Day 93

(Originally written Wednesday, August 5)

I wanted to get an early jump on the day this morning because of the lingering fires around here. The more distance I could get in during the cool of the morning, the better. So I was up and walking out of camp a few minutes after 6. I didn't get started on the trail, however, until closer to 7 because our campsite was nearly on the opposite end of the park.

The air was still thick with smoke but not as bad as last night. Nevertheless, it still irritated my eyes and throat. It didn't take long for me to get out of the state park area and then over a ridge which did wonders to alleviate the smoke issue! I was cruising along with my eyes focused on a short day consisting of 20 miles. (The post office in Dunsmuir isn't open on Saturdays and there is no way I'm covering 82 miles before the PO closes on Friday. So I may as well take it easy, right?) I was about 3.5 miles away from where I was planning to camp when the wind shifted and started blowing the smoke from the fire directly overhead. It wasn't a threat in any way except that it just convinced me that perhaps some extra miles between me and the fire was a good idea. So I kept chugging along for another 5 miles beyond my goal. So the good news is that I've taken care of a few extra miles. The bad news is that my feet are already sore again. Other good news is that now I've only got about 57 miles to do over 3 days.

The weather now is calm, but it was windy not long ago and another hiker said he saw lightening a ways off. Hopefully all the bad weather steers clear!