July 30th - badger madness!

July 30th 2015

The gentle breeze keeps me cool and combats my manly musk with the sweet smell of sage.  After filling up my water bottles with a brownish water consisting of cow crap and dead cow remains I was greeted by a curious badger that let me snap a couple photos of him. Afterwards he quickly retreated to one of his many hiding places. I walked a little further and found a CDT info board that is currently providing a very welcoming and shady place to eat lunch. I couldn't be happier, except for these God forsaken flies. I hate flies more than I hate mosquitoes, ants and all other bugs combined. They are the most annoying creatures on the whole planet.

First a short story about scorched earth. I'm sure it's an over exaggeration, but today quickly turned hot and drained all living things of life. Water was scarce and the hot hot heat blazed down from all directions. Luckily for me and all other living creatures the sun is only up for so many hours. Unluckily it's almost midnight and I'm sitting here typing this blog on my cell phone. During the day I met some BLM crew mainly consisting of a small arm of conservation corps college kids doing slave labor.  There were erecting a small,  500 ft on each side,  fence to protect a Meadow from erosion caused by those fat useless cows.  The fence will remain for 20 years until the area is restored. Maybe I'll come back and visit in 20 years to see the progress.

A short story about mileage.  Around 6pm I read a couple notes left at a spring. I was very thirsty and spent a lot of time drinking water. Eventually another hiker named First Man rolled up and shared the spring water with me.  The note mentioned that Cookie Monster and Chilly were headed to Sweetwater Creek 15 miles away. First Man told me we were at about 23 for the day.  Super depressing considering it was 6 pm.  I put on my big boy pants and hit the trail. Skipping dinner I boogied on and made it to the aforementioned camping spot around 11pm.  To my surprise no one was camped there. I may have seen headlamps ahead but cant be sure.  The hiking was great because of the full moon and the road was pretty nice. Full moon hiking is great but I'll be happy to get back to my normal schedule.