No Water, no Go!

(from Ellie's journal, April 5)

New hiking pal N-Da-Wind and I were together today. We started as a trio including sally, who quickly left us in the dust. We plodded along. N-Da-Wind hikes more slowly than I do, taking more time to stop and smell the roses. But I was slow today; picked up new food and too much of it trying to eat enough. I had more weight than I should have. I also had new boots. I was getting tired very fast. We came to a road after 5 miles. N-Da-Wind was out of water. The only prospect for some shelter was a shelter 2 miles away, 1.2 of that down a steep hill that would have to be re climbed. It's being recommended to avoid actually staying at that shelter due to bear and possible human interlopers. Next one was 5 miles. a lady hiker offered us a ride to town for water, and said she could then return us to the trail afterwards, so we went with her. During the 10 mile ride, I looked at my guidebook and said "N-Da-Wind, there's a million motels there...what do you say about staying in town and getting back on the trail tomorrow?" "Hey, I'm all over that idea," she said. so we did. We'll start tomorrow where we left off.