Mosquito inspired lunacy

We spend the first half of the day re-charging batteries, spreading out our impressive array of flexible solar panels and hooking up trickle chargers and the camera batteries.  The two of us lay around re-charging our own personal batteries, reading in the tent (to avoid the mosquitoes) and enjoying the view.  Around mid-day we packed up camp and continued on, eventually branching off the ridge and heading down into a burned area called “Cow Corrals” on our map, which was so filled with blooming Bear Grass among the burned trunks that it looked like an entire city of miniature people carrying white orb lanterns silently through the woods.

We took a break among the quiet masses and munched a snack of homemade fruit leather (strawberry-banana-date, quite delicious!), before taking the left fork of the new trail that would guide us down into the Chamberlain Valley.  The going became fairly lush as we descended, along a nicely graded trail through filtered sunlight.  But as we slowly walked lower, the bugs worsened, biting our sweaty skin with more and more vigor.  As the afternoon grew long the trail also worsened.  I began to swish through bug swatters pretty fast, swatting with more and more frenzy back and forth over my shoulders until the branch was limp-leafed, and then leafless and I’d have to hurry to find a new replacement.  

As we began to have to bush-whack around large sections of the trail that were impassible with fallen timber, the mosquitoes had become a satanic orchestra with a badly tuned string section.  Scrambling through underbrush littered heavily with large fallen trunks and broken branches, and sprinkled freely with unseen holes and boggy areas, is not the easiest of tasks with a heavy pack throwing off your already shaky balance.  Together with the frenzied swatting and the symphonic hell, it all added up to a fairly crazed mindset.  

We crossed the creek three times and began looking for a tent sight for the night.  It was difficult to even see straight enough to find a site.  We were hot, tired, and quickly going insane.  We each had our own personal swarm of bugs around us, drilling our arms and shoulders, and so many mosquito bodies smashed in our hair it felt like gravel to run a hand through it.  

Finally finding a suitable spot to put up our tent, we whipped on fleeces and pants over our sweaty limbs, put the ten up as fast as we could, and went to fill our water containers.  We both plunged stinging bodies into the icy cold water and enjoyed a few moments of frigid, mosquito-free bliss.  Then it was back to the tent where we dove in, not to emerge until morning.