Day 168

Day 168 (pct 58): 31 miles

Woke up late. Moved slow most of the day. Feet didn’t feel great. Saw some beautiful lakes off trail.

It started to thunderstorm in the middle of the day. I figured it would just rain hard for 10 minutes then stop. That wasn’t really the case. It did off and on for over an hour but it was still so hot I didn’t really mind. I don’t like hiking in thunderstorms but it’s something I’ll definitely have to get used to especially on the cdt. I only saw one actual lightning strike and it was a few miles away.

I started moving faster late in the day and got back on schedule to get to camp at a decent time until all hell broke loose. I was on the phone with a buddy and the call dropped and I lost service. No big deal it happens a lot. But this time it was a bad omen. Immediately after that the trail became a nightmare. It was overgrown like crazy and I was just plowing through brush like tires in football practice. It was getting dark as I started this and I didn’t think to preemptively get my headlamp out. And while I was in it I couldn’t really maneuver to get my backpack off so I really couldn’t see where my feet were stepping for a while. I was almost certainly walking through a lot of poison oak. There was a lot of tripping and yelling and cut up legs. Because of that I didn’t end up getting to camp until after 10:30.

I saw a deer that had no fear of humans. It didn’t run away until was about to plow through it cause the human body craves contact and by that point I was fed up with anything in my way.

Song of the day: ghost town-Kanye west
Straight vibing to this while the thunderstorm was booming