Ducks and Pizza - Day 436

The weather today was suitable for ducks, but we hiked anyway.

We had decided that we would have pizza for dinner as our reward for hiking in the rain. That was my battle cry. Whenever I started getting cranky or the ickiness of being wet got to me, I yelled, "Pizza!" and we hiked on.

I've hiked through ferns that were armpit high before. I'm not sure that I'd done ones as tall as I am. For those of you who haven't hiked through wet ferns, they hold buckets of water which they dump on you from the sides in addition to what is falling from the sky. It's like a forest car wash. Or perhaps the literal definition of forest bathing. "Pizza!"

Early in the day there were two streams that were marked as fords- I guess they can be deep in the spring, but we didn't have any trouble. This is Silver River, the larger one, and we simply walked across the log. "Pizza!"

We also walked on the tops of several eskers. This one lent itself to a nice picture.

The trail crosses the Sturgeon River on a road bridge. This river is 106 miles long and flows north to Lake Superior.

Yes, this is the same Sturgeon River I walked beside in the winter. I have learned since the day I took this picture that that trail segment was very new, and I was the first hiker to walk it.

We were glad to cross it on a road bridge because that way we could be certain the bridge would be there. Well, pretty certain. Look at all the debris piled up against the bridge from the floods this spring!

And how do you eat lunch in the rain and mosquitoes? Under the poncho works quite well. By then, it was raining pretty darn hard. "Pizza!"

The wildlife sighting of the day was snapping turtles laying eggs just on the edge of the road. That's a well-used pull off by the bridge, so I'm not sure what the chances are these eggs will survive, but the turtles were plenty busy. Since the world has plenty of snapping turtles, I'm not sure how sorry I can make myself feel for their poor choice of nest sites. Bill wondered if they were the top of their food chain. I learned that a number of fish, large birds and mammals eat small snappers, but once they are full grown, only alligators, black bears, and alligator snappers (a southern species) will take them on. Supposedly river otters may occasionally kill one hibernating in winter.

Someone left me a message in a register book. There have been quite a few along the way. Such encouragement! "Pizza!"

And what happened later? We are still at the motel. Showers and Pizza!

Miles today: 10.0. Total miles so far: 4788.8. Miles to go: 26.3.

See Wet, Just Wet