Day 76; Wed, July 11 2007

(Stud) Not much happened on the trail today. There was no rain last night-probably because we put up the tarp-but we did wake up to a cooler and overcast day. Other than the smell of smoke during the night last night, there were no other repercussions (for us) from the fires we saw yesterday. The trail did bring us a bit closer to the last fire we saw yesterday. It seemed no bigger or smaller, but apppeared not that large or out of control.

It tried to rain several times in the AM, managing to spill a few drops here and there. Finally around noon, it lightly rained for about 15 minutes. Because it was so overcast, it was the first time, since the beginning of the hike, that I hiked without a hat on. Then it cleared up, the sun came out, it heated up again and the hat went back on.

The route today was mostly through pine forest and much of it appeared to have been selectively logged in the last few years. Lots of slash on the ground. The grade was pretty easy, which accounts for us hiking about 30 miles today

Some flora and fauna notes: yesterday I saw some white lilies on the trail--one with an albino spider on it. Is there a California day lily? Also, we saw some magnificent ground cover late in the day today. Gave some thought to sleeping on it. Thick, green (no flowers) and very low to the ground; leaves 1/2" X 1/4" and shaped like holly at the end. In some places it completely covered the trail.

We didn't see another person all day today. I believe that's only the second time thats happened since we've been on the trail.