4th May  2022

I let the air out of my pad and made a hot chocolate as I packed up.
I was soon on trail and busy crossing the river my third crossing was deep and that certainly woke me up brr .I tried to speed up to warm back up as it was cold morning. 
At 6.30 I passed the two boys as they were  packing up, Band-Aids tent was also here.
The trail was  fairly clear this morning and so I was able to make a good pace. I passed numerous Beaver dams but no sign of anyone being at home. I needed to cross and again but the river looked deep. I headed up stream to find somewhere safer. It was cold and my fingers were numb even though I was wearing gloves.  I was now in meadows and began to follow the cairns, I climbed up a small hill and then began to come down the other  side. The view below was incredible. The size of a football field was packed with logs all sizes crushed together by a flood  I guess  wow it looked amazing. 

I followed the path down and into another meadow, to my surprise it was frosty on this side. I pushed on and then began the fun of  more river crossings.
I thought my pace was good and was looking forward to my 9am break.
At last I found a big rock and took a break. The day was now heating up as I followed the trail nice cairns or pink flags until I came to a huge scree of rock there was a path but it was a little unclear  so I checked my app. 
FUCK FUCK FUCK IT
Once again I’m off trail and by miles how the he’ll did that happen.  I reluctantly turned around  and  headed back. How did I go so wrong I was following  the cairns. I passed the place where I took my break more annoyed that I didn’t check when I had my break. FUCK!
It took me an hour to get back to where I went wrong . Well that’s well marked , okay now back on trail and losing almost 2 hrs.
I pushed on and began to climb, once up I had great views of Snow lake. Wow I spiralled down and around the edge and emerged up by the picnic area.

Wow  great views , I found a picnic bench and dropped my pack. I walked over and got water and as there was a trashcan I could loose my trash result. I sat here for about an hour before moving off.
Again another road walk before the trail dived off right. It was now a lovely trail ,I had a small climb and then I emerged in to a fantastic valley. It reminded me of the Highlands of Scotland, the valley  went from one to another then another then another. Okay lunch, I sat  in the shade and enjoyed my break.
Okay I had one more valley then I came across a cow pond with solar panels. As I had enough water I passed.

Okay snail where now ? Oh dear the trail snaked steeply  up a hill.
I set off, as soon as I began to climb the wind appeared ,a vicious wind blowing straight at me.
Fuck, I chugged up the side of the hill. Once at the top it was hard to stand because of the wind. I headed off across vast plains that seemed to go on forever . I battled on for several hours the wind tossing me around like a rag doll, and still the trail snaked on. After several hours of this I was exhausted but there was no where to hide, It was just exposed. I pushed on  passing several  inquisitive  cows. .

A tree there was a tree  ahead. I walked up to it and took off my packed and stood there thinking for several minutes before deciding it wasn’t good enough.
I hoisted my pack again and walked back to the trail and onwards there were more trees in the distance fingers crossed.
The wind was relentless but the trees were getting closer and closer but they were just off trail. At last I reached them, perfect I soon had my tent up and was relaxing with a hot cup of tea.

Milage 17