April 17, 2018
313.2-328.1
The next day my feet were still hurting pretty badly but I just squashed the pain with some Vitamin I and kept going. We hiked through an older burn area and I got videos of lots of wildflowers, and after a while we found ourselves hiking around the rim of Silverwood Lake.
We had an opportunity to hike down and hang out on the beach for a bit, where Ghosthiker and I shed our socks and shoes and took a nice wade in the water. I course I had to remove and then reapply all the Leukotape that’s been constantly covering the patchwork of blisters on my feet the last few days, but it seemed worth it at the time.
After our beach break, we hiked on to the Cleghorn Picnic area where we were able to order pizza and salads from the nearby town. We had to pay a $10 per order delivery fee, but it was totally worth it. Literally the tastiest pizza I’ve ever eaten (besides Fire Pizza in Coeur d’Alene, ID – the best wood-fired pizza west of the continental divide!!). We’d ordered two whole pizzas and even though we’d stuffed ourselves pretty thoroughly, Ghosthiker and I were able to pack a few of the leftover slices into Ziploc bags for later.
We decided to take it easy and hang out at the pavilion to let our food settle, taking advantage of the indoor toilets and picnic tables. It was a strange weather day – the sun was very hot but it was pretty chilly in the shade. There was only another mile or so to a tentsite where we heard there might be real showers there, so with only a mile left to hike we took our time resting. However, as more and more hikers departed with the same camping goal in mind, it became clear that our best option might just be to stay where we were for the night. It made for a shorter day but our bellies were still so full from pizza and salads that we weren’t sure we could hike another 6 miles to the next tentsite if the other one was full. We also weren’t sure if the Cleghorn Picnic Area was technically a tentsite either so we waited until we were sure a Ranger wasn’t going to come kick us out, then we set up our tents in a really nice secluded area pretty close to the toilets (but not close enough that we could smell anything). Lil’ Bro decided to stick camp with us that evening as well, which made for a fun group.
I noticed a lot of bird poop on the ground where we were under the trees, but I figured it wouldn’t matter at night. Why my brain used this reasoning, I’ll never know. Among the many things that woke me in the night was a large, loud thumping sound on my tent. I was too sleepy to be overly concerned about it, so I lay awake for just a few moments waiting to see if an animal was pounding against my tent before quickly falling back asleep. It was freezing, but I was very snug and warm inside my tent. I’d finally figured out how to use my sleeping quilt and NeoAir sleeping pad together as a single unit and was no longer wrapping myself in my emergency blanket to stay warm, so that was a nice change. Just one more reason I was so thankful to be hiking with Sparky and Ghosthiker. I had so much to learn from them!
Sarah Hikes 
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