A night full or wind and rain, mostly restful. Wind so strong that It seemed as though the tent would lift off from the ground at times! Luckily, or skillfully, Brianna and I assembled it properly tight such that nothing helicoptered off into the night or collapsed in on us.
We fell asleep to a mixture or storm and our neighbors watching what sounded like a kung fu movie. First people we have seen on the trail in a few days and it turned out to be a sweet old couple in Motor home, Jeep in tow. They come out to Timber Creek trailhead for about a week every year. Not only is Timber Creek a trailhead for hiking, but it’s also a trailhead for jeeps to off-road. It makes sense, we cross over four wheeler / Jeep trails every few miles.
It took a few turns of our internal ignition keys but we finally made it out of the tent and into our normal routines around 0630. We needed to make good time today, every mile could get in meant one less mile to do tomorrow. So naturally, we hiked the first seven miles of the day by 1100 and then took a three hour break. We came across a sweet remote camping site @ Bowman Lake and were more than ready for a lunch break. The tent was went from the storms so we needed to set it up for drying out… then, once it was dry, we napped for a couple hours. Pretty sweet little afternoon.
The day ended up with 13ish trail miles, even with the extended break. And to clarify, trail miles are miles that count on the map, not the amount of walking we actually do in a day. There is probably about 1/4 mile of non trail walking per actual trail mile. These non-trail miles can be from getting lost, exploring side trails, wondering off to poop; use your imagination.
Our camp for the night was planned to be under the red pines next to a creek. We did make it here, just had another hasty setup as a random thunderstorm popped up almost immediately after our arrival. Dusk is coming soon and I’m excited to hear what sounds this part of the forest will be bringing our way this chillier than normal eve.
Tomorrow is our 10 year anniversary and have plans to meet up with family at Walkup Lake Campgrounds! Until then, happy trails!