Page 10: Spectacle Lake

Drying out my gear after the big storm.

September 8, 1984
Saturday 12:30 PM
Day Eight, Waptus Lake

Yesterday was, to put it lightly, a very long arduous day for all of us. It was most difficult for little Micki, who now has sores on the bottom of all her feet. Nothing really huge but definitely a source of pain to the brave little dog, who was bullied up and down the trail yesterday by her cruel person. I treated the sores with antiseptic and allowed another full rest day for her.  That and reduced mileage should help her considerably.  And me.  I have blisters on the bottom of my left foot, but they're not raw and open.  Just sore and a little puss-filled. 

But we must press on if we’re to make our rendezvous with C&G without having to do another day of high mileage … which would be the worst possible thing for Micki.  Tomorrow we’ll strike out for Deep Lake.  

I think this will be my last big hike for a while, at least with Micki.  She’s an old girl and her lifestyle is too sedentary to do stuff like this anymore without negative side effects.  Mica Eiger, on the other hand, is fine.  Tired, but fine.  She's the only one of our party not showing physical signs of deterioration from the trip so far.

She a great little dog.   Yesterday she carried all the dog food.  Micki just had the little plastic dog dishes and two baggies of garbage in her otherwise empty pack.

Yesterday was a funny day. We awoke to blue skies and wonderful sunshine. I hurriedly drugged everything out of the tent to sorta/kinda dry and then hung the tent itself from an old rusty nail on a nearby tree. The three of us then proceeded to have a big leisurely breakfast whilst all our gear drip-dried.

However it soon became apparent that the sunshine was to be only fleeting, so I packed our stuff up and away we went sometime around noon. It was a late start on the day.

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