July 8, 2024
On trail by 8:30 am, late for our usual routine but we didn’t have much distance to cover. At 9:30 am we crested a hill where we had phone service, so Mark took the opportunity to call home and wish his wife a happy anniversary. Before you start thinking less of him for being away on his anniversary, our wives are all quite happy with our trips at the beginning of July. Traditionally school would have just ended and we would head out in the buggiest part of the summer, leaving the more choice weeks to spend with our families.
We passed only one hiker today and signs of very few people travelling this way.
Eric is from London, Ontario. He hiked in for one night on Susan Lake. He was going to complete the second loop but decided to make his way back out the same way he came in. He hoped to make it back for his baseball game that night. He said he had hiked the full trail before.
This section doesn’t pass many lakes. It does cross several small rivers, two beaver dams, and climbs and descends lots of hills.
We reached our site, #2 on West Otterpaw lake at 12:30 pm. The site was open in a hemlock grove with good water access and four tent pads.
We set up camp, cleaned up, had lunch, and napped for the afternoon. A scout troop passed by mid afternoon and camped at the next site on the lake.
We had supper and played some five dice farkle before heading to bed at 8 pm again.
13.1 km travelled, 86 flights climbed, and 16400 steps taken.