Chap. 23 – Silverwood and Starry Lake

Ahhh, for once it’s a day with wonderful weather. Plus, we were able to sleep late. What a delight!

We started hiking today around 11am and the terrain felt mostly flat and smooth all day. The breeze and clouds (yes, clouds) kept us cool all day! I couldn’t believe my eyes saw clouds in the sky, we haven’t had that yet other than early in the morning!

Boostie and I stayed together for the first half of the day. At one point, while walking pretty quickly downhill, I yelled some expletives when I saw a huge snake at the edge of the trail. I only took a step back because I didn’t think it looked poisonous. Boostie couldn’t see his head either, so he grabbed my backpack and pushed me back even further. All he could see was the size, probably around 5 feet long. His tail was wrapped around the bush behind him, so I couldn’t see if he had a rattle or not. Better safe than sorry, but it turned out to be just a gopher snake. It’s not a death noodle!

About a mile later, we saw another snake! He was halfway in a hole in the ground, probably eating. A couple of miles later, we had my least favorite type of animal encounter: an aggressive, unleashed dog. The trail briefly followed the road and the dog was behind the guardrail on the other side of the road. He barked loudly and looked like he was going to break through the railing and run towards us.

Seconds before they barked at him

Luckily, the dog must not have felt comfortable running across the street to chase or attack us. At that time there were also four of us walking together: Boostie, Frodo and PB. Maybe the dog would have chased just one person, but the four of us together were definitely a bigger threat.

The last mile of the day was spent playing at Shinedown. I’ve found that listening to music for the last mile makes the time go by a little faster, which is exactly what I need to get through the last mile every day.

View of the lake while we walked.

As soon as we got to camp, I noticed something felt off…it irritated me. Somehow, I didn’t notice it at all until camp, but I was very irritated. I ended up using a diaper rash cream that someone in our group had on hand. Fingers crossed it heals overnight…because tomorrow I’ll be waddling down the trail if not!

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