I slept in until almost 9 this morning and then didn’t get moving for an hour. Night hiking has its benefits but an early start the next morning is not one of them. I’m wondering what I’m going to do when it’s really summer and even hotter out. Most people say hike early, take a siesta, and hike late. Hiking late and early don’t mix for me though; I need a consecutive eight hours sleep somewhere.

My favorite spot today was Spy Rock, an outcropping you had to scramble up and were rewarded with almost 360 degree views. I sat up there for a while. There were several large puddles in indents in the rock that were filled with tadpoles. Jungle Jym decided to save the ones in the small pool by moving them into the larger pool in a pistaccio shell he found.

Next I went over The Priest although I never found the views at the top. There was a great one on the long way down though. I also went by Cripple Creek, which I like because of the bluegrass song and The Band song. Then another suspension bridge, my third I think, and I started up the long incline of Three Ridges Mountain. I didn’t go too far up before stopping at Harpers Creek Shelter for the night so I have most of the climb first thing in the morning when it is supposed to be raining. It kept threatening to rain my last several miles today but I made it into camp and got all set up and through dinner and it still hasn’t started yet. 16.1 miles today.

image

image