53 minutes
easy pace
5:40 am - still quite warm, high clouds, pre-dawn light on the horizon - retraced my steps from last night (without Yuri Pass) - not nearly as much mud as last night - another week of this weather and the trail will be dry - had a little scare this morning: after crossing the little wooden bridge over Skunk Creek I thought I saw a bear cub on the trail about 50 meters in front of me (and where there are bear cubs there are usually big bad mama bears) - I froze in place and thought about alternate routes - suddenly it started coming toward me - my heart stopped for a split second, but just then a runner came around the corner with the big black dog - that's all it was, just a big black dog - sure got my blood pumpin' though for a minute or two - feels great to run again after all the laziness.
