Day 109 (PNT 14)

Day 109 (PNT 14): 31 miles

It really didn’t feel like I was moving fast today, but a lot of the day was road and GREAT trail so that helped a ton. It was so hot, I couldn’t move fast. But I moved consistently and for a long time, my recipe for decent miles. I hiked from 6:30 in the morning until after 10 at night.

It felt like I was crawling all day cause the heat was killer. It hit 100, and it felt like it. There was no wind at all, even walking on the banks of Priest Lake. The trail along Priest lake however was probably the most gentle of the entire trail so far. It was pleasant pine needle or soft dirt to walk on. It felt much nicer in my feet than rocky trail.

After the lake section I took an “alternate” that is essentially the official trail because the “official is a terrible bushwhack that nobody does. Allegedly the trail agency will make this alternate the official trail soon.

Although I felt exhausted all day, I tried to just keep moving even if slowly, but I would occasionally have to stop and take a break because my back was just so sweaty it was gross. The bugs were also crazy today. I was constantly swatting and usually missing. Towards the end of the day when they were really crazy I went Rocky mode and just started boxing wasps that were circling me while I was walking.

A car passed on one of the dirt roads that was dropping off a lady to start the Idaho centennial trail. She must be pretty metal.

At the end of the day when I was trying to set up my tent, I was so tired, dehydrated, and delirious, I was dizzy and nearly falling over while trying to put my tent stakes in the ground. I had to camp on a little pull out on the side of the road so I got all my stakes about 3 centimeters into the ground. 2 came out during the night but I was too tired to get up.

Oh yeah, and I’M IN WASHINGTON