Day 6

If these feet could talk! Actually they look better than expected … after stepping on or climbing over 1000 blowdowns, getting grabbed by mean branches and bushwhacking for hours!

It is hard to explain what today was like … except to say the hardest day hiking ever! Jared and I started at 7am from Lower Ball Lake, having listened to the recommendations to tackle the infamous bushwhack first thing in the morning.

We scrambled up a steep ridge full of big boulders and no trail. Steep sloping stone slabs, big steps, pulling with your arms and getting the body with backpack up and over. Even at that time we were sweat soaked soon. After about an hour of sketchy scrambling we got to the ridge.

Gorgeous views in all directions, and the only enjoyable 0.5 miles of today! At a big stone cairn you drop steeply down the other side. For about 3 minutes we followed a trail, then it became clear how hard it was to “stay on the red line” (the trail is marked on our app in red and to make it easiest in this section you are supposed to follow it as much as you can … fully knowing it’s not a trail here, only the recommended route down).

So we slid and scrambled and climbed over logs and parted bushes to see. No trail, just bush and blowdowns, never knowing what you step on. It was incredibly tiring! Half way down the slope we met 3 guys literally in the bush. First we could only see their heads but we met up and chatted. I do not know why (one said something about always wanting to connect the lakes trails on the other side) but they had bushwhacked down the day before and we’re going back up! Crazy.

Once the steep downhill was done it got even worse. Green mean bushes that gave no indication of where the route is. I swear they literally grab your feet and trekking poles, and you have to yank to get them free! As soon as the app says you’re on the route, 5 m later it’s gone.

It was so very tiring and we stopped a few times to just rest and vent. Once at the bottom there was a creek nearby so we could get water but I was literally running on my last 2% of energy (ate and drank plenty but dripped all day with sweat; I think it was the hottest day of the week too).

All we could do is try to be near the line, take one step after another and toughen it out. To the first marker after the bushwhack (a campsite) it was 6 miles and it took us 9 hours. Go figure.

From there it was 0.6 miles to where we are camped (officially the bushwhack ends and there’s a trail but lots of blowdowns still). We had thought we could make it to Priest Lake but no chance! Nice site and creek here and I tried to wipe the sweaty day away in it!

Glad I didn’t have to do this on my own. It’s also hard to explain how thick, steep and overgrown it was. Then there are logs that are huge so we had to take hundreds of big steps up or climb up, and try to soften the step down on the other side. We both had some slides (no real falls) as you can’t really see what’s beneath your feet. There was some mud and swamp too.

Anyway … not fun, never again! Our campsite is near some natural water slides which we hope to see tomorrow. So very tired, doesn’t happen often that I feel like I can’t go another step. Oh and all this is also very hard on gear … shoes, backpack, mats attached on the outside. I’m sure there are plenty of water bottles lost on this stretch. We did okay, my feet stayed somewhat dry but I’ll find pine needles from this adventures in my backpack’s seams and mesh for years!

6 miles hiked. From 6614 ft, now at 4080ft. Did I say never again?? Idaho doesn’t seem to believe in trail maintenance 😳