MP 716 There is a bridge on the S Fork of the Kern River under which hundreds of swallows are nesting. They hover in a cloud beneath the bridge. You can almost touch them as they poke their heads from their mud nests.
I allowed myself the luxury of starting the day late because I am walking so few miles. Walked down into a beautiful valley studded with Ponderosa pine. My leg felt ok this morning. The swelling is down. It is painful, but not overwhelmingly so. I can feel a constant dull ache but there is none of the stabbing pain that I had a week ago.

Kern River Valley:

Swallows nests.    The pictures of the birds themselves did not turn out well.