Miles Today: 13.7
Mile Marker: 350.2
I woke up at 6:00 this morning and then proceeded to hit the imaginary snooze button until around 9:00. Motivation still hadn't stepped up to the plate, so I started re-reading Ready Player One until about 10:00. I went through the ritual of breaking camp and planning my day when I realized I was facing a water snafu.
Last night I discovered the only water near the shelter was 0.30 miles south on the trail. I made sure to fill up on my way by so I didn't have to backtrack later. I use about two cups of water each night to cook plus what I dink with dinner. Since I'm only carrying 1.7 liters of water it's a pretty big chunk of my supply. I don't know what the conversion from two cups of freedom units to logical units is, but trust me it matters. Normally I top off my water after dinner so I'm stocked and ready to go in the morning. I lazily figured there would be water a couple of miles up trail in the morning like there always is, so I didn't worry about it. Fast forward to this morning when payment became due on my debt of laziness last night. There was no water up trail for seven miles. So instead of filling up last night when I stopped early and had plenty of time, I got to fill up this morning when I was already heading out way late. 11:15 start time. New personal best! However my favorite part of the morning was a mile into the day when I literally stepped over a small spring that wasn't in the guide. I had a pretty hearty laugh to myself. It's all you can do.
The weather was amazing today and the morning flew by. I got to Uncle Johnny’s Hostel a little after 1:00 and popped in for a Gatorade. Super cool place. I wish I could have stayed, but they did let me hang out and eat my lunch. Great people there. Post lunch went a little slower as the day got hotter, but it wasn't too bad. I stopped at a shelter and made dinner early due to a similar water situation where I wanted to camp tonight. While I was eating the temperature dropped about ten degrees and made the last few miles much more enjoyable.