June 13. Centennial Trail Day 7.
We have made plans with Rich to do a slackpack around today. It will take us back to the South Boxelder trailhead, where we finished yesterday. Then, we will hike the 8 miles to Dalton Lake with little to no weight in our backpack. In fact, the belt pocket on my backpack is actually a Red Paw Packs fanny pack that I converted. I put the strap back on, fill it with snacks, a few essentials, my phone, and a water bottle. I put on my Garmin and put on my waterproof jacket, just in case, since there is a chance of rain today.
Little Nemo, down in the valley
It’s quiet. Too quiet
Today’s trail is again shared with trail 8089, an OHV trail. But it’s cold and sometimes it rains a little and not a single vehicle passes us. I guess they’re not as tough as us. It is true that the path is a little rocky and steep at times. However, there are some great views of the valley that Nemo is in, and once we’ve climbed to the top of the ridge, the trail goes through a rocky section that I’ve already ridden once in a UTV. However, this time the trail was flooded and muddy, very fun to ride, not fun to walk. I’m glad it was dry this time. Today we have not seen animals despite the silence.
Erm, I think that’s the other way around.
An artist’s unusual canvas
We cover miles in no time and Rich picks us up at Dalton Lake at noon. There is an outhouse at the Dalton Lake Trailhead that has a mural painted on it. A brave soul to paint inside a toilet, but it looks great! On the way back to his cabin, he stops at the Nemo Mercantile so we can order a pizza to take back to the cabin. We have a beer while we wait and I pick up a few things at the store for later, including another root beer and an energy drink for tomorrow morning.
Yes, I took a panorama inside a toilet.
A food photo after a private photo?
Back at the cabin we eat our pizza, clean up and start another load of laundry. It feels very strange to be so clean all the time on this road, hahaha. There’s a Little House on the Prairie marathon on TV, so we put it on as background noise. How appropriate to see this as we complete this tour. Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the Little House on the Prairie book series, lived in De Smet, South Dakota for a time. My favorite book as a child was Farmer Boy. I adored Almanzo and loved reading about that way of life.
The rest of the afternoon was spent putting my feet up, relaxing in my nice big bed, eating the rest of my half of the pizza, and reorganizing my backpack for tomorrow.
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