Friday, June 29, 2007

Day 60; Mon June 25 2007

(Dr Bug) The day started with a killer breakfast at the Glen Alun mess hall. Literally, eggs, bacon, buttered pancakes - it was a heart attack waiting to happen. But there was also oatmeal and fresh fruit. I loved every all-you-can-eat mouth full. The other wonderful thing about this breakfast was that it was served at 7:30 am, we got to sleep in. We paid for a breakfast for Chickadee and enjoyed coversation with he and Suess and a couple of the paying guests.

The morning hike was relatively easy, a pass would come in the afternoon. Lunch was by a roaring river. We ate, washed our feet, and our sox, and relaxed. We had lunch with Achillies, Yettie and Ghost. I guess her name is Ghost because she covers every part of her body with white clothing an her skin is very pail white.

We made a steep mile drop down to Matterhorn Canyon. There by Wilson creek we found three hikers we had never met before. Billy Goat #2, Helen Wheels (pronounced hell on wheels) and Storm'in Norman. They were very happy-go-lucky folks in their mid to late 50's. Helen and Storm'in Norman are British and Helen was smoking a cigarette!

After walking though the yet another lush green meadow, the accent up Benson Pass was a long one. It was miles up hill with many false summits. Unlike passes before, this was wooded and green alost all the way to the top.

When we reached the barren summit the cool wind blew hard and we thought we could cook dinner mosquito free. But no, these guys were drafting and hiding behind any object to escape the wind and attack us. It is funny to watch them as they line up against the wind looking like a squadron of planes. Suess and Chickadee showed up and we swapped mosquito stories.

We hiked farther down the trail looking for a more hospitable place to eat. Found a open high area near a small creek, but the bugs were relentless. STUD built a small fire to try and smoke them away. Was not very effective. We ate and moved on. We finally reached our 20 mile objective, Semdburg Lake, about 8pm. Found a nice place to camp. The trout were literally jumping out ofthe water, trying to catch mosquitos. Suess came by and borrowed STUDs fishing gear. STUD and Chickadee started a camp fire. Nobody caught any fish but we had a great time telling stories by the camp fire. We got nto our sleeping bags at 10:30.

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