Started around 6:30 am, but probably should've pushed it up an hour. Within a few miles, I ran into a bull moose and his lady next to the trail. I tried going around them, giving a wide berth, and finally they went off. The vegetation was thick the first 5 miles! Warmed up with full sun by 8 am. I carried 3 flasks but had plenty of streams to filter from. Gorgeous day with barely any clouds in the sky. That last climb was unforgiving with full sun and the unrelenting "runnable" grade for some fatigued legs:) The last jaunt around the lake just seemed never-ending!! Well. Maybe I'll give this another crack in the fall sometime. There's definitely a lot of wiggle room for women to take it down further.
I saw a few more moose chilling, one cuddly lil bear, and some elegant elk. There's the best cold shower somewhere around halfway; a full dunk made my day:)