July 29th

I was up early but just dozed.but eventually got up and as I had no water no morning tea and so my my pack up was lousy ,I was on trail by 6am. The sun was up and it was already roasting as I set off down the road, it was 27ish miles to the trail head.

I pushed on down the  trail/ Road feeling pretty good . If I push I should  maybe get in to Dubois later or first thing in the morning.
I pushed on and soon passed mosquito lake that a cyclist told me about yesterday .It was a  little way off trail ,I paused shall  I get water…Nah.
Several miles later I was concerned maybe I should have got water as every culvert  I passed was dry..mm..not good
But then I heard water,to my left hidden by large bushes was a stream I grabbed 2 litres filtered both drank 1 .mm. tasty water.

Okay I pushed on on a roller coaster meandering  trail there were places where I could cut the trail but I am always worried that it could go else where. So I stuck to the trail.
Every now and then I  dropped into a nice cool shady  forest, but when I emerged back into sunshine it seemed even hotter.
Now and then the mountains appeared ,wow they look amazing then the trees closed in to hide.
I pushed on until it was lunch, but didn’t take long as I needed those miles.
At last I got to what I thought was the trailhead.. this jeep appeared and asked if I needed water. Well yes fresh was better  than what I had.

He then asked I’d I needed  a ride.
Well yes you could take me to the trailhead.
He was off camping and his campsite seemed to be parallel  to where I was going and as I was in no hurry  I was up for an adventure. He was a firefighter and his jeep was fairly new and has  all the extras and more fitted. A winch, compressor, tent on the roof, .shower and lots of other toys. Few shillings.
We set off and enjoyed a few beers, I was totally amazed on what his jeep could get up and down 
I was having  so much fun I completely forgot about the trail. Oh I better hike on. He dropped me back to what we thought was the quickest route back to the trail. BUT it was taking me south and away from the trail before at last heading back north.
I waked loads of extra  miles as  I pushed on ,on my mystery trail. As pounded down the trail thunder  rang out again omg I’m going to get wet and looks like I’m camping. on trail tonight .
I was in no-man’s land as I was not showing on my app so I was walking blind and hoping I was going the right way.
This trail looked a bit remote so I would be surprised if anything  appeared. !!

Okay the trail now seemed to be heading in the right direction  I hoped.
IT dropped steeply but it was very gravely and I slid about a dozen times which scared me as I was worried about twisting an ankle.  At last I was on a hillside and in the distance I could see a town.I just hoped it was Dubois.
I trudged down  the track fingers crossed It was right.
Eventually i got spat out  on private property and I was stuck I didn’t want to go left and in front was a raging river too deep and fast to cross and on my right I was blocked by a fenced in sewage works
It was getting late I was tired (but had had a fun day ) Okay I hurled my pack over the high fence of the sewage works and climbed over and  then headed for the other side and repeated the process .as I scaled the second fence I could hear loudspeakers and a commentary. As I followed the road I found I was in  rodeo.

Wow. I was fascinated, I didn’t want to leave then it was the children’s turn OMG amazing, the kids were about 6/7 riding their horses round barrels .They were so fast their horses almost laying their horses down as they made the turns.

Amazing,then I watched even younger kids riding Bulls omg wow.i would have liked to have stayed longer but I needed a bed.
It was about 1 mile into town from the rodeo. As  I walked up the street I could see a group of hikers Gerber and Pittsburg  and several others. They had all been out to diner and were now heading back to their motel, I tagged along visiting several motels along the way, either they had no vacancies or were over priced .
At last I found one for $90 that will do me.
I checked in then went across the road to the garage got some snacks and several cans of beer

Phew what a great day

Night all

Mileage  ????