Day 86 July 31, 2011 Hammer Lake to White Lake 71km

The day began at 4am as Mike and I slowly, and somewhat reluctantly awoke and prepared for the days adventure. It was a cool summer morning, but the slowly rising sun gave a hint of the heat that would begin by midday. (Random HBC reference!)

I felt pretty good this morning although my right hamstring was a little tight and I had to stop a number of times over the course of the morning to stretch it out. The road continued alongside the many lakes that make up this region and though promised hills by a number of people, I have yet to encounter them.

Lunch came at 45km, Mike’s sandwich special. I’ve started listening to Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged but I’m finding it hard to get in to. So I’m interrupting it occasionally with the CBC program The Debaters, which is sometimes really funny.

I continued on with a goal of reaching 70km. At about 65km I noticed a kid walking along the road up ahead. We are in the middle of nowhere and I hadn’t seen anything for quite a while. I ran passed him and he looked to be about 15 or 16 years old and it seemed like he was trying to hitch hike. Mike stopped to talk with him as I continued on (I wasn’t stopping at 65km for fear of not getting started again). Turns out he’s from Mobler (sp?) and was trying to hitch hike to Marathon to see a friend of his. He had already been walking for 3 hours and no one had picked him up yet. Mike asked if he had done this before, and he said that he had, but that it never took him this long to get picked up. He doesn’t have a car and there’s no transit along this road so I guess this is his only option. I’m not sure if he has a point where he’ll turn around, but I would have thought he’d already reached it. Mike gave him a bottle of water and he kept walking. He seemed like a nice kid and was a little wary of Mike. I wonder if he made it.

We currently find ourselved at White Lake Provincial Park.  Mike and I went down for a swim in the lake and had been in the water for less than 3 mins when we spotted multiple large leeches. Our swim did not last long. It’s too bad because it was a really nice beach and the water temperature was perfect!

I am currently 67km away from the halfway point of the run, so if I can make it to 70km again I’ll reach halfway at the end of tomorrow!