June 7th

Well what a great camp site. I slept so well in fact when the Alarm went off I almost leapt  out of bed.
I was all packed up and ready by 5.45. Just needed to finish my tea.
Yesterday I met two hikers from Hawaii, during lunch we were chatting about drink mixes etc and most hikers seem to rave on about caffeine being some sort of rocket  fuel.
During this conversation he said oh I take caffeine pills.
How are they I asked.?
His hiking partner said “It makes him run up hills.”
He then opened his pill stash and gave me 12. .”yeah you can get em at Walmart”
So just before I finished my tea I took two, Slung on my pack, grabbed my poles and marched out and on to the trail. It normally takes me about 15 mins to get going and the first part was up…
After about 30 minutes I had the  most horrendous  headache ,and felt dizzy. So had to stop, I glugged a lot of water. After 20 minutes rest I felt better and re-joined the trail but again after about 40 minutes i had to stop again first the same reason. I guess it was the tablets but it also could be the elevation as we are 12,500 feet but I do not normally suffer from Altitude sickness. 

Well I won’t be trying those again as I felt crap all morning. 
I had no motivation to hike and when a shady tree appeared I took a long nap  under it..

But I need to walk miles . I have to say when I submitted my second climb the Vistas really encouraged me and I made more of an effort and was pleased to see an Elk and capture it on film  lol. 
I pushed on taking a late lunch at 1.30., then decided that i was to push until 4.30 and if there’s nothing I’ll push on. 
Most if the afternoons were climbs and I was puffing as I climbed, but when I came over the ridge i was greeted by the most beautiful lake that I had ever seen. Partly covering with ice with a large rock outcrop in the middle. I thought I videoed  it but no, although I did take a photo.
The trail headed down and I began to follow a stream that cascaded  down the mountain .

The trail crossed it several times so i soon had wet feet ,I was about to cross again I spied what looked like the perfect campsite. I went to look it was perfect and the time was 4.30 exactly. I will take that as a sign.
I dropped my pack. and began to put up my tent before getting water.
It was still roasting hot so I decided to have an impromptu wash and shower.
I then got more water to wash my socks and shirt.

Oh nice to be clean just for a bit. Okay tea.
I had mountain House Macaroni cheese which was bloody tasty, washed down with several cups of tea.
So now Time to relax But it’s really a little too hot.

Mileage 13.5