SEP 19TH

I woke up to rain …perfect I thought. So snoozed the alarm and again. Around 7 am the rain seemed to have stopped so I made a break for the bathroom and then collected my food bag on the way back.
I quickly began to pack up as water boiled. Hot chocolate this morning.
Okay I was ready and its not quite 8 am, not  bad. I hoisted up my pack and  headed back to the trail which was almost a 1/2 mile
Okay  I’m back on trail  and in full wet gear as the rain is continuing to fall so not much filming today and as the clouds are so low you can’t see anything either. 
I pushed on as the trail seemed fairly level  but it wasn’t long until I was climbing. The plants on the climbs were covering the trail and so my feet were soon soggy ..arrrrrhhhh. 

I was to spent the afternoon climbing along the sides of mountains. I really like this  type of  section as normally you get to see so much , but not today although I hoped that the sun might break through so i could at least dry my tent , as its soaked making my pack heavier.

There looked little chance of that happening as I  crawled up one side of  a mountain crossed over to another and crawled up that one too. Again nothing to see  as I crossed the saddle and then headed straight down, although this time through thick woods.
Once through I was back to climbing again, climbing up the next mountain side.
I was busy  singing * when i ran into a group of  day hikers headed in  the opposite direction.
I apologised for my singing and they laughed as I passed by.
I was then back to climbing, then from nowhere another CDT hiker appeared he must be shifting if  he had come from “Many Glacier”  . He was soon past me and out of sight…wow  he is shifting…..impressed.

As I climbed yet another mountain I was beginning to tire, so began to look for a decent spot to take a break. I dropped my pack and made soup hopefully that will warm me up as I was freezing. Well my hands are.
As I sat, two more hikers came by “Mutant and Dragon who I hadn’t seen before,both were pushing on to Waterton ,my stop for tomorrow.
Then the group of day hikers appeared who had camped at the same spot as me yesterday. They were fairly chatty and impressed with my hike.

Okay miles to do although I didn’t have a lot further to go today , maybe 3 miles ?
Once again I was climbing up long sections across the face of mountains and the sun was desperately trying to come out.

A long way ahead in the distance I could see the day hikers. I always like a target to chase, so increased my pace.
I eventually caught them as they had stopped for dinner. I think they were doing 20 miles and so were also heading to Waterton.

I wished them well before I started the long decent down into the valley, not far to camp now I thought. 
As I headed down the sun did indeed appear  and I was soon over heating…but not too far to go. I soon spotted the food hang  Great  I’m here. I checked out several of the tent spots and choose one.
I undid my tent roll and took out the soaking  fly and laid it open on some grass. Sun do you job  I said and assembled the rest of my tent. Inflated my pad then went for water.
The sun soon dried my tent and i was able to put my fly over my tent ,Okay food.
Lunch time..I grabbed my food sack  water and stove and headed for the food prep area. I threw up my rope then began to cook..tea  first then a double ramen with chicken and bacon

I was just finishing up when a hiker came past  that I recognised , It  was one of the Canadian French boys. 

Hey  I shouted.
Snail he replied….and came over.
God I can’t remember when we last saw each other.then his hiking partner appeared.
God  great to see you guys.
We chatted for a few minutes then they  headed out
Okay  dinner eaten I packed up hoisted up my bag and headed to the pit toilet oh my this just made me smile.It didn’t have a surround so I guess you just sing .Sing loud

I just got inside my tent when the rain returned followed by very loud  claps of thunder….VERY LOUD. 
Then the wind arrived a very scary brutal wind. I was concerned that my tent may get ripped. So I did the only thing i could and that was to take 4 Ibuprofen PM. Hopefully these will knock me out ..I also foolishly canceled my alarm *

MILEAGE  12