Day 2: Little Missouri River

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June 23 2002

Distance Traveled: 7.7    Total Miles: 8.7

Location: Little Missouri River - Intersection with old Jeep trail.

Entry:

I didn't mention this yesterday, but while playing in the creek/river, I slipped and really jammed my left big toe. Today it is swollen and purple - I'm afraid it may be broken. But of course I'm still walking on it. The night vision class never happened, everyone dropped off to sleep before it got good and dark.

We got up around 0730 and started packing. Matt only ate one breakfast bar, and last night he only ate about 1/2 a pack of ramen noodles. Immediately on the trail he started showing signs of dehydration. But after making sure he was taking lots of fluids, it turned out to be lack of food. So we started making him eat lots of carbs which did the trick.

Another thing I didn't mention yesterday was how well and recent the trail maintenance has been. Today at a mile on the trail, we ran into some students doing trail maintenance, about 8 teenagers total. We hiked on  past them and stopped at Little Missouri Falls for lunch and a nice splash in the creek in some of the pools below the falls. While we were going thru the parking area, a Ranger was writing tickets and checking cars to ensure they paid their fee. After we got there, crowds dwindled rapidly because of him.

We hit the trail again at 1300 and immediately Matt thought he was going to die again. I started challenging him and motivation him to make a mile at a time without stopping which would be when we got to a nice pretty point for a rest. Since the trail hugs the river, I would get him to move to the next crossing which were 1 to 2 miles apart. The final one was at an old wagon trail crossing which had some nice pools of solid rock which we all took advantage of. Then we finished up hiking to our camp.

We wanted to go up to a scenic area and stealth camp, but couldn't find anything in the area because of the brush. So we ended up backtracking about 1/2 mile, so really we hiked about 8.7 or so. This low mileage and slow pace is killing me, but at least I'm on the trail with the kids. Matt is still trying to learn, but has started doing a countdown to getting off the trail and Karen is still acting like she is on a date, but otherwise she is doing fine.

The hiking day has turned into a routine of two hiking groups mostly. Karen and Donald whispering and giggling, Matt and I plodding along together and occasionally stopping to wait for them to catch up. Matt also earned the trail name "Dead Man Walking" today. He got to a point where he would say "If I have to take one more step, I'll die", but he never did. So now when he gets up to move, someone will say "Dead Man! Dead Man Walking!" just like in the movie "The Green Mile".

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