I did not want to wake up this morning! I slept so good, that when my alarm went off I actually groaned out loud. Oh well, stuff to get done. I quickly dressed and took my stuff to ship to the UPS store next door. The guy there was quick and efficient, my Fanny pack was going home.. now that I have the pack with the brain on top, the Fanny pack is overkill. Although I do think I’ll end up missing it. My extra food went to Fish Lake, where I should be getting to Thursday.
From there I walked to a different grocery store, why there’s practically 3 within the same block is odd-but this one did have the mio drink mix I like, in a new flavor even, so it was a worthwhile side adventure. I also remembered to get cash back, so another small victory. I came back to the room and packed all my goodies, and then chatted on the phone with one of my favorite humans, Kelly, while I waited for Big Mama, the trail Angel to pick me up.
She got there right before 10am and took me to get a new gas canister before driving me to the trail by Callahans. We popped in, they only had a large one, but I figured at least with it I wouldn’t have to think about gas for awhile. On the way to the trail, she stopped for coffee at a local cash only place. I tried to buy hers for her, but she refused to let me. Instead, she bought ME a breakfast croissant. LADY! That’s not how this is supposed to work! There was no telling her otherwise, and I was very grateful.
I hit the trail around 11am with no real care as to how far I got. There were to be plenty of options to stop, although not that many options for water, so I just needed to make sure I paid attention to that. The trail was gentle with easy ups and downs and it meandered up and around this huge rock that I remembered seeing in the distance back when I was on the ridge line before coming down by Mount Ashland. Pretty neat to be literally right beside it now.
It was truly beautiful. I felt an ease and peace that I had been craving since before starting this trail. I was enamored by the views, smiling every few steps, beyond thrilled to just be able to walk. I knew the snow had me stressed before, but this-walking and knowing there wouldn’t be any snow around any corner no matter what today, was sincerely a relief I didn’t realize I desperately needed.
I found a nice spot with a bit of an overlook to set up camp. It was gorgeous, albeit windy as hell. I ate my dinner, watching the sun set and then read some before typing this up. I think I’ll read a bit more and then try to get some sleep. I may not even need my earplugs tonight with this wind making such a sweet white noise for me. We’ll see! Goodnight!
Man oh man I slept like a baby in that wind! I didn’t need the earplugs and I kept pressing snooze til 7am.. in the snow I knew I’d need all day long to barely make it ten miles, but if today is anything like yesterday, why rush the wake up when I’m so dang comfy?!
The views were just as pretty this morning as they had been yesterday. Easy trail, no bugs, a little cool temperature wise. I was 4 ish miles away from water, so I sipped on my last half liter and made sure to keep reminding myself to turn at the road crossing to get water! I was slightly concerned I’d be in Heaven walking that I’d forget about the water and just keep on going.
I turned at the road to realize it was like a real, paved road. And the water source was a large lake at the bottom of the hillside at a reservoir. Alrighty then. As I got closer, the water had a weird green hue to it that looked not just dirty, but questionable for other contaminants. Not that I’d have the privilege to care every time water looked odd, but I saw on the app that this same road takes you to a campground in a half mile or so.. maybe more, but seeing that water had me deciding I’d rather fill up from a water hose than filter that mess.
So, I road walked. Cars were flying down that windy two lane road! I made sure to be as far over as possible and no one came close to me, but it was a little unnerving. I missed the woods already! That is, until I got to the Green Springs Campground. They had an open sign on at their cafe and a water refill station like the ones in airports. Even better!
When I sat my stuff down to fill up my water bottles, a waitress asked if I wanted to see a menu. Well now I do! I got an egg and cheese biscuit and a mimosa with zero regrets. I’m doing great at this whole “stick to a budget” thing. Hahaha. The biscuit sandwich hit the spot, the one that wasn’t hungry to begin with, I downed my mimosa and hit the road.
Before I knew it I was passing the signs to Hyatt Lake Resort. Already? Sheesh! It was too early for lunch and I knew if I walked down there I’d have zero impulse control, so I kept walking on the trail. By 1:30, I was actually hungry again, so I sat on some rocks above a pretty little creek to eat lunch. The day was simply beautiful. Blue skies, dotted with puffy white clouds, thick forests and open meadows. I was truly loving every second of it.
