BP D-3: Lakeshore (86 to 76, 12.3n)

On our 3rd backpacking day we left together; however, as per usual I went ahead again. When I reached the mini-cascade I was going to get fresh water and wait; however, I could not find my water purification tablets and decided to keep going. Certain sections of Lakeshore were once roads; in the first pic it looks like a Model A could not hold the curve and died there.

I took several pictures of Lake Fontana on the way. It seemed like getting to Campsite 76 was taking forever; the next pic is of my tent and the camp sign. Initially I concurrently was purifying water and “icing” my knee and soaking a blistered foot. I put 2 liters in my bladder and left it in the stream to stay cool. I then put up my tent and eventually ate supper; still no Kirby and Fran. I was getting worried about them. I thought about going back in search of them but (1) my blistered feet said otherwise and (2) I assumed if something had happened that they would set camp for the injured one and the other would come.

It was getting dark when they arrived. Kirby said that my point #2 above is the procedure that he would have followed. Part of the problem was that they had missed a turn and may have lost as much as an hour.