Day 9 – 9/2/19
20 miles / 177.2 total

The canyon had opened up by the time we camped last night and I was stupid enough to think the swimming part was over. WRONG.

Swimming with a pack on is super awkward. My style was a frantic doggie paddle, arms through my trekking poles straps and trailing behind me.

Today was still hot, but also quite breezy, and after a couple of swims, my Raynaud’s hands were useless frozen stumps. I had to have Dan unbuckle my pack and tie my shoes for me. There were also a few boulder chokes to climb, one directly out of a swim, requiring pulling ourselves up out of the water onto wet slippery rocks and climbing over them. We finally got to direct sunlight and I basked in it for the first time this trail.

After moving at an average of 1 mph for the morning, we reached Flag crossing. Our maps notes that the remaining ~13 miles of canyon south of here were the “more extreme” bushwhacking. We decided we were satisfied with our experience of ~22 miles of not “more extreme” bushwhacking and took the exit out of the canyon.

Funny how much we enjoyed those first few road miles, exactly like all the other road miles we’ve been whining about.

At the end of the day we were back to cross country travel over very rocky uneven ground. We took the first less rocky spot of ground we could to call it a day and camp.