I actually cook the other one in the pot and it was fair, but I won’t be getting it again.

It’s about 8 miles into town from here and it’s 11:00. This should put me into town at about 2:00. I still don’t have cell signal, so I can’t really check out what’s in town other than things I’ve already marked.

So I begin the road walk and it’s not too bad. It is a busy highway with a lot of truck traffic and the shoulder is only 3 ft of asphalt and 3 ft of gravel. So when a big truck comes by I have to run down into the ditch just to give some extra room.

After about 2 miles, there is a wayside on the side of the highway. The last one was really nice with bathrooms, water, picnic benches, and garbage cans. This one is just benches and a pit toilet – no water and no garbage cans.

But I do have cell service now, so I can check out the town better and I can see that there are two restaurants. One is closed today and one will be closing at 2:00. Oh man, that’s exactly when I will get to town.

There’s no point in trying to rush to get there 15 minutes before they close just for them to tell me the kitchen is already closed. So I just walked my normal pace, but don’t dilly-dally.

About halfway through today’s road walk I have the option of taking back roads. There is no difference in distance, so I go ahead and do that. And it was definitely the right move because the last 3 miles into town I only saw one car. It also brings me into the part of town where the park is where you are allowed to camp.

I follow the signs that say “park” but it takes me to the day park. This is not the camping area, but they do have running water and bathrooms, so I’m able to fill up. I am only about three or four blocks from the gas stations, but I would rather drink a lot of water now, then drag my butt in to downtown later. I drank the last of my water about a mile before town, so I am thirsty.

I also find an electrical outlet that’s working, so I decide to go ahead and charge my battery pack and my camera while I take a break. It feels good to take my shoes off and let my feet hair out. I also hit a bag of Cheetos pretty hard.

Two hours later, my phone and battery are fully charged. I head up to the gas station that manages the campground. Dinner tonight will be mini raviolis and macaroni salad with a Dole lemonade and chocolate milk. They give me directions to the camping area. It is indeed on the other side of the river from where I was.

So I head there, pay my fee, and go set up my tent in the tenting area. It’s only 5:00 but I have 3 days of blogs to catch up on and I could wash up a little bit.

Emotion of the day, Determined

Today was a short day. 8 miles of trail, 8 miles of road walking, 16 miles should be nothing. I let the thought of muddy swamps enter my mind and almost sway me to skip the last four miles of the trail part.

But there was no good reason to do so. If it were getting dark, or I had to get to a post office before it closed, or something like that – then maybe there would be reason to cut some miles. But not to cut it just because it’s wet.

When I set out to do this trail, I set out to do the entire trail. I have missed a few small pieces because of getting lost or missing a turn, but that is a far cry from knowingly skipping a whole chunk of trail.

I’m not at an official mile marker because I’m not on the official connector route right now, so I don’t know how many miles I’ve done exactly. But I do know that all the blue miles that are left I intend to do in their entirety.

I am determined to finish this trail. And I think I can complete it in eight more days.