Better lands

5/24

The hiking today was only marginally windy until I jumped over a saddle and was in a wonderful pine and oak forest.

I started hiking just after 7 am which is substantially later than when I started the trip. I guess it is cooler, but I am going to try and be hiking by 6:30 tomorrow so I can be more relaxed about my mileage. I did get 24 miles in before sunset though with some substantial breaks so I am feeling pretty  fit. 

I have started pre-taping my feet where blisters may occur and that has been working wonders so that I feel little foot pain at all besides general soreness.

My water system is breaking down and I am having my mom send out Aqua Mira for me to try in the Sierras. The problem is pretty simple, just a broken o-ring on a valve seal of my filter, but the problem has made me lose faith in its reliability. Aqua Mira and a couple plastic water bottles is much lighter than my double platypus setup I have going now anyways.

A picture of my broken o-ring next to the male end of the valve.

I am having a really good time out here. The mountains never cease to amaze. I had three encounters with animals today and all were interesting. I snuck up on a young buck by pretending to feed on all fours and got very close to it before it headed down a side path. I also had two encounters with cattle. One where they stampeded away from me causing a big ruckus, and another where they stood their ground and looked like they were angry at me. I went around the second group. 

Camping couldn't be better either. Here's the view.