We packed up camp at our spot on FR 714 and drove back to the crossing on Highway 91 south of Wheeler Junction, and this time I rode Shyla, going north towards the Breckenridge area. My mother drove ahead again with Takoda and managed to make her way up the Middle Swan River Rd to a campsite there; it was a very narrow, rough road and when she stopped to ask a sheriff officer about it just before she reached it, he tried to persuade her to take another route (one that I didn’t want her to because it would make the next day’s ride too long). At last he admitted that, yes, there was camping up that road, and yes, there would most likely be a place where she could turn the trailer around, and he did say that she had the right 4WD truck at least. So she went on, although at more than one point along the way she began to think it was a mistake. In the end, though, it worked out, and she managed to find the perfect site to camp in, which someone else was just in the process of leaving, so she felt very fortunate to get it. Meanwhile, I was making my way through some rainy weather, which turned particularly nasty as I climbed the highest part of the trail, with thunder, lightning and hail. Then, on the downhill side, I ran into my hiker friend Patches and we walked together for a few miles, catching up on our separate trail adventures since the last time I ran into her, all of which helped make the journey more pleasant. By the time I arrived in camp, the rain had ended, too.

#2018CDT