On the trail at 6:30. Not long after, XC caught up with me. We hiked together for the rest of the day and camped together. All day we walked along the Middle Fork crossing the river frequently. After several hours, we reached Jordan Hot Springs. Mom, dad, and their 3-year old daughter from Texas were enjoying the spacious pool. Highlights of the rest of the day included trout, sculpin-types, and a large sucker. We saw several pairs of mergansers fishing. We saw hundreds of thousands of tadpoles in the river. Two rattlesnakes buzzed as we walked by them. At one point, the rock in the channel of the river created a cascade (see photo). At 6:30, we called it a day in a stand of mature ponderosa pines. 21.3 miles in the books. Frequent cloud cover kept the air cooler than yesterday.
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