Day 8, Sept. 2, 2014
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| We started the day with a hike through another lava bed, this one older and with more vegetation. |
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| Trees growing in the lava bed. |
Noon and we have stopped at
an open, sunny spot to dry out tents. Some condensation last night but no rain.
Started hiking around 8:30 a.m. after talking to an Englishman from Blackpool.
He was wearing a Dodgers baseball cap that he bought at the airport upon arrival.
Said he’d had lots of comments on the hat, mostly negative although a few
people gave a cheer for the Dodgers. “Didn’t know they were a baseball team,”
he said. Wonder why he chose a hat with Dodgers on it. What is a dodger in England? The Artful Dodger? Something to
wonder about as I walk.
Also wonder why there are
hikers out here with ear buds plugged into their heads. What are they listening
to? What about the bird calls, the sound of the wind in the forest or rushing
over a ridge as I am hearing now (or is that my tinnitus)? Seems like part of the reason for being here.
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| A man-made water stop in an otherwise dry part of trail |
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| Thank you, Trail Toad, wherever you are. |
Have walked six of the 15.5
miles planned for today. Made it up Big Huckleberry Mountain and had a Pro-bar
that purports to be a full meal (it’s not). Ate it at the junction of the trail
to the summit. Passed on that opportunity for more mileage. Same as I did
yesterday on the Indian Race Track trail. Not enough time or energy to do
extras, which is a shame, I suppose, since I’ll probably never get this close
to Big Huckleberry Mountain again. But I will add Indian Race Track to my list
of places I want to return to. Here they are:
1.) Lava springs
2.) Killeen Creek meadows
3.) Huckleberry fields (in
season and pick enough to make jam)
4.) Indian Race Track
I think Kathy and I can get
to all of those places with day hikes, although Killeen Creek might be a
stretch.
Last part of the trail today
was a big downhill to Panther Creek Campground. A Forest Service campground on
a road, but we are the only ones here.
Walked another 2.5 miles without pack (John with a light pack and hiking poles)
to get to his car at Wind River Road and bring it back here. That makes a total
of 18 miles today. Debating whether to do the last 35 miles ahead of us in
three day hikes or just go for it with packs. Day hikes with only rain gear and
water very appealing, but it would mean two car shuffles on uncertain roads. We
have to go back to get my truck at Road 23. We’ll see how long that takes and
then decide.
Great view today looking back
at Mount Adams. As John said when looking at all the land between Big
Huckleberry Mountain and Mount Adams, “It’s hard to believe we were back there
only 3.5 hiking days ago.”
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| We've put some distance between us and Mount Adams. |
Trail URLs collected today:
Saw "Arizona," who is trekking for youth, on the trail three times today. That's his trail name, and everyone out here has one and asks you what yours is. So I had to come up with one. John's is "Sisyphus," because as a section hiker, he has to start over each year, getting both himself and his equipment in shape for the trail. Like rolling rocks up a hill only to see them go down the other side. Decided I could adopt my email name, which is taken from a nom de plume I used for a newsletter I did for my rugby club. So "Billy Rukk" has now become "Billy Rukksack" on the trail.
But about Arizona. He passed me going south, one of the few southbound thru hikers we have encountered. Later I passed him and asked what he was listening to through his ear buds. A podcast by Ram Dass. Later, when John and I were stopped for a snack, Arizona passed us. This time he said he was listening to "trance" music, which is new to me. Who knew you could be introduced to so much American culture out here on the trail?
Arizona also showed us the "Guthook," app, which does look like it would be good to have and worth the money for the maps, topography, etc. That way I would know what kind of uphill I faced each day. But then I might just stay in my sleeping bag.
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