Day 12
Location: West Palisade Creek
Distance: 20 miles!
Weather: foggy and misty, then a little drier
Mood: Crushing miles!
The morning started out foggy and wet
We saw a beaver munching on some leaves!
Overnight, a fog settled on our patch of forest and began condensing on everything. By morning, the trees were steadily dripping and sending down showers of drops as the wind gusted. I opted to keep my rain fly open last night and periodically got woken up by a drop of water on my face. But not enough to motivate me to get up and do something about it!
I spoke too soon in my last update about not meeting anyone, we camped with 4 other sobo thru hikers last night! A long distance between campsites and planned stops in the town of Silver Bay funneled us all into essentially the same itinerary. Throughout the morning of hiking we all leapfrogged each other as we stopped for snack breaks and lunch. Today was an unintentional 20 miler for us all, due to a 2 mile reroute that most of us were unaware of as the bridge over the Baptism River in Tettagouche State Park is being reconstructed. But it had to be done if we wanted the straight 6 mile shot into town tomorrow that we planned.
They were a hard 20 miles! Lots of strep inclines, a few rock scrambles and a sheer climb up stairs and boulders called "the drainpipe" made it quite a challenge today. We were religious in our breaks today, every 5 miles or about 2 hours, consume 600 calories, shoes off to air out wet socks, puffy jackets on to ward off chills from damp clothes. The routine kept us going as we passed peaks whose usual scenic view was obscured by the pure white of fog and valleys full of mud and mist.
Eventually, the fog lifted in the afternoon and we were treated to some really spectacular views in our last 5 miles. With sore feet we trudged into camp, did chores and made dinner. Today we are officially halfway done with the SHT and done with our largest stint of pure forest time. Tomorrow and Saturday we'll rest up and get ready to hit the trail again.
