I'm writing by candle light. The flaps of my tent are open and I can see the stars through the trees. Orion is directly in front of me. Behind Gingercake Creek is rushing over stones. It's already nine o'clock and I have begun yawning. I'll make this short.

Today's goal was to make it to Ripshin Ridge early enough that I could make some headway on the next section before dark. Ripshin was only 11 miles away but there were a couple potentially tough uphill parts and of course more streams to ford. Wading across so many streams is really annoying. I'm not wearing socks at least but the on/off shoes, picking a route, and carefully stepping across the slippery stones takes a lot of time. Between yesterday and today there were 10 stream crossings (pre-Ripshin) and I had to wade across all but two.

Before I foget, I saw a beaver dam early in the day. The beavers are active in that area. There were lots of tree stumps.

This is getting too long. Let me just say that I made it over Ripshin Ridge and did a big chunk of downhill on an old loggin road. There were four water crossings but I was able to rock hop them all. Yay!

03:30 Update: Minor emergency. I woke up when a hiking pole supporting my tent fell across my face. A big wind had come and pulled out the tent stakes at my feet,. Since there is no floor the ten roof flipped over exposing me to the elements - in this case a sprinkling of rain. It took a full 30 minutes to put things right.