ET's Info-Stew

22:00: I don't have a watch so time will be estimates.

We're up at Lake Eleanor after a much longer hike than anticipated. We hiked about six miles to end up at a good site on the peninsula on the east side of the lake. The trail actually started about a mile from the like, but well beyond the Cherry lake dam. Since I figured the hike from the dam to Eleanor was 2 miles I figured the hike to the other side was another mile. But since the 1.5 miles is from the top of the pass, getting to the other side was much farther than anticipated.

Now to the gear. The bear canister sucks. It's inflexibility results in the canister pushing the lumbar pad right into my tailbone, which is uncomfortable for six miles. Having everything I would use on the trail in the upper pocket sucks because it's hard to find stuff. After a while, I put my camera on the chest strap, which was perfect. But I got hungry and pulled out my GORP, only to have to constantly hold it. I figure another pouch like my camera would work perfect for this. I needed my map and almost my compass, and that was a pain. So the four things I need very handy are my camera, snacks, map and compass, and optionally binoculars.

I didn't have my pad strapped on very well, and though the weight wasn't awkward, passing low branches to my left was. Strapping that stuff to the outside is a big pain, but I'll see tonight whether it was worth it.

So our camp is nice. We have a fire, though it did take us youngins some extra time and effort to get it rolling. The frogs are croaking constantly, but hopefully they'll go to the background. I'll get more pics tomorrow.

23:00: I'm in bed now but it's very warm in my tent right now. I'll have to wait for it to cool off before I retire. Being the weight that I am sucks. My clothes won't fit me well and my pack doesn't sit on my hips well either. At least I'm not totally bushed after the hike. It was six miles and it wasn't perfectly flat but there weren't too many ups and downs.

I think Carl is enjoying his first trip, though it was more work than he expected to get here, so he is very tired.