Started: Frog Spring (1301.1)

Ended: Butt Mountain Tentsite (1320.7)

Total Miles: 19.6 + 1 mile water hunt

I woke up relieved after our battle of the Beast of Belden. After I wrote the story I found out the smoke we are seeing is not from Yosemite, but the Carr fire north of us.

Although the fire conditions are dangerous, the trail is currently not closed, so we will continue to move ahead. I’ve read that people are skipping forward due to smoke and heat. I’m not prepared to do that. I can say that we haven’t had anyone pass us in two days.

However, the smoke really made me tired and Nap has struggled with headaches. As you saw in my sunset picture from last night, the sunset is bright red due to the smoke.

The water sources are stretched out and we had to walk off trail to two of them. It is not as hot in the higher elevations here.

I called my 13 year-old son that I was going to camp on the top of Butt Mountain. He enjoyed that. Not every kid has a dad who is brave enough to climb Butt Mountain. That is where we sleep tonight.

We positioned ourselves for a quick run into Chester for a lunch and resupply for four days to get to Burney. In the meantime, I continue to monitor conditions.