Day 4 – Hail

I was up and moving early today. I made it to almost 11000′ of elevation but I am camped at 10100′ feet after 17.5 miles.

Most of today’s miles were spent along a marsh. Right about lunch time, storm clouds started gathering where I was headed, which is the pattern in these mountains. It started sprinkling on me so I moved to the side under some trees to eat lunch and watch the storm go by. It moved fairly quickly but I put my rain gear on any way just in case. Of course, then the sun came out five minutes later. The next time I stopped for water, I took my rain gear off, and then it started raining. I did this dance several times over the next couple of hours as it variously rained and hailed on me (only small hail).

I reached the end the marsh and moved downhill for the rest of the day. It was hard to keep track of where I was in my guide since there were way more creeks and campsites than listed. I finally got to my intended campsite right at dinner time only to see more storm clouds gathering and heading my way quickly. I set up my tent and jumped in just as it started raining.

The storm was done after about fifteen minutes but I was too lazy to get back out to cook dinner. I was already in my sleeping bag with my feet up so I just ate a snack instead. I had tried to find somewhere to hang my bear bag after setting up my tent but I am camped among aspens and there are no branches available to hang from. I do carry an odorproof bag for just such an occasion and luckily my food bag was small enough tonight to fit into it.

My legs and my lungs are doing just fine so far on this trip but my feet and my hips are still adjusting. My hips usually bruise when I start wearing a pack consistently again but today was particularly bad and I had to stop every forty five minutes or so to take my pack off. My feet are just sore but they’re always better in the morning.