Day 4 (Aug 17)

Mosquitos! We have many counter-measures: Before leaving the tent, we slather in repellant cream. The moment we're packed up, we drown in my custom cocktail of half-deet half-all-natural-blah-blah spray. D swears by a sort of dermal patch (made in Canada!) that is suppose to release vitamins into your skin and make mosquitos avoid you. And my phone has this silly app that clicks at them to scare them. Well none of it works. Darn if we aren't sucked dry and left as piles of bones and welts.

The trail takes us off the Escapment and onto roads, through the little village of Kilbride. This place is a bust though - the public park turns out to be a private tennis club, and the bridge that leads to the only store in town is out. Ah well. We're surviving on a good supply of jerky that I got for my birthday from my folks. Thanks, Folks!

We march along. Road walking seems long and hard and hot. I'd think it an honor, but I guess the local landowners don't want to have the trail through their property. The exception here is the Nelson Quarry, which routes the trail off the road alongside their lot. Thanks, Nelson!

Finally back up onto the ridge at Mount Nemo. Lots of families here for a day out, and rock climbers scaling the Escarpment. Here's the view from the top:

What joy to be up top, and what sorrow to be once again cast down onto the roads. The Escarpment heads off southeast right toward where we're headed, but there's no right-of-way, so we're routed onto Walkers Line... which sounds nice but ain't. (A lot of the county roads here are called "lines" and they are, in fact, very rectilinear - you can see a bit of the grid in the picture. All the drearier to have to trudge along the legs instead of partying on the hypotenuse.)

When we're finally allowed back into the woods, we're exhausted, nearly bonking, and we make camp as soon as we find water. The mosquitos are waiting for us again. From inside the tent we can see the clouds of them waiting to pounce. Woe betide those that venture between the mesh and the fly, for they are done in with a quick swat. It's nice to have the upper hand for once. I know I should be gentle to all living things, and not judge a creature by the actions of its brethren, but for these beasts I simply have no love.