Another good/not-so-good day on the trail. Woke up this morning to – surprise – unpredicted rain from last night. The fog was also as thick as pea soup, as they say. I met my shuttler, Gerald, at my ending point south of Drop Chute. He then drove me back to Faul Campground.
Gerald and his wife have a ranch a half-hour north of here, and he invited me to tour the ranch, have dinner and even stay the night, since now, once again, storms were predicted. How nice! (Gerald’s offer, not the storms.)
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Heading Out from Faul Campground
I did a road walk around these first 2 miles (3 km), since they went through unmowed grassland. Then I picked up what I thought was an actual trail. It began on a farm road, then segued into unmowed grasses. I stayed on the farm road, which 
led into a second one, where the trail then merged. I was pretty happy about that! After all of that fog, it finally burned off and the sun came out.
Next up was a trek around Coal Mine Lake. The map showed a trail here, and indeed it began with one. But after passing through the campground, I had to ford a stream and then wade through waist-high grasses for several miles.
But gosh, the scenery here was gorgeous! I saw loads of birds, including pelicans. One bird – perhaps some kind of brown piper? – appeared very agitated. Maybe I was near its nest/babies, but it screeched over my head for quite some time.
Ending on a Sour Note
After crossing between Coal Mine and Sheyenne Lakes, I found ticks on me everywhere, including one that was starting to 
embed on my neck. No thank you! So I took the road instead of the trail along another lake.
But I hopped back on the trail at a point where I thought I’d be back on canal roads. Nope. I got into more high vegetation with ticks, so once I hit the road I hiked around to my car.
Tonight I’d planned to camp at Jensen Campground. But once again thunderstorms are predicted for most of the night, so I found a nice, super clean motel in McClusky, where I’ll be staying two nights. It’s so affordable, plus has hot water, a fridge and wifi. I can’t see tucking into a soggy, muddy primitive campground instead. Although I do miss camping.
Snowshoe
ND NCT miles today: 17.7 (28.5 km)
ND NCT miles to date: 343.3 (552.5 km)
Total NCT miles to date: 3,244.3 (5,221.2 km)
Total NCT miles to go: 1,355.7 (2,181.8 km)
