Training...

I'm supposed to hike 20 miles down Buckskin Gulch is about 2 weeks. 😵 It's also a backpacking adventure so I have to carry my own gear. All my own gear. Usually I carry some my gear and make Merril carry all the heavy stuff! I'm also going with a bunch of gals that are super tough and I want to keep up. To train, I went over to the Quail Lake Mountain Bike and Hiking trails with a 20 pound pack. I only went 2 miles but it was a good hike. I've been resting my foot because I had some pain if I pushed off my right foot certain ways. It was doing it before Fat Man's Misery but I went anyway. I hurt it a few times on that hike but I've been really careful since then and just doing stretches. That was 3 weeks ago and it was time to try and hike on it. I was by myself but let Merril know when I was going to be done and took lots of water. This trail has a lot of up and down because it's a mountain bike trail. Because of that, I felt it would be great to train. The first thing of note that I found was a geological survey marker. 

I also found an abandoned canal. 

It reminds me of the Hurricane Canal, but on a smaller scale. It must have run from Quail before the reservoir was built and carried water to the fields? Not sure. I tried a quick google search but couldn't find out more.

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It was hot but I wasn't too worried. I could see SR-9 the entire hike. I told Merril he could basically drive to me if I needed a rescue. No rescue was needed! I hiked for an hour and came home all sweaty. It was perfect and didn't strain my foot at all. 👍