Stealth Camp to Third Mountain Monument

Day Forty-Five
Friday, July 12, 2019
Stealth Camp to Third Mountain Monument
11 miles

Today proved to be a hard day for us.  We started at 6:30 and stopped at 5:00, worn completely out.  Eleven hard miles, rocky and steep. 

It was very steep going up to Barren Ledges.  Fourth Mountain was steep on both sides, wet and slick.  I took a fall while going down some man-made steps which were wet and slippery.  One leg went out in front of me and one leg stayed behind.  I was sure that I had hurt my leg bad, but I got up and was fine.  Wait-up slipped down also several times. It was foggy all day.

By the time we got to Third Mountain Monument Cliff, I looked up at it going straight up ahead of me and said, “I can’t go any further.”   We had planned to go to the spring 1.5 miles ahead, and we had only a half bottle of water left, but I just couldn’t do it.

So, we pulled off the trail and found a flat spot to pitch our tent.  We shared the half bottle of water and ate beef jerky, cheese, and snickers for dinner.  It started raining about that time too, so Wait-up tried to catch some rainwater with a leaf for us to drink, but that didn’t work, so we gave up.