Miles: 23 Steps: 45,856 Vertical gain: Strava Knows! Liquid consumed: 96 oz. Wildlife: Some huge birds I spooked, that’s about it. Faith in Humanity: the woman at the hotel was interested in my trip and quite encouraging: thank you! Always tough to leave luxury, but I need to take advantage of the last few days of relative warmth, so I packed up and was on the road at 8:45 this morning. I want to comment that this time of year daylight is really short: Sunrise after 7am and Sunset around 5pm, leaving less than 10 hours to hike which can be a bit of a challenge for sure! The paved road had a huge flat grassy area next to it that was great walking for the first 4 miles out of town. Next up: 24 Miles in a dirt road! And I didn’t see a single person or car until I was setting up my tent at 5pm! Kind of crazy since the Road was well graded, today was a beautiful day and it’s a Friday. Still don’t understand why people seem to just give up on this area this time of year with this weather! I’ll understand it in a few days when it’s horribly cold, but it’s been so beautiful lately, and nearly zero humans: crazy! The road followed a stream and had some cool rock formations and such but really the scenery was 2nd class compared to what I’ve been spoiled with recently. Still beautiful though and no traffic, so I’m not complaining! I’m 21 miles from Bryce Canyon National Park! Very excited for my 10th National Park of the trip! Cold as I sit here under my tarp but I’m saving my other layers for when it gets really cold in a couple days!