Dawn is my wife Kelly’s first cousin. She and her husband Marshall live 30 minutes from Hamilton. They took me in and fed me for two nights while I hiked through the Burlington area. Dawn would pick me up at a pre-arranged location and then drop me at the same location the next day. Unfortunately, my lower left calf was tender when I arrived with them. By my last day with them it was inflamed and painful. Dawn and Marshall dropped me off at Mountain Brow Rd. above Grindstone Creek.
I met Graham as he was touching up the paint on some trail markers. Graham has been a Trail Captain Volunteer for 30 years, keeping a section of trail in Kerncliff Park, in Burlington, well marked. He is a retired teacher who finds trail maintenance volunteering to be satisfying. The plywood markers on some trees, meticulously painted with a black border around a white blaze, were cut from his old mahogany sailboat. The porcupines are not fond of eating mahogany so they leave his signs alone.
My goal for this day was to reach Mount Nemo Conservation Area, a unusually short 13 km day. I had developed an infection in my right leg which made walking very painful. I called my wife Kelly and she came to pick me up at Nemo. I worried that this illness would end my journey. I met Mark and Charis at the Mount Nemo east parking lot as they finished a leisurely hike. They had not been there for a while and were thankful for the beautiful day.
Kelly took me home and I got medical attention. It turned out that I had cellulitis, a skin infection, most likely started at one of my blisters. Luckily, eight days of rest and a round of antibiotics put me back on trail.
3 hours, 52 minutes: 13.8 km: 3.57 km/hr
Jamie