DAY 152 Heading to East Glacier day 4

Sep 11th

It was another cold morning and so I decided to have a lay in and cancelled all the alarms except 7am.
And even then I was slow to emerge from my bag.
Once up i quickly put on water for tea and began the strip down.
I checked on my note still there.
Although I did hear several hikers come through but they were extremely late.
I hit the trail at 9. so it will not be big miles today but I think I can do 20.
I headed off down the trail and once again it was really pleasant to walk on and so I was able to get a great pace as it meandered through the forests. I crossed several meadows before re-entering more forests. As I crossed the meadows I got great views of the mountains on both sides but once again they were spoilt by smoke.

Not sure which fire this smoke is from. I carried on , soon crossing my first creek I was able to safely ford so dry feet.
The morning was still early but was heating up fast so I soon needed to stop to remove a layer.
Oh that’s much better… I pushed on climbing small hills then descending but I was feeling great . Still buzzing from yesterday’s mountain lion just need to see a Grizz now but not too close !!!. As I walked I began to notice a lot more bear scat but they all seem to be hiding… not a bad thing unlike the stupid grouse who follow the trail as you walk behind them .

I began to cross several more creeks and decided at the next one I would stop for lunch.

Then a group of young hikers came the other way they all said congratulations and we’ll done which made me feel great and then around the corner four more.
Okay lunch. I found a spot and dropped my pack .although my food bag is a little poor as I didn’t buy enough in town. A miscalculation..it happens and means my pack is lighter ha ha.

Wow I must of been pushing as I have completed 12 miles and with a late start. So another 10 would be good, but it all depends on the terrain .
I hoisted my pack crossed another creek and was soon in a burn . the trail was fairly flat so the going was good but for some reason the trail kept climbing up and then descending. There seemed no reason for this apart to bloody annoy me. I was now entering blowdown city. There were literally hundreds but the trail crews had dealt with them .

Thank you so much guys your job is not enviable .
But I was still heading up and down I’m sure the trail could go just straight.
Once up another climb I checked my phone for service and yes.
It was then that I learnt the sad news that our Queen had sadly died. What a beacon. What an amazing lady
Rest in peace mam. she will be missed.

I believe Charles will be King.
When I have better service I will find out more but very very sad.
I think the next few miles passed in a daze as I was deep in thought about our Queen.
Okay I want to do 4 more miles +/- it’s now 4pm.
But after my next silly climb I had to force my way through a very over grown trail. This really pleased me ….@#£%…
This saps my energy and then the blowdowns were back and omg it was 2 miles of absolute hell.. some were easy others needed several attempts to climb and a lot I had to crawl under. I was soon exhausted and my legs torn up with the sharp broken branches. I was done. But needed water which was near then a suitable spot.

I filled up my water at the next creek then staggered on as I had no juice left in my tank.
Come on please a spot I was feeling dizzy as I headed down a slope and had to muster more energy to climb up the other side and once up. A SPOT thank you