I’m starting this day at mile 370. I’m ending it at mile 393.
It was a late start at 7:45. I should just get up early and do my own thing.
The trail followed a dirt road for only a little while then became a proper trail. The forest was viewless most of the time. At one point there was a trailhead sign sort of in the middle of nowhere with a map of the Buffalo mountain loop, info about the CDT and a picture of some proud people who must have worked on these trails. They looked so proud but their trail is covered in blowdowns.
The climbs still felt hard but I do feel stronger.
I kept hoping to take a break at a creek but the creeks kept turning up dry. So at a pond I got another liter of froggy water to get me to the next creek. I saw Mowgli and some Canadians resting near the pond so I stopped to take a break and it instantly started raining so I pushed on into the now sunshine. Finally at long last I found a flowing creek where I could sit for a while. I sat in the sun while being rained on. A long climb was ahead but in 4.5 miles there would be a lake to rest at.
I finally found a nice creek to take a break at. After I packed up to continue, Mowgli came up from behind and said he had waited 4 hours for his brother and he was tired of waiting. He wanted to make some big miles. He was going off on his own and we’d see in Anaconda.
When I reached the lake it was a little disappointing. It was marshy. I didn’t think the others would want to be there for any length of time. I sat to wait a little but decided it would be better to press on. 
I hadn’t seen the others all day. I started leapfrogging some Canadians and Germans. They seemed sort of unfriendly. I figured I might be on my own today so I decided to hike until 7pm or whatever seemed good.
Late in the afternoon Wallaby caught up to me. And then almost instantly the day’s second thunderstorm opened up. The amount of rain that fell was insane. I did not stay dry in a rain jacket, rain skirt and umbrella. I was wet head to toe.
The two of us hiked together and looked for a good campsite. We found one after it stopped raining next to a meadow. The mosquitoes were fierce. Soon Mango, FastCash and Lotus arrived. As I unpacked my things it became apparent almost everything I had inside my pack got wet. I think I need a garbage bag to line my pack.
I had a delicious dinner of a puffball mushroom I found, sautéed in butter, with mashed potatoes, cheese and turkey sausage.
I do not like being so wet. We got two dry days without rain. That’s it. Now all my clothes are wet.
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