Bluffs over Long Creek, Hercules Glades – Day Two

I stopped for lunch and to refill my water bottle, and I learned a lesson while I was about it.

I am so used to just stopping where I want, getting my stove out, and making a hot drink and meal, I didn’t stop to think about the gusting wind. First, it blew my chair over, then it blew over my stove spilling all the alcohol which flared up (presumably, it’s impossible to see the flames in bright daylight). It took a long while to burn out — I could hear it even if I couldn’t see it! When I first got my Fancee Feest cat-can stove, I was concerned it would get blown over in windy weather, but as it never happened, I’d forgotten about the possibility. It’s a shame I didn’t think of it before I started trying to heat my lunch. I was very glad (and lucky) I had it set up somewhere that couldn’t burn.

Lesson learned, I moved everything to a more sheltered spot and tried again. The whole debacle cost me half an hour, so it was starting to look like I’d be ending my hike in the dark — sunset is around 5 p.m. — but the light starts to fade a lot earlier down in the shade of the hollows.

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