Sunday, August 4, 2013

August 1, 2013
Old Faithful Village to Heart Lake
~32 miles

Crazy weather last night. Lightning, thunder, rain/hail, and me trying to sleep through it all, none too successfully. I definitely did not get enough sleep, but miles needed to be hiked because my campsite for the night was quite a distance away. 

As I was waking over to get my food bag, which I hung in a tree, I got an early morning surprise. My food was still there, but just underneath where it was hung were two bison! I patiently waited for them to amble along so I could get my food down. 

With the relatively flat terrain and running into a bunch of NOBOs today it was a pretty good day. The hiking on the other hand did not seem to pass quickly today at all. I'm hoping a good nights sleep will run things around for tomorrow's hiking. 

The hikers I ran into today were Fly By, Gail, Soft Walker, Bo, Lovenote, Rockin' Robin, Silly Chili, Strider?, Drop-n-Roll, Ninja, and Sweetfish. I stopped to talk to them all for varying amounts of time, and each time the interaction recharged my spirits for a time before they dropped back again and I was left staring at my feet. 

I came to the rather obvious conclusion today that I need to change something to get back to how I felt at the beginning, 1000 miles ago. Not sure exactly what that will be, but I need to figure it out soon. It may be as simple as slowing down a bit, or finding a group to hike with for a while. 

Camped tonight at Heart Lake I am once again reminded of why I am out here. Unfortunately, I can't linger any one place too long because my food is limited and I have many miles to hike. It makes me imagine someday in the future when I will go car camping or have a more leisurely backpacking trip, hiking no more than 10-15 miles per day. Spending more time camping each day then hiking. 

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