After our 1am "Battle for the Candy Bars" victory over the raccoon, the 3:50 am alarm rousted us from our sleep at Whitewater Preserve. We cooked up some oatmeal while we packed and were on the trail by 5.
We knew we would be stopping a lot today. Sally's new shoes would take some tinkering to adjust and my new pack would need the same.
An hour up the trail Sally uttered words I have not heard for months, "My feet feel great! These shoes are really comfortable!" Music, sweet music. But, in the same breath she also said, "My foot pain is as bad or worse than before the four day rest". Discord, nasty discord.
The trail was gentle uphill for the first six miles, except for a half mile descent. During the downhill the foot pain intensified, then we were back on uphill and it lessened a bit.
We soon reached a 950' drop into a creek valley-one with actual running water. The descent was very painful. By the time we reached the bottom the foot was aflame and the limp that developed to compensate for the pain had angered the knee on the same leg.
An hour soak in the cool creek water and a nap by yours truly and Sally was ready to hike the final three miles upstream to camp.
Her knee pain was lessened, but the foot still stung with each step.
We found a wonderful camp site on hard packed sand near the creek in the shade of a scraggly willow tree. Tent up. Wash cloth out. Heavenly bath by the creek. Nap time. A little exploring.
Our campsite was off the trail so we were worried that Far Out , Crotalus, Coyote and Grasshopper might pass by and we would miss them. We had gotten ahead of them because they had hitch hiked back to the Kick Off celebration at Lake Moreno and taken a couple zero days. I put a note in the middle of the trail with our names, an arrow directing them and the statement "Come Visit Us". It directed three parties to us and we made some new acquaintances. They knew of our friends, and told us they were still a day behind, so I pulled my note before we gathered a crowd at our site.
Due to the raccoon incident we have decided to move our packs inside the tent. We put them at the head of the tent where they made great head rests for reading.
A dinner of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese (more please!), a deep tissue massage on a sore left leg and a slow drift into restorative slumber ended our day.
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