0 miles
$23/night: Pawnee Campground (Arapaho/Roosevelt National Forrest)

Is this the night I’m going to get that epic starry 360-cam shot? I get up at 4:30 to try, but a nearly-full moon thwarts me. Even at 5:30, it looks like full-sun.

But I come back later with a hot cup of coffee to watch the sun creep down the mountainous backdrop. Another windy morning. Even by 6:30am, the parking lot it filling up with hikers.

On the way back to my campsite, I’m stopped in my tracks, just steps from my trailer.

Another thing my dad taught me was to be cautious, but not afraid, of brown bears. I give it some space. I clear my throat loudly, as if to say “move along – nothing to see here”.

It has no interest in me, and moves along. But not before looking back one more time.

Back at camp, in honor of Hormel’s number one super-fan Martha, I make some scrambled eggs with hunks of bacon-flavored Spam. The same Spam I bought in Austin, MN at the Spam Museum on last year’s trip. It doesn’t expire for a long, long time. Maybe too long. But it is delicious.

I framed the end of the day with a long kayak jaunt around sunset.

I was wary of launching the drone from the water. I had never done it before. No time like the present.

And a drone movie, at long last. The first of this year’s trip.

A bevy of cameramen with giant telephoto lenses congregated on the dark end of the lake to catch shots of moose.

No luck, but great views nonetheless.

Not a bad way to end the day.

Tomorrow, I’ll head down the mountain to upload these blog posts, check email, and help brother Tim move.