June 14. Centennial Trail Day 8.
The day begins in bed, with an alarm at 7, although I wake up before it goes off. I do my Wordle while I have WiFi, get up and pack up to go. Rich comes down from his main house to take us to the Dalton Lake Trailhead, where we finished our short day yesterday. He takes a photo of us and we follow the trail. I start the day with just the Monster energy drink and otherwise continue with yesterday’s carb spree.
We are ready!
Cuckoo
On the side of the trail today there is a very large rock with some large holes. Curiosity got the best of me and I had to investigate. There must be something in those holes. I guess it was a snake. It seemed like the perfect place for a snake to hide. I sneak up to the rock and peek through one of the holes. What do I find? A bird’s nest with chicks! I mean, these must have been newborns. They were still blind. I make a chirp and the chicks stick out their beaks, expecting food from mom. My heart melts! How nice! I back away, hoping my presence doesn’t scare the mother away from her babies.
I just have to look!
Hungry little birds!
It must be a party in wonderland
The trail climbs from Dalton Lake and the campground, but eventually levels out. Today again there are great views and the weather is perfect. I meet a lone backpacker out with her dog and heading south. After about 3 miles or so, I have a protein bar and a short rest. We continued until about 11:30 and stopped for lunch. I have “trail charcuterie”: a meat stick, olives and a fruit bar “that’s it.” We can hear music playing in the distance. I’m sure it comes from vehicles found in the Wonderland Cave, which is not far away. A hiker might stray off the trail to get there. There is bottled water for sale and cave tours. However, that is not in our cards today.
I found this short section a little creepy.
Moose Creek (dry)
After lunch, we headed down to the Elk Creek drainage and canyon, a fairytale forest and watershed, which is unfortunately dry. If the stream were flowing, we would have to cross it, without a bridge, four or five times. Since it is dry, our ferry stored water here from the beginning of day 1. We see a small cave and Renee bravely explores it. The area is very lush even though it is dry. There are wildflowers everywhere. We arrived at the Elk Creek Trailhead and found our two gallons labeled. It’s probably too much, but it also needs to get us through tomorrow to the camp at Alkali Creek. While I was sitting here filling up and taking a break, a caravan of about a dozen various OHVs drove by and greeted us. Looks like fun!
Indeed! Here’s your poster!
Maybe the lighting was just right, but I felt like I was in a fairytale forest.
We decided it would be poetic to camp just after the trailhead, close to what would be 100 miles for this trail. Unfortunately, it’s a bit uphill and we are now fully loaded with water. We took it easy and arrived around 4:00 or so. We found a suitable spot to camp off the trail and set up. I finally find a tick crawling around my tent, the first one I’ve seen. The mosquitoes are here too. Guess it’s time to repel bugs!
Taking Leave No Trace very seriously
Today we walked 12.5 miles. That feels a little low since we’re both feeling strong, but sending it up to Alkali Creek, our next planned campsite, would be 24 miles. We’ll just finish how we’ve come this whole way: slow and steady. Smiles, not miles!
A distant look at the end of the Black Hills National Forest
Eat and store our food
Dinner tonight was sticky teriyaki chicken and rice from Pinnacle Foods. I’ve never had this one and it’s great. I’m not surprised. Pinnacle Foods makes really good meals for backpackers. Somehow, Renee forgot the fuel for her stove at Whispering Pines. I literally watched her refill it (she uses an alcohol stove) and we both swept the cabin for any items we might have missed, but it was gone. I have enough iso fuel left in my can to boil water for both of us for the rest of the trip. I help Renee hang our “hanging bear,” PCT style. It’s not for bears, as there are supposedly none here, but rather for mice and other small critters. Most of our hangs have been low enough that something like a deer could reach them if they really wanted to, but nothing has altered our food.
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