7/3/20; mile: 982; elevation: 7,756 ft. The day started early with us finishing the climb up Benson Pass. Then of course, after that was a descent. This will be the way the day goes. Up then down then up again. The lakes are amazing and beautiful, though the mosquitoes are quite annoying so we don’t take the time to swim or even relax. We are blown away as we pass through a narrow section of trail to come to a wide open view of another valley/canyon. And we have to go down there….
To get my mind off of the situation, Tommy-So-Happy give me a lesson on blasting with dynamite. These rough portions of trail have been blasted with those fun sticks. Remnants of the fun they had can be seen at times. According to Tommy, some of these marks are call cat’s asses. You be the judge.
The day ends with us descending down to a valley, giving our knees one hell of a workout. The camp spot is shaded and not too buggy, thank Dog. As we’re setting up, Zack Galafankis joins us. And then we’re joined by another new-to-me hiker named Tapeworm. We take a little time to go over the preliminaries, but we’re also focused on going to bed. More rough hiking is to come.