ET's Info-Stew

14:00-ish - Sleep was uncomfortable and painful last night. I ended up getting out of the tent between 7 and 7:30. The mosquitoes were as bad as ever. I brok down camp relatively quickly and we hit the trail at 8:50. All but the last 1.5 miles were mostly downhill. But those 1.5 miles were killer.

I scuttled into camp on what felt like my last few bits of energy, and when I dropped my pack I had only one thought: I'm taking a swim no matter how cold. Yet I was pleasantly surprised to find that the water is actually swimmable.

Mosquitoes here are not better than at Upper Cataract Lake. In fact I'd guess they are worse. Our camp site lies between the two reed-lined mid-sized lakes, and has plenty of open space with a fire ring in the middle. After swimming and lunch I set up camp underneath the shade of several pine trees.

15:00-ish - It's raining with thunder and lightning around us right now. This is the first test of the efficacy of my tent. I got it up and put my gear inside just in time to avoid getting everything soaked. It looks like the base of the rain fly may be a little short, allowing water to make its way between the tent floor and the footprint. I see now that the rain fly is intended to stop water from coming through the mesh. The tent floor itself is waterproof to prevent leakage from water on the ground.

17:15-ish - It's now after 5 pm and there is no sign that the sun is coming out any time soon. We may be in for a soggy night.

19:50 - It's raining again, just in time to eat dinner. So I'm eating in my tent.

We've determined that the mosquito situation allows only two ways to be comfortable: 1) stay inside the tent, or 2) keep moving. So we've decided to quit a day early, making this the last night. I'm a little bit bummed, but on the other hand we can leave tomorrow calling this a good trip, instead of a trip that was just a little too long.

Some of my clothes, which I washed after the hike, are still damp. There's no way we're getting a fire tonight so they will still be wet for tomorrow's hike. Here everything's going to be wet so it makes little difference.

23:00-ish - Had a great last night. Well it will be our last night assuming the bugs continue to be bad tomorrow. Despite the rain Bill vowed to make a fire and he succeeded. So we got to sit by the fire, drink strong hot chocolate, and we told our stories of how we ended up where we did in life. He is a good story-teller, and has a heck of a life story to tell.