6-24-12 Garden Mountain campsite

AT miles hiked today: 12.2
Total AT miles hiked: 569.5

The water situation was terrible today. We had to get it from a pipe leading from a covered spring that had mice living under there and pooping in it? It took 30 minutes to collect two liters and it wasn't until later that I saw the orange swimmies in it. Parasites. Yummy. We decided to filter and use the aqua mira drops, too. Dehydration and heat exhaustion now or possible illness later? I drank the water, after I treated it. I did pour it through my bandana after putting the drops in it. The parasites were still alive! Eeek! We hiked through some very pretty fields in the full sun in the late afternoon. I got overheated again, but 30 minutes at Chestnut Knob Shelter helped me recover. We finished the day on a pretty ridge, and maybe heard a bear around our tents that night, but neither of us dared to look out, so we don't know and it went away eventually. Phew.