Day 23, 15.6 miles, New Woods campground

I had a good night’s sleep even if the tent site was a bit slanted. The backpack under my feet evened it out nicely.

We continue along the New Wood river for a bit until we hit the road and start the Averill- Kelley Creek segment. This segment has us ford the New Wood river and the Averill Creek within .1 of each other. With the recent rain the New Wood river is thigh deep on us and flowing pretty fast. I go first and drop my pack. Then I walk back and coach Little Bird across. She doesn’t like fording but is doing just fine. Averill Creek isn’t as deep or fast so that’s a doozy.

The trail is now a series of ski trails. Swampy ski trails. With ticks. And mosquitos. Our shoes are soaked and we constantly check each other for ticks. I have about 15 before noon. A new record. And even Little Bird got a fair amount. We are NOT enjoying this section.

Then it goes off into the woods and it’s a barely there trail with a few more mud pits.   To avoid private property, the trail swings left for more swampy punishment.

Needless to say we are relieved to hit Burma road and walk a bit of dry dirt. We take a break at the trailhead and hope for better trail coming up.

We are so relieved when it turns out to be much dryer and soon arrive at the grand father falls river. The water is rushing and there are big boulders alongside the trail. There is even actual trail! Like dirt and some roots and rocks. It makes me think of the White Mountain NF in NH.

We have a short road walk to the next trail segment and what do you know? There is a bar/restaurant! Jeb’s place opens at 3pm and here we are, at 3.05pm. I think there is a thru hiker rule that you can’t pass up a restaurant when it just happens to open when you walk by. Right?

So we stop in and order a meal. Dessert is included with my meal and for only a dollar more Little Bird can have one too! Twist her arm! Strawberry cake! Yum!

We walk the nice trail past the dam and enjoy more views of the river before getting to the New Woods campground. It’s the Friday of Memorial Day weekend and we all but assumed it would be full. Imagine our surprise when there is still one spot left! Out of the seven spots we have number six. A bit later a guy walks by pulling a kayak. What? Turns out he’s attempting to kayak the Wisconsin river but the falls and rocks are too much for him. So he put the kayak on wheels and walked about two miles to here. He asks where the campground is. Ha, this is it! We offer to share our spot and he happily sets up.