Mosquito Alley

The great thing about the back half of the 100 Mile Wilderness is that it is mostly flat but it also winds through a long series of lakes and rivers that are absolutely filled with mosquitoes. We started the day around 2,200 feet in elevation but as we dropped down to the river bank to meet Poet for lunch, the little devils were waiting for us in full force.

Poet brought us huge turkey sandwiches and Cokes that were delicious. After lunch, we started to run into a few of the early SOBOs that left on July 1 and it was fun to see some new faces out here. I kept my eyes peeled for a moose all day but all I got was a funny grouse attack. This has happened twice already and it cracks me up. A grouse looks like a short fat chicken and they don’t like us one bit. They shoot out onto the Trail with their hind feathers all puffed out and come running and squawking towards you. Somewhere in mid-attack, they realize that you are way bigger than they are and run sideways back into the underbrush. We both end up running away and it is pretty funny.

We were headed to a shelter about 23 miles from where we started today but decided to cut it a mile short when we found this great sand beach to camp on. The mosquitoes were killing us this afternoon but as soon as I stepped out onto the beach they disappeared. We pitched our tents in the sand and lazily made dinner and collected water for the evening. This little beach had amazing sunset views and I slept with my rain fly off and watched the full moon rise as I fell asleep. It was cool to watch the moon move across the sky when I would peak out from my sleep. As it was setting around 4:00, there we a light fog across the still lake waters.

The frogs and birds started their morning songs around 4:30 and it was a sweet way to wake for our hike. It is back to mosquito alley this morning for our hike to Rainbow Springs and hopefully another beach campsite.