DAY 80 Heading to Grand lake Day 3

JULY 2nd

When I opened my tent this morning I was surprised to see 4 other tents had joined me. So I packed up as quietly as I could.
I was on trail by 6.30 and began a slow climb. I hadn’t gone far when I met Heavy & mouse just starting out I hadn’t seen them for many weeks. I set off after them knowing i wouldn’t catch them. Then I really began to climb and climb bloody he’ll what a climb. I could see them high above me, Bloody hell its high.

The higher I climbed the more I could see down below in the valley including the noisy factory. I later found out It was a mine and they are mining magnetite a mineral that makes metal stronger.
At last I was at the top ,and wow what amazing views. The trail meandered away in the distance and A I made my way down the trail was littered with rock that hampered my pace
In the distance I could see my fellow hikers half way up yet another climb (or large hill)
As I followed the trail I began to meet numerous day hikers. It always amazes me where they come from as they just appear.

In the distance was a large outcrop and it appeared packed with people, when I got nearer I could see at least a dozen dogs too. High up on a hill I noticed a bunch of masts. So sat on a rock and checked if I had service. Yes but patchy I checked my mail, my gloves were delayed boo hiss
Note from a friend, messages from sons, ALL good
The trail now headed down of course as we are heading towards a pass. So it was down and down as I made my decent I guess I passed about another 20 people heading up this area seems a real popular place and this was confirmed when I could see the parking lot that was packed with cars. Wow what a lot of cars.

At one end was a large wooden building. I arrived at the road and crossed over and headed for the wooden building There were toilets so I used them and put my trash in the bin. I was hoping for a vending machine as I fancied a soda. I said to a man outside you would have thought they would have vending.
Why what do you need?
A cold soda or at least something cold
How about a beer.
Good yes please.
I followed him to his truck.
And he produced an ice cold IPA.
Thank you so much.
I found a suitable rock and enjoyed my ale.

Okay I spent the last 30 mins coming down so I guess it’s now up.
And what a up it was. I started by heading up a forestry road or rather one that services the radio masts.
Then it split into the trail ,it began nice and level then just began to climb and climb. In fact I spent the rest of the morning climbing. Omg I have climbed higher than the radio masts .I don’t know why I found this funny ,but I did .
But the climbs just kept coming like false summits or mountains on top of mountains.
At last i reached the summit my last one (fingers crossed)

Although I was a little disappointed ,because my climbing is so poor my millage is poor. Hopefully I can make it up going down
Can we go down please. Phew the trail snaked off into the distance across two low hills.
Perfect..I said to nobody.
I started down but it was fairly rocky and so slow going .At last the trail was clear and I was away. I pounded down the trail making good pace, and felt great in the sunshine But then I came to a huge field of rock ,in fact the whole side of the mountain was rock The trail people had done an amazing job of making paths through it with switch backs.

But it was slow going and after several hours I was getting fed up with it especially as the rain was threatening. The rock paths now became steep due to snow and rock falls. So I had to be carefully where I stepped but then I slipped and was about to face plant the rocks below, luckily my poles saved me and I was amazed I didn’t snap or bend one.
I long list of obscenities came fourth. F*uck it and this rock . This trail is poorly designed came the rant from my mouth.
I had had enough. I wanted to be pushing miles not tiptoeing across this rock. Arrrrrhhhh
I think I threw my toys out of the pram. As I had had enough. Okay I need water then I’m going to throw up my tent and call it a day . The rock continued around the side of the mountain but at least I could hear water.
Okay I see water, I climbed down and filled up both bottle’s before continuing down to the dirt road where the buggies were racing around earlier. I headed towards a clump of trees just as the rain began. There were suitable spots , but I wanted to double check if there were any better ones.