I was up early and had coffee and a great breakfast with my Aunt before heading back to the trail. I left the Santiam Pass trailhead a bit before 8am and the hiking continued. Most of the day was through a burn area. This had positives and negatives. The mosquitos were largely gone because wind ripped through the barren area. There were also clouds all day. The partly cloudy day combined with the wind made it pretty cold when the sun couldn’t poke through. I did a continual shuffle of putting on my coat and then taking it off. Late in the day, it was so cold I actually put gloves on. I hiked over the shoulder of Three Finger Jack (mountain) and then around the side of Mt. Jefferson. I also got a glimpse of Pamelia Lake which is one of the places my family went hiking when I was very young. The burn area was largely caused by a fire last year, so it was sad to see the fresh burn, but nice to be rid of mosquitos for a while.
Miles 35
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