Kerrick Canyon - Lake harriet 7/13/10 23 miles

Got an early start for our first over 20 day. Slept good and wee on the trail by 7am. Was an easy walk down to the river , but it a was pretty deep crossing. WE took a break on the ridge afterwards. WE were happy to have done 5 miles by 10am. Continued walking, had a long decent and another climb to another ridge. It was nice getting over two big climbs well before lunch. WE took another break and decided to do four more miles before break so we wouldn't have to go long afterwards. We walked down the mountain to Wilma Lake. IT was beautiful and had some really nice trail right at waters edge I asked Kristi if she wanted to take lunch early, but she said we should go on. I agreed. WE came across the spillway and saw three people with their stuff spread out. Safron, Cassandra and Elk. THey said they were getting ready to do some Yoga and Kristi's eyes lit up and I knew there was no passing it up. THey did Yoga for about 30 minutes on a nice grassy spot with water on both sides. I smoked and cooked our lunch. We ate and said our goodbyes. Twelve miles to go and it was 2:30pm. It was a gentle walk for seven miles to a river. I was looking forward to it and it was nice, but the mosquitoes were like nothing you could imagine and the trail was mud and water from all of the snowmelt. We still made good time. We ran into a middle aged couple thru hiking, Rick and Julie. They were very nice and we chatted about mosquitoes and Kristi's new pack (they had the same one.) We also talked about getting rid of our bear canisters, finally! They continued on and we never caught up to them. WE were growing tired and had to take a break at Dorothy Lake (21 mi) as the sun was getting low and the mountains glowed. Two miles to go and the sun hadn't even set. I was proud of the both of us. We went over a low pass through some snow. Kristi said she hoped the campsite wasn't flooded (it was by a lake) and sure it enough it was flooded. haha. Typical end to long day. We went another half mile and found a little spot on the other side of the trail. Good enough. WE got up the tent faster than ever. The mosquitoes were ravenous at dusk. We jumped in and were happy to finally be safe from the mother suckers. Dinner in bed was nice, garlic shells with tuna. Very sleepy. Eighteen miles tomorrow to get us close to the road to Bridgeport. Good day. I am so proud of Kristi. -CM