Wadleigh Shelter to Jo-Mary road – 18 miles

Swimming has been a total highlight of this trip so far.

I love that every day provides at least one swimming opportunity, and sometimes more. The water is warm, there are surprisingly few bugs, and clothes dry quickly if you do lakeside laundry in a sunny spot.

Our prolonged lunch break gave us a chance to do some much needed bathing at Jo-Mary lake, which was idyllic. We splashed in the water, rinsed out our clothes, and hung them to dry on a warm rock while we cooked lunch with our toes in the sand.

At first I was confused that the northbound hikers seemed so clean, given they’d been sleeping outside for the entire summer. With so much water available I think I now understand.