Date: July 20, 2017
Miles: 1770.9 – 1798.4
“I’m a nature lover, but if we eradicated the entire mosquito population from the earth, I’d be ok with that.” ~ Donkey
The mosquitos were upon me as soon as I left my tent this morning, and they didn’t quit until I closed myself in my tent this evening. They’ve grown up now, and are capable of keeping up with me when I walk and attach themselves to me while I’m moving. They can bite through clothes, and a hardy few are even impervious to deet. This is the part of the trek that I’ve been dreading, and I’m just hoping to make it through the next few weeks of mosquito-mageddon without losing my mind.
In other news of the day, we hiked through a lot of trees, but gained enough elevation in the evening to have an expansive view of the Sky Lakes Wilderness, Mt. McLaughlin and Klamath Lake.
We ran into enough snow on the north side of the hill we were climbing to be able to glissade down to the trail below us.
I’m amazed that my running shorts have survived this long.
I camped with Joe Dirt, Polliwog and Donkey, who built a fire to try to discourage the tiny bloodsuckers that showed up. It worked pretty well, but we ate with our head nets on anyway.
Donkey and Polliwog are a couple from the Seattle, Washington, and they are two of the funniest people I’ve met. Joe Dirt is a recent college grad from Santa Rosa, and not only is he hilarious but he can remember an amazing number of movie quotes, including those of his namesake. The only thing he’s missing is a mullet. We’ll see if we can convince him to get one before Canada.
