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Day 19
Starting location: Sand Creek
Ending location: South Fooses Creek East
Distance: 15.5 miles
Elevation gained: 2600 ft
Photo: Aspen forest
1 word summary of the day: sluggish
Well it actually ended up NOT raining last night for once! It had sprinkled a little during the afternoon, but woke up to a dry tent this morning which was quite nice - hate packing and carrying a wet tent that weighs twice as much wet as dry!
Even with a dry tent, I was still feeling kind of sluggish this morning and the first ten miles went somewhat slow. At least it was through some more great aspen forests! Then after lunch it was time to gain some more elevation, and unfortunately 3 miles of that was on a dirt road - hot, dry and sunny :-( My eyes have really been bothering me with the dryness ( in combination with sun and dust) and this road walk at high noon was a killer. I think that I walked half of it with my eyes closed they were hurting so much! But then the last couple of miles were back in the shade again so they started to recover. I really must pick up some eye drops when I'm next in town.
I got to camp around 2:30, and decided that yes I did want to camp and not go on the extra 5 miles and 1800 vertical feet required to get to the next camp - will do that first thing tomorrow morning instead. 15 miles/day is about right for me - too much more than that (especially with the big ascents) is tiring with a heavy pack!
Just as Veda and I were about to make dinner, who walks into camp but Wonder! We had left her several days ago when going into Buena Vista to resupply, but then she had gone off trail at Salida to resupply so we were all caught up now. It was great to see her again, and I think that she was happy to see us as well and not have to camp on her own.
Heading off to sleep now, and so far it has not rained yet today either! Good and bad though - no rain means less water in the streams so we'll have longer stretches without water, thus forcing us to carry more water. But at least the tent is dry!
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