CDT32
26 May Friday
22 miles
During the night, it was windy with just a small bit of rain but not enough to get the tent wet by the morning. The sun took a long time to reach us thanks to the mountain that blocked out the first rays of light. I packed my gear in the chilly morning and then warmed my hands with hot coffee and oatmeal in cinnamon.
It was time to hit the trail and this is when I discovered that the wrist band on my walking sticks were half gone. I do recall during the night hearing noise outside my tent but thought nothing of it. Now I know, we suspect it was a chipmunks that ate half of the wrist strips from the walking sticks. I’ll have to order replacement straps when I get into town.
This is what Chipmunks do when you leave the walking sticks outside over night
We could hear the sounds of the chipmunks in the trees as we headed out, a sound I’ll not forget for a while.
Getting fresh water from ground water
Hopewell Lake Campground, fresh water and a place to dump our trash, there were a few motor homes there where all were pulled behind by a pickup truck. One motor home was extra large and then Ken told me that the back were for the horses and the forward half were for the occupants
Motor home with a built in horse float
Up and down hills we walked, when on the north side of the mountain it was harder going as the snow was deep and the trail was hard to follow.
Deer from a distance, one of many we saw today
We have seen many wildlife while walking, birds of many types, chipmunks of course with many little ones playing and ignored us while we stopped to watch.
A number of times we have seen deer and as we camped for the night, across the river not more than 100 metres away we watched a group of 6 Elk. I was cooking my food at that time and my camera was in the tent, so I was just happy to sit and watch for a while until they realised that our eyes were on them.
Today was a physically hard day, I’m not certain why, maybe it’s because it’s the 6th day on the trail without a break or is it because of pushing our way through the snow while going uphill. But now I’m in my tent next to a stream and I know by 8 o’clock I’ll be sound asleep.
Evidence of mole activity under the ground