Day 101 (PNT 6)

Day 101 (PNT 6): 32 miles

Another morning of not moving until 8am, but at least it was more reasonable since I didn’t go to bed till 10:30. I climbed up above 7,000 feet and finished the Ten Lakes Alternate which added about 4 miles. It was cool but there was never really a totally expansive view.

When I got back to the official trail it was a river. After dealing with that and a few downed trees I made it down to a cool switchback. It was a spot that hit the Canadian border and then turned south. I went up and tagged the border before making my way down to Eureka!

It was a long and hot road walk. I was feeling good at first, being mostly driven by the hilarious pardon my take podcast. But eventually, I started to feel pretty crappy. And then it opened up to wide private pastures without trees. And then I had to crap. I was feeling pretty bad. I was coming close to either crapping my pants or having to tres-poop in a wide open visible pasture. Like a message from above, a truck stopped and said he’d take me into Eureka! for the last mile or 2. Purity be dammed. It was pleasant.

I did a small resupply to make it to Yaak and chilled out at subway. They didn’t have my go-to meatball marinara so I went outside my safe zone with a buffalo chicken and I’m such a baby with spice I had to take a break in the middle cause my mouth was kinda burning.

Heading out of Eureka! was very pleasant. It was a cool town to see and it had wide shoulders. And after walking through town I hopped on a rail trail which had so many deer I felt like I was in big buck hunter. But it wasn’t all good. Right before I got to camp, there was a little situation. I heard a small rustling on my right and figured it was a chipmunk or something. I looked over and a skunk was darting straight for me. I was terrified and let out a yell that I haven’t in a long time. As soon as I processed it, I instantly started sprinting away as it was 3 feet from me. When I was a good 30 yards away I turned around to see it just stood its ground there. I was happy it wasn’t pursuing me, but still shellshocked from how bad it could have been.