June 22

6/22

22.5 miles (862 to 878, plus 6.5 miles to vermillion valley resort)

Today started nice with a pretty mellow walk up to the top of Selden pass. I met clay at Marie lakes as planned and proceeded to get eaten alive patiently waiting for him to finish fishing. The rest of the day was go go go as it often is when we are within the distance of possibly getting in to town. In this case, not a town exactly but to our resupply and the lure of buying food.

The terrain was much less dramatic as it had been. The granite cliffs were still somewhere in the background hidden behind a dense pine and for forest. I started listening to a new book to pass the time, bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods about hiking the Appalachian trail. It isn't exactly a distraction from the tedious task at hand but it is entertaining and very relate able. 

We arrived to vermillion valley resort about 20 minutes before the kitchen closed. We split the pork tenderloin served with polenta and broccoli and two packages of Reese's peanut butter cups. We set up our tent for free outside the store with the other hikers and took glorious 6 dollar showers.