We left Big Hole pass early and I’m determined to make some miles today.  Alas, it turned out to be another very tough section.  The trail is better than yesterday, but we had a 3000 foot climb followed by several more 500 to 1000 foot climbs.  It was hot and the biting flies are in full force starting shortly after noon.  Every now and then I nail one with a trekking pole and feel immense satisfaction at the pleasant thunk they make.

We passed through a relatively low valley named Sheep Creek before climbing 3000 feet.  While in the valley we came across a very nice log cabin.  We could see through the windows and it was clean and had a beautiful old fashioned wood stove.  Unfortunately the doors had box springs nailed over them so I couldn’t go inside.

Shortly after the log cabin I noticed ripe blueberries!  Soon they were everywhere and all three of us feasted on them for over a mile.  Take a few steps, pull off 5 to 10 berries, chuck them in your mouth and repeat.  They were delicious!

I’ve developed a new technique to stay cool – dip my hat in every creek we cross (about one every mile) and stick my face in it, followed by rubbing my hair and head in it followed by dumping the rest on top of me as I put the hat back on.  Another technique which is even better is to stick a snowball inside my hat before putting it on.  The snow slowly melts to keep my noggin air conditioned and the constant dripping of cold water on the rest of me is a bonus.

When we finally got to our campsite at lower Slag a Melt Lake I decided to go for a swim.  The crystal clear water was fairly warm, but I cut my foot on some rocks getting in.  I scraped off about a quarter-sized chunk of skin from my right arch which now hurts like hell.  Always something it seems.  Sigh. Regardless, the swim was awesome and washing away all the dirt and sweat made it almost worth it.

Mav, Gaucho and I stayed pretty close together all day and are all camped here.  There is also a group of other hikers around the lake that Mav and Gaucho know, so we went visiting for a while.  This group included Colonel, Blue Collar, Gutterspoon and a couple more.