On the trail by 7 with a much gentler day ahead of us today than yesterday. We tanked up in water first thing for a 15 miles waterless stretch. We were still up on the ridge after our climb up the Priest and we walked along the ridges in windy cool weather most of the morning then descended a good way down to a road crossing. Stopped for lunch at 13 miles then walked along the bottom of the valley and alongside a creek in the afternoon before climbing up above a dam and continuing up 1200ft of climbing to Punch Bowl shelter. The hiking this afternoon reminded me of home, actually – dry pine forest and trail cut into the sidehill as we climbed up. Brown is fast on the uphills and he and Ryley took off chatting the last few miles. I went my own pace nursing a bit of a sore hammy, maybe strained it? I have it tensored and hopefully it’s feeling fine by morning.
