53 2637.5 8/6/2021 cool, sunny, windy. Well here goes. How is my wounded ankle going to take to hiking? All I can do is try. Justin drove me from Helena to the CDT mile 2616.8 at 5:30 am. I started hiking at 6:10 am. He drove off back to Helena to grocery shop. I felt no pain and hiked easily. I did my first climb without a problem. At mile 2628.5 we met to eat lunch, change my bandage and see how it looked. The wound is still leaking but much less than yesterday. It was not painful. We jointly climbed the first mile and met SOBO thru-hiker “Delta”. At the summit I told Justin to meet at 2637.5. That’s a 20.8 mile day. Much more than I expected, but I felt good. This would set me up for the next day. We had brats for dinner. We changed my bandage and it looked ok. My scratches are starting to scab. The puncture is still leaking, but no major infection. Whew! Time for bed. Tomorrow I have a number of climbs and it’ll be 18 miles. Wish me good luck!
