Start point
Tentsite at mile 1733.1
End point
Spur to piped spring at mile 1756.3
Miles hiked
23.2
Wilderness area
Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument
People I met
Slaphappy and Yoga Bear
A group of hikers with By The Way
The day on trail
Some days are remarkable. Some days aren’t. Some days are but the details of why are hard to touch on why. They’re quietly wonderful; they’re subtly amazing.
It was a lovely morning. Cooler, not hot. Kind of what you expect in Oregon. The mosquitoes are coming out, but they’re not too bad. I’m definitely going to be using picaridin regularly here.
Ketchup packed out before me, as usual. And I enjoyed the morning, as usual.
There were some really cool mushrooms that had kind of an armored dinosaur look.
The terrain was pretty easy. The climbs were minor, chill. It was easy hiking.
I came across the single most well maintained gate I’ve seen the entire trail. It didn’t squeak and the locking mechanism worked smoothly. Hell, it had a locking mechanism, not just some extra wire and a loose post.
Maybe because it was on private land.
But holy smokes was it some idyllic hiking. The kind of trail that looks like a set out of a show.
Just path and trees. