Wednesday, 19 May

Bob and I were up early after a pleasant night. A porcupine left evidence of his overnight visit in the privy. We were in no hurry, had our breakfast and coffee at the shelter and were hiking about 8:30. The morning was sunny and warm with no dew.

The day started heading downhill with switchbacks in the woods for the first two and a half miles. The trail then followed a gravel road for one and a half miles. It was pretty remote and there were lots of butterflies. The rest of the day was on paved roads in the sun. Along with being warm, the pavement is tougher on your feet than being off-road.

We actually saw our wildlife along the road, two deer and a snapping turtle. Bob tried to help the snapper off the road with his hiking poles but the turtle would have none of it.

I fantasized about a store selling ice cream at one of the intersections. When we got to Silver, sure enough there was a country store. Unfortunately it looked like it had not been open for at least a few years but there was a well with running water across the road where we stopped for lunch. There was a thermometer there that showed 76 degrees.

We came into Basor Ridge Shelter about two. Another wonderfully maintained shelter. The spring is on a side trail on the way to the shelter. The spring is full but not really moving. I used a bandana to prefilter the water before using my water filter. This is when you count on your filter doing it’s job.

I am using a new filtering technique. Normally you fill your water bladder with “dirty” water and attach your filter. You squeeze the bladder and clean water comes out the other side of the filter. Sometimes you really have to squeeze and worry about bursting the bladder. But you can let gravity do the work for you without having to squeeze. After attaching your filter, you attach a short ( 18 inch ) hose to the filter, then attach you water bottle. You lift the dirty water bladder above the bottle and gravity does the rest. The water runs through the filter with no squeezing. The hose needs to be at least a foot to develop the needed pressure.

We saw three cicadas on the road today. I guess that means they are on the way with the warm temperatures.

Tomorrow looks like mostly road walking again. Bob and I may try to get an earlier start to avoid some of the warmer part of the day.

Cell signal not strong enough to get photos uploaded. I will let you know when they are loaded.