Sprout Day 131 (Friday, August 5th, 2016)

Today was harder than we expected.  The climb up Sawyer Notch Trail was steep and difficult.  It was hot and humid today too.  After Sawyer Notch was Old Blue Mountain and that was tough too.  

We didn't have any water sources until we got to a small brook after Old Blue.  Since the water was clear, cold, and running we decided to stay at a stealth spot right after the brook.  

We went a little over 7 miles today but it was a hard 7 miles.  I went down and filled up our dirty water bags 2 times, we drank a lot and filled our reservoirs for tomorrow.  There should be enough left to make coffee and breakfast in the morning.  I’m drinking as much water as I can before we break camp.  

There were a few spots today where the MATC put bars for steps and hand rails.  We didn't see a moose but a lot of moose scat today and yesterday.  I hope there's a spot to fish tomorrow.  I really want to catch some brook trout!

Even on tough days like today I still wouldn't rather be anywhere else.  It's a blessing to be on the trail and we're having an experience of a lifetime.  The good news is it looks like we did most of the big elevation change today and should be better tomorrow!  We're pretty high up right now and tomorrow we will just go up and down small elevation changes.  We are going to try to get up as early as we can to make breakfast and get on the trail to go as far as we can.

View from the trail today

Tree growing over a boulder

Rails for climbing up today

River in a valley

Old Blue Mountain

Day: 131
Miles hiked: 7
Total Miles hiked on the trail: 1085.4
Bears: 0
Bluegill: 2
Butterflies: 8
Chipmunks: 3
Cows: 24
Crawfish: 1
Deer: 20
Donkeys: 2
Grouse:  1
Horses: 15
Hummingbird: 1
Inchworm: 1
Really Big Dog: 1
Mice: 2
Nest of bugs: 2
Newts: 2
Owl: 1
Rabbit: 1
Skunk: 1
Snail: 1
Snake: 2
Squirrels: 11
Toads: 3
Trout: 2
Turkeys: 4
Turtles: 107
Vultures: 6
Woodpecker: 1