15 miles and a sore toe

Tuesday was another beautiful sunny day.  Lyle met lots of other hikers along the trail even though it was a week day.  A major disappointment was that he had heard from the other hikers that the restaurant he hoped to stop and eat at was closed for the season.  He had also heard that the Joe to Go was also closed.  Lyle had really been hoping for a hot meal.  What a sweet surprise to find out that the Joe to Go was open and caters to the hikers.  He was stopped for a good lunch and the caretaker stopped in as well.  So he and Lyle talked about the trail ahead and what Lyle could expect.  The caretaker confirmed that the remaining sites were not as popular with the bears but that he should continue to use the bear boxes.  He also told Lyle that the farthest shelter was a nicer shelter and less frequented by hikers.  So Lyle decided he would try to reach that shelter.  We chatted after lunch and we were talking two large turkey vultures landed in trees near the fire tower he had climed to make the call.  Unfortunately shortly after our noon chat he stubbed his toe which meant he banged it really hard to do any damage through his hiking boots.  It was a very painful afternoon hike; he was afraid that he had broken his toe based upon the level of pain.  Our evening chat took place as he reached the trail head of the shelter.  He couldn't see the shelter as the trail to the shelter was 300 yards straight down.  Going down is much harder on your toes and we were both concerned about how much extra damage this would do to his very painful toe.  He had passed up the "easy" shelter to make the miles and there was no other place to set up his tent so down the trail he would go.  As we said good night we hoped that that an evening of rest would ease the pain.