We were so tired that we slept until 7am. We were going to have a slow lazy morning; we deserved some leisure!

After breakfast on the scenic picnic table, we gathered our things and set off for another day. The terrain was gentle and we spent the morning walking on old logging roads. It was exactly what we needed. Nemo’s knee is bothering her and she was careful not to strain it more, the even walking definitely helped.

100k Taquila

The kilometer markers passed quickly… much faster than yesterday (every kilometer of the 180 kilometers of this trail has a marker on a tree. At first we hated them, but now like them… If they are spaced properly. Think of it though, a section of trail in the middle gets rerouted and the distance changes… Every single marker from there on needs to be moved! We think that is what happened yesterday.)

The morning passed lazily by and we had lunch at March Lake just before a little climb up to the next hut. Wow, this hut was fantastic! Or rather the swimming dock in the lake was fantastic. Elk Lake had two large old trees tied together and cabled to the shore with a wooden platform spanning the logs and a wooden ladder to get in and out of the water. It was so welcomed. We dove in and swam around, feeling the heat leaving our bodies. We basked on the wooden dock for some time before filtering more water, having a snack, and packing up to move on. There were a few people in the hut, we said hello and got a little beta on the next section.

More old road walking and even terrain. Bliss after our two incredibly hard days!

Our destination was Coyote lake, which has a campsite on the north and south end of the little lake. We could hear voices down the trail to the first site, so kept walking to the next one. It was small and perched on the side of a cliff overlooking the lake, but it would do just fine for the night.