Miles Hiked 32
Elevation 6,834 feet
Miles Hiked Today 8.5
Last night I was exiting the tent to “answer the call of nature.” Tents are never easy to exit, but particularly so when half asleep. I lost my balance and fell back while glancing the tent entrance. The screen tore at the top. That was disappointing considering this was the sixth use of the tent. Now I’ll have to find someone to repair it.
I was camping away from the group and didn’t expect to see anyone before 7 AM. And then Bob from our group walks up to where I am packing equipment away. We talked and he said he would wait for me. Twenty minutes later we were on our way down the trail.
The sand on the trail has disappeared for now, so the walking is not as strenuous. We had most of the morning to ourselves and some beautiful scenery. We kept running across a couple young women on the trail. Other than that Bob and I saw few hikers.
Two climbs of 650 feet total were in front of us, so we took a break and just stared at the beautiful scenery.
We reached the campsite just after 1:00 PM. The others of our group arrived a couple of hours later – minus John and Jack. Apparently Jack was not doing well. He got sunburned and his feet had blisters. They left the group at Lava Point with the intent of going back to the main area near the visitor center. Their time on the trail was over.
The water situation was not good. First, there was a deer blocking our access to the spring. It just stood there and stared at us. Finally I was able to shoo it away. Once at the spring we discovered it was barely a trickle. Everyone used my scoop to get their water from a puddle, so it worked out well.
Later that evening, a deer came into the camp and just wandered around eating. It showed no fear of us at all. The deer looked to be pregnant with a large belly even though its ribs were showing.
I was in my sleeping bag by 8:00 PM. Tomorrow is our last day on this hike.
