If I had made a plan,printed stuff out,studied it, and blah,blah,blah....things probably wouldn't have turned out as well as they did. Thursday caching in the dark was a little bit discomforting at times. Do I have the right mix of frozen and unfrozen...will I find my cache? will someone else find my cache? Will I find my way back to my truck now that it is pitch black.

I started at 330am from the East Rim TH. The trail starts out on a paved path for about a tenth of a mile before you hit the AZT. Hung a left and I was off. I tiptoed past the GC guys camp. I had spoken to one guy yesterday...little did we know our paths would cross again on Saturday. The views were great except for the fact that it was pitch black in the forest. When I reached Tater Canyon, I could now hike by the light of the moon. I kept seeing strange black things racing across the meadow . It was freaking me out. Later I realized it was shadows of birds reflected by the moon Little Pleasent Valley was nice as were the views across Crane Lake. A few more miles, and then it would be burn city. The forest had burned and now I was burning up from exposure. And so concludes the last 2/3rds of section 40. Luckily my cache was there and it had thawed out. I really needed it.