The morning after leaving Deadfall Lake I had a flat 20 miles to cruise along. At one moment in the morning I was checking the tie on my phone when I heard a rustling in the woods on my right. Thinking it was a deer I didn’t pay much attention until a large black furry shape scurried across the trail about ten feet in front of me and raced down the slope. It was a young black bear, but was much more afraid of me than I was of it and I didn’t get a good look until it was far away.
I entered the Trinity Alps Wilderness that day and was awarded with some stunning views.
But it was hot!! And there wasn’t much shade. And in the afternoon I had a huge hill to climb. At least the views and a bit of music kept me going.
I also saw the best sign ever. I think this tree is trying to eat it.
By evening I had made it to the top of a ridge where I set up in a windy sight and looked out over this:
I forgot to mention how bad the bugs have been in this section. Mosquitoes are out at dawn and dusk and are annoying but there are also a ton of flies all day. They seem to love divebombing my ears especially and sometimes drive me to distraction.
I’ve also been hiking by myself for the past few days which makes things mentally harder and some of the miles longer. But it’s been worth it.