The day started off well as we passed some beautiful scenery, including pretty Toad Lake. But it quickly took a bad turn when Takoda lost a front shoe. Probably it got battered by yesterday's rocky trail, however the way it came off all at once and taking a big chunk of hoof along with it also seemed to indicate that he stepped on it with a hind foot or caught it in a crevice as we were walking today. In any case, I looked back and all the sudden saw that he had no shoe. Thankfully I have an emergency boot with me, which slips over the entire hoof and fastens secure in place, so I can try to protect his foot until we can get another shoe. I am worried about how the farrier is going to get anoter shoe to stay on since the hoof got damaged when this one came off. I managed to text Roger Hitt, who lives near where we will end up at Etna Summit, and I'm hoping I can get Takoda to him on Friday as soon as we come off the trail. I am trying to make up for the earlier delay while Shyla was recovering, and I don't really have time to spend another day just getting shoes fixed. At least I do know a farrier in this area (Roger did their shoes when I first arrived in northern California), so I had someone to turn to. Sometimes we've had emergencies like this when we don't know a farrier, and then we have to scramble to find someone in a pinch, as we did earlier in April when we were near both Julian and Idyllwild, first with Shyla and then with Takoda. If it's not one thing, it's another!

As we continued in the afternoon with Takoda in his boot, we came across a lot of deer resting along the trail in the middle of the day. Of course, when they saw us coming, they would hop up and leap away. I'm afraid we were the cause of a good number of interrupted deer naps today!

#wildlifeonthetrail #2016PCT