After lunch my feet were getting achy. After a few hours of walking along, occasionally climbing over a tree bigger than my car, I ran into Tashina and Romy! The girls from the Netherlands that I had briefly met in all of my filth at Callahans lodge! They were taking a break, resting their feet, so I stopped to talk and do the same. In their 4 days out here (they’re being smart and easing into the mileage since they just began their hike), I’m the first person they’ve seen!
Literally as they’re telling me this, a couple appears out of no where! They are day hikers out exploring, with the goal of hiking the same number of miles as the circumference of earth! That’s pretty dang cool. We all chatted a bit, Tashina and Romy’s accents get quite the attention.. their English is perfect but once you learn they’re from the Netherlands you can’t help but pepper them with questions.
Before we all said our goodbyes, I decided I’d stop at the campground they were aiming for. They wanted to rent a cabin on the lake for the night so I said why not? I’m only here now, maybe I should also get a cabin on the lake and hang out with my new friends for the night. I kept hiking and it was only a couple miles from where we were. My feet were happy I made the choice to want to camp with them, too.. instead of hiking the 5-6 more miles I had originally planned on.
The campground was so pretty. Huge trees and soft ground, little cabins peppered around a lake.. refreshingly beautiful. I walked up to the camp host site, as there wasn’t a soul on the entire property. They had lights on, but no one was home and no vehicle was near the camper. When I took my shoes off and slipped on my crocs, Tashina and Romy appeared. We decided we’d wait around for the hosts and just relax.
Tashina and me
We talked and ended up walking the grounds and checking the doors of the cabins and looked out at the lake for almost two hours. No one ever showed! That’s when we decided we’d walk the mile and a half down to the other campground and see if we’d have any luck there. The girls were dead set on getting a shower, they’d been out here for 4 days to my 2 and were ready to feel clean. The other campground also had showers available, but no cabins. Meh, a price we were willing to pay.
We started our walk to the other campground and almost immediately a man on a power line truck stopped us. He was fascinated that we were hikers and insisted on driving us to the campground. Ok, sure. We were close enough as it is. We climbed up on the back of his truck with the big bucket lift thingy and held on to what we could find-thankfully he drove at a snail’s pace to make sure we didn’t tip over. Another pickup truck came up behind us and then gave us such a wide birth it was almost like saying, “if one of you falls out I won’t be the one rolling over you!” Hahaha
The new campground also appeared abandoned at first, but then we spotted other campers. We picked a spot with views of the lake and set up our tents. I pre apologized for my rotisserie chicken sleeping habits, they laughed and said Tashina does the same thing.. I instantly felt better. We ate our dinner at the picnic table, watching the sun slowly dip. Then we all headed down to the shower house.
We plugged our stuff in and they showered, I decided I was a bit too chilly to wet my hair.. I just used hot water from the sink to wipe my legs down and I washed my face.. then called it good enough for now. It was just starting to get dark as we walked back to our tents, and the wind had really picked up strong. I’m laying here watching my tent look like it’s in a turbine and I’m hoping my new poles continue to hold it steady. And with that thought, time to tuck in, get warm, and get some shut eye. Goodnight!
I’m pretty sure I woke up before the girls.. and I was immediately worried about how much noise I made overnight. The one nice thing about being alone is it doesn’t matter how much racket you make when you roll around, if anything it’s helpful to keep critters away.
Even still, I had snoozed through my early alarms and popped awake at 7:20. Knowing I wanted to get a minimum of 12-13 miles away, but preferably even more, so I’d be that much closer to Fish Lake for the following day, I started packing. I could hear them both moving around some, and then I heard Tashina out of her tent, so either I really woke her up or she was waiting to hear us move before she did.
I was completely packed by 7:49. Tashina was sitting at the picnic table trying to sew her nice hiking pants where they ripped, and Romy was just starting to stir. We all said our good mornings and goodbyes, as I put on my pack and walked to the bath house. The building was on the way out, so I didn’t want to backtrack. I brushed my teeth, used a real toilet, and scrubbed my hands one last time for good measure. The girls had come down to the bathroom, too, so we said our byes again and I was on my way.
The trail is under there somewhere
The trail was once again gentle, except when I’d hit a blowdown or 19. I’d be sailing along, listening to my audiobook, not a care in the world, then get smacked with a jungle gym of trees the size of minivans piled over the trail. I’d venture around, up and over or under, take a breather, and then keep moving. These trees are so massive, and so absolutely beautiful. There’s moss dangling from their very high limbs, and such greenery all around. It’s truly beautiful when you’re not in the chaos of the blowdowns.
Once I got to the top of the morning’s climb, which never really felt all that much like climbing, I sat and ate lunch.. it was almost exactly noon and my stomach for the first time in a while actually growled. I ate while sitting on a log, listening to my book (One Second After, really good, fyi) and felt completely at ease. I couldn’t care less if I walked 15 more miles or only two. I was just going to see where the day took me.
I did hit some patches of snow today. But all said and done, if you put every patch I walked over together, it all combined took less than a minute to get over. So I won’t complain about snow today. I will say i was pretty chilly though. I hiked in my rain jacket most of the day to keep warm!
Sometime around 3pm, I came to a shelter.. which is really more like a little cabin with plastic strips for a door with a huge wood burning stove in the middle.. there was two sides that had platforms im assuming to sleep on, but the smell of the stove made me a little queasy.. sometimes charred wood sets me off a bit, so I immediately went back outside. I definitely didn’t want my stuff to get that wood smoke smell on it, so I went across the way to the picnic table to sit a while.
I took my socks and shoes off, letting my toes air out. My right foot is doing like my left foot did, and it was tender as hell. I could see flat tent sites off in the near distance, so I had somewhere to set up camp. I was almost done listening to my book, so I decided I’d just sit and listen, then decide what to do. Around 10-15 minutes of sitting there, two women appeared. They were out day hiking. We chatted a while, and then a man and his 2 German Shepards appeared. He was doing trail maintenance and just wanted to inform us incase the chainsaw scared us. Nice guy. Gorgeous pups.
Eventually the two ladies left and I could hear the man and his chainsaw in the distance. I was determined to finish this dang book! Just before 4, I finished it, and then was left feeling a bit energized. I decided to continue hiking another 4 miles, so it would be closer to 6pm when I got to camp and then I would have less time to kill this evening and even less walking to do tomorrow to get to Fish Lake. Wins all the way around!
That 4 miles started off great, thanks to trail maintenance guy. Plus the trail was lush and gorgeous and I was just happy. Then I hit more blowdowns, slowing me down. And then, the trail went through this odd rocky area that looked like the people brought in a fake red rock to supplement the trail with, but these little nuggets made my feet scream.
When I finally came across a campsite, I was quick to set up. Just as planned, it was right at 6pm when my tent was up, my bed was made, and I was sitting on a log making dinner. The mosquitoes here suck, but nothing like when Andrea and I were attacked. I had my first ramen bomb tonight.. ramen noodles mixed with instant potatoes. Not too shabby. The wind isn’t blowing, but it is cold. I’m shivering some and the sun isn’t even down yet. I wonder what the temp is… gotta be in the 50s at best, maybe high 40s?
I’m excited to get to sleep.. because I can sleep in tomorrow and still make it to Fish Lake by lunchtime! I’m 6 miles away from the road crossing, and then it’s 2 miles from there. I’ll get to eat from a restaurant but still set up camp there tomorrow night. I’m not sure if I’m going to zero or see about getting into Medford to rent a car.. I got updates today that the snow north of here is horrible, so I may take some time and slowly road-trip up to Washington to start southbound from the Canadian border the end of next week or the start of the following week. Once I get some WiFi I’ll be able to come up with a better plan. I hate the not knowing.
I’ve been chatting with Zebra, who I met on the AT, and she thinks I could make the SOBO trip before November first, even if I start in July from the border.. and that way we can all but guarantee no snow. At the very least, there will be minimal snow. Lindsay and her husband, Erik, that I met in Ashland left Fish Lake today to head north, too. So, maybe we’ll all be SOBO hikers this year. Alright, my fingers are numb. Time for bed! Love y’all! Goodnight 🙂
