MST-39 (segment 13)

White Lake to Ruskin Road, westbound AND eastbound

Tuesday, August 27.
Part 2 of my two-day hike that overnighted in White Lake. I did 21.0 miles, mostly one-way, but with a 5-mile out-and-back.

This was supposed to be dinner, with leftovers for breakfast. To begin with, I wish the restaurant had a smaller size! But in any case, it did not agree with my GI system, so I absolutely skipped pizza-breakfast and threw the rest away.

Might as well start out, and see if I’m capable of hiking 16 miles with a rumbly tummy.

Dawn was sort of breaking by the time I reached a gas station where I could get some liquid breakfast. So far, so good.

US-701 was NOT FUN, especially on a very foggy morning. Even with a pretty wide shoulder, I felt safer hopping into the wet grass when large trucks were passing.

I chatted with this gentleman, who hikes at least four miles EVERY DAY–at age 82!

After five miles of busy traffic, everything calmed down once I turned onto Sweet Home Church Road.

I was very curious about all the different colors of painted rings, but I couldn’t find any information online about them.

Camp Chamblee offers free, primitive campsites.

Yep! There’s the sun!
But I had completed four hours of walking in cooler temperatures, which was important on this hot day.

Hydration break was at this charming spot, thanks to the hospitality of Sweet Home Holiness Church.

Ok. Given my experience with the mosquitoes yesterday, before I started out on humid forest trail, I first needed to get prepared.

And it was absolutely, insanely dreadful.
Maybe the DEET kept mosquitoes from actually biting, but it did nothing to keep them from SWARMING.

I was very glad for all the white dots, because the trail was not always obvious–and I absolutely did not want to stop to figure out navigation.

I had my hat in one hand and a branch in another, and I kept up a frenetic arm-swinging, head-whacking rhythm while hustling through the boggy lowlands.

I was just sitting down to relax, following the plague of insects, when my shuttle driver called. She needed to drive me to my car NOW, because of a family situation. [And still she thought to take care of me!!!]

After being dropped off at my car back in Kelly, I drove to the other end of the two-day hike, to Salters Lake Trail off of Ruskin. I decided to do the last five miles as an out-and-back, in order to finish up Segment 13.

The new plan: Follow the 5-mile MST route to Jones Lake State Park (completing segment 13), but then return to the car via roads, which would be a little shorter, at 4.2 miles.

Salters Lake Trail was pretty straight-forward.

But it was also pretty hot, now that it was afternoon, and there was little shade.

For this final, hellish section, I devised a flapping-solar-umbrella technique that was pretty effective, but exhausting. Fortunately, I only had about a mile to go.

Yesssssssssssssss.
The Jones Lake State Park visitor center was an OASIS!

Mosquito-free, open road all the way back to the car!
The unanticipated extra 4.2 miles brought me to 21 miles for the day.

Strenuous, but do-able.

And this is exactly what I envisioned during those last miles of Segment 13!