Day 26 - this hike brought to you by honey, and the letter B

First off, thanks to the McNabbs, who managed so considerately to send 2 lb of baklava to Montana from Zurich.

At our first break this morning, Gangles and I pulled out the remaining pound of baklava, and polished it off. At 240 calories per serving, and 8 servings, the entire package had ~2,000 calories. Now the RDA for calories for a woman of my size and age is probably between 1,500-2,100 depending on my activity level and weight maintenance goals.

Gangles likes baklava, but I *love* baklava. I have a problem with honey--I used to keep a honey bear in my desk at work. In my worst moments, I've been known to nurse on a bottle honey while lying on the couch. I usually stop because my throat hurts from the sweetness. And in case my dentist (Dr. V) is reading this, I do brush 2x per day, so don't worry.

In any case, baklava is just about solid honey. And I think I ate 75% of the baklava, plus some assorted other snacks for a total caloric intake of ~1,500 calories in less than an hour. Just as the food coma was setting in, we tackled the next uphill, and I did feel logy. However, the rest of the day, I felt great! Instead of needing to snack every 2-3 hours to maintain energy, I was sustained for several straight hours with my baby camel's hump of pure baklava. So, thanks to the McNabbs for powering today's hike.

As we were hiking along in the afternoon, Gangles and I spied a few spindly brown legs along the trail. Too spindly to be bears, fortunately. As we debated what to do, the spindly legs, attached to 4 female elk, heard us, and tore off into the brush. Fun to see wildlife, but a reminder that we should be making enough noise to scare away bears, and see no wildlife at all.

Gangles and I took the alternate today, bypassing Thunderbolt Mountain, and we arrived at camp early. We pitched our tent, and then I dug out a fresh a small divot in the ground, and surrounded it for a small fire. The bugs are quite aggressive, mostly mosquitoes, but a few biting flies. Everyone got it well before sundown, and we had a terrific meal together around the fire. Great night.

Mileage: ~18mi from Jericho Creek to Cottonwood Lakes