I awoke at midnight to a sound. It was my first night in a while camping at a low enough elevation to worry much about large animal activity and something startled me. In a half awake and half asleep state I heard people trudging by. I looked at my watch, it was 1am. WTF, don’t they know I need my beauty sleep? It’s already hard enough to make this beard look hot. I rolled over and slept some more. The morning was so cold I couldn’t pick huckleberries. My fingers wouldn’t work. I would either crush them or miss pinching hard enough to pluck them. It slowly warmed up and I was soon hiking along the flat stretch at the Dearborn River. I’m a bit obsessed with Lewis and Clark, so I am aware they named this river, and with no distractions, my thoughts raged! Like 21st birthday raged. I imaged all their men crossing the river and Lewis naming it, then wondering when the next water would be and where they should camp and also, at about the same time as naming the river they realized there was no Transwater route across the continent. It was pretty cool to walk in their footsteps. I ended the day with some rough climbs and the beginning to an over 20 mile waterless stretch. I set up my tent at the end of the day but didn’t get in. I laid in the middle of the grass and looked up at the sky, letting myself feel comfortingly small in the midst of the universe, knowing that this is exactly what I should be doing at this exact moment.
Miles 40
Total 3553
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