I woke up late because I slept so good last night – the best I’ve had in months.  I agree with Gaucho – it’s best to sleep under the trees on pine needles.  It stays dryer and warmer than grass, with less condensation in the morning.

I passed Moosh and Sunshine just getting up and talked for a bit. I then ran into Leto again at the spring and managed to coax a few more words out of him. 🙂 He just doesn’t like to talk much or takes a while to get warmed up to new people? I never saw Wallace ☹️.  Later I ran into possibly the last Nobo of the season.  His name is Topgun and we talked for a good 15 minutes.  Nice guy, I hope he makes it because he is really late for a Nobo.

I found an interesting radio tower made out of some sort of mobile army trailer. It reminded me of a huge ammo can. It was abandoned and unlocked so I went in. There were solar panels and a big battery bank and some gutted out electronics, along with a bed and a tiny heater inside. Nearby there appears to be a new modern version of the same installation. This is much smaller and appears to be some sort of radio repeater? There was a geocache box and a register that was fun to look through at the base of a flagpole.

Today was a lot of up and down ridge walking, but Poison Ridge had an awesome trail for miles that cut the peaks off and went from saddle to saddle. Poison Ridge is composed of decomposing volcanics so there was a lot of interesting geology. Water is a problem up here with the springs few and far between. I was lucky to find water a ways back on the side of Haystack Mountain and stocked up with the intention of finding a flat spot soon. I also found an awesome raspberry patch and spent a half hour stuffing my face.

I’m now camped in a saddle on Haystack Mountain. There is someone else nearby in a camo duplex tent.  It might be Leto but I’m not sure. I made a little noise as I walked by but nobody said anything so it’s best to just leave them alone.

I ended up with 21 miles which I feel is a great accomplishment. There has been a chill in the air the last few days.  I’m afraid summer is coming to an end.  I won’t miss the heat, but this is just another reminder that I’m running out of time.