Okay, so, those eight days were grueling - possibly the most physically challenging thing I have ever done (I only say possibly because high school volleyball tryouts might have been on the same level). Pot Peak trail climbs over a mile vertically in 10 miles of trail - most of that in the first 5 miles. It's built for Off Highway Vehicles - dirt bikes and horses and other methods of transportation that don't include good old-fashioned hoofing it. What that means is that the trail has fewer switchbacks than a backpacker would like, very steeply banked turns, and that the wheels of dirt bikes have dug out ditches in the middle of the trail and shaped it into a ten mile long miniature half-pipe. Which SUCKS to walk on, because there's no flat ground and your ankles are perpetually at an angle. Oh yeah, and we each had about 7 pounds of 8-inch leather boot on most of the time. We all learned the value of wool socks. Cotton gives you blisters - quickly.
Anyway. We hiked about 3 miles with our packs the first day, until we were stopped by the forest service guys who had gone to find our campsite on dirt bikes. Our leaders, Luke and Wayne, had hiked up to where we were told the campsite would be the day before, but they couldn't find it or the spring that was supposed to be our water source. The forest service guys said they couldn't find it either, which meant we had to hike back down half a mile to another spot, and use the stream that crossed the trail about a half mile even further down. Hauling water for 7 people half a mile up a hill isn't fun. The next day we worked the whole day, then were told that our campsite was actually two miles past where we were told it was. So we hiked up there and set up camp. Luckily, one of the forest service guys saved our butts by biking our packs up the rest of the way. There is no way we could have done that in the shape we were in. We just weren't in the right physical condition yet.
The rest of the time we worked. 10 hour work days are really long. They start at 5:30 when people wake up to make breakfast. The actual work day starts at 7 and goes until 5:30. We have half an hour for lunch and two fifteen minute breaks. This time we were "brushing," which means clearing about four feet on either site of the trail of plants. Yes, cutting down plants. We got to know those plants really well. We used Silkies, which are extremely sharp little hand knives. One of my leaders described the motion for cutting down the plants pretty well when he said that he felt like he'd know how to slit someone's throat. Gruesome, but pretty accurate.
Anyway, highlights:
1. Seeing a barred owl.
2. Eating on top of a cliff above two soaring golden eagles.
3. Climbing all ten miles to the top of Devil's Backbone and seeing the view.
4. Finding Old Man's Beard - a really good toilet paper. (We decided not to bring the man-made kind. Bad decision)
5. Seeing people enjoy my dinner.
6. Massive games of riddles and jokes while working.
7. The spring that supplied our water. Everything else is dry except this pocket of moss and flowers and beauty and clear drinkable water coming right out of the mountain.
8. The fact that the hiking got easier, and that I didn't even feel my blisters after the first couple of days.
9. Getting to know my team better.
10. Getting into the routine of living in a tent.
11. Being able to say we got the whole trail done.
12. The shower when we got home.
All in all, a successful trip. And now I'm off til Sunday. :)
1 comment:
Hey, I want to plan to come up there to visit sometime in August because Adriane will most likely be in Seattle at some point then. Would you rather take some of your days off and come to Seattle and meet there or would you rather I come visit you and maybe we could go camping for a night or two and do some hiking (as if you don't do enough of that already). Or I could just come visit, hike around and then sleep in a motel in a nearby town? So many options...! I know you don't know your days off this early but when you do let me know!
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