Early to bed and early to rise makes it a very long day.

When I had to sleep a couple of miles before even getting to the campsite I was suppose to be at last night, I knew this was going to be a long day, but I had no idea by how much! I packed up and got an early start and was able to enjoy breakfast a couple of hours later when I finally got to where I had intended to be the evening before. the Teton Crest Trail wasn't too tough if I had followed my intended path, but it was definitely scenic. I had already anticipated it would be my longest hiking day ever, but I didn't really realize how long it would be. Typically I'd consider a full day of mountain hiking to be about 12 miles and maybe 15 over relatively flat stuff. Apparently around Basin Lakes, I misread a sign and instead of taking a left, I took a right. I did this same kind of think last year in Sequoia National Park when I took the wrong fork and added about 4 miles of up and down. Had I taken the intended path, it would have only been .7 miles to the next trailhead, however my detour ended up adding another 4 miles and 2:45 more time hiking.

Overall, I ended up hiking over 18 miles that day for over 12 hours and finally got to the campsite just a little bit before dark. I was being chased up the mountain by the sun and was completely exhausted when I got in. At least there was a bear box on site so I didn't have to hang my stuff in a tree. I had wanted to stay up and watch the stars, but sleep came very quickly. This Google Earth Overlay will show my track that day. You can see where I made the wrong turn and how much of a mistake that was. Ouch, not one of my best navigational moments in life. http://mblitch.googlepages.com/tetoncrestjuly112007.kml

I was definitely glad to have my UV water purifier since I could quickly refill and clean the water while still moving. This probably helped me stay quite hydrated since in the past I'd have to break out the water pump, unsling bottles, fill, repack, and reload before continuing which would end up putting things off until I was really thirsty. I really didn't see much in the way of wildlife on this trip, but the vistas and panoramic views more than made up for it.