MRT 26 – May 09 – Blue

Daily Miles: 12

Total Miles: 438

When we woke up this morning everything felt damp. We had camped near a very small creek, but since it only had a tiny amount of water in it, we didn’t give it much thought. But, it turns out that it kept the air very damp. It didn’t help things that we had only wet socks to put on in our wet shoes. Once we got our wet clothes on, we were ready to start moving to warm ourselves up.

The trail continued down to a reunion with the dastardly Raspberry Creek, but luckily we were only on it for a short, easy bit and then we got onto the flood plains of the Blue River. Just as our feet were starting to dry out, we had several fords of the river (this theme continued to be played out multiple times today).

We weren’t on the flood plains for very long before getting to a dirt road that would bring us into Blue, a tiny village of 35 people, that somehow manages to have a post office.

We walked on the road for about five miles and saw just a few houses. We came to the post office, which appears to be a converted shed on a residential property (the post office even has its own outhouse!). There was even a table with two chairs for us to relax at and organize our stuff.

The two ladies at the post office were really nice and helpful. They were interested to hear about our trip and where we had just come through. They let us charge our phones and leave our garbage which was a huge help.

Mace was excited to get his new shoes today. Comparing his new shoes to his old shoes, the degradation of his old shoes was really remarkable. It was almost like they had been squashed down and were about an inch wider than his new shoes.

As the sky started to look like rain was coming again, we headed back down the road. We walked another four miles down the road and then turned in at a trailhead. We passed a junction for another alternate, which would have had us climbing up to a ridge. Given the grey day, being up on a ridge didn’t sound appealing, so we stuck to the main route.

We headed in about a mile on the trail and made camp early. We have come to enjoy our “on-trail near-os”. This is our third one, where when we resupply in a town but don’t stay in town, we just camp early in the afternoon and enjoy some relaxation time. Today we made camp around 2:30pm, then tried to get all of our stuff dry, read for awhile and took naps. It is a good way to recharge for the next section.