Gaucho and I got an early start this morning to make some miles before it heated up and the flies got bad.  Fortunately, for some reason the flies never got all that bad today.  Was it the location?  All the rain last night?  The cloud cover or the wind?  Or perhaps there were so many of the little bastards that they started eating themselves.  Whatever the reason I am very grateful.

Today we ascended to the top of a ridge and basically walked it all the way to the valley containing I15.  It sounded easy but it was not.  The ridge is full of peaks with very steep sides and the trail goes right over the top of most of them.  Climb 400 feet, descend 400 feet, cross a small saddle and repeat.  For 10 miles.  I think today may have been the toughest yet.  And to compound the problem my feet are pretty messed up. Blisters on the toes, heel, and worst of all on that side protrusion next to the big toe.  

Later in the day it started clouding up as it tends to do every day. But this time the clouds got quite dark and you could see them coming from the north. We are on the very highest ridge for miles and you could hear the thunder rumbling in the distance. We went as fast as we could, but it easily overtook us. Lightening started hitting all around but there was no place to get any shelter. Eventually Gaucho and I climbed off the top of the ridge a ways and sat on the steep hillside in our rain shells. After a half hour of rain and lightening we deemed it fairly safe and continued. Soon the sun came out again.

We descended to the flats and walked a gravel road another 4 miles to Beaver Creek where we are camped a short ways from the road.  While setting up camp I found two porcupines in a nearby bush.  There is also a coyote howling away close by.  Lots of cows making weird noises, and some tweeting nearby birds.  The creek is full of big frogs.  Funny how much more life there is down here.

Gaucho ran out of food so I gave him a ramen, macadamia nuts, and a candy bar. Tomorrow we just have 4 miles to I15 where we will get a ride into Lima at 9:00.  I can hardly wait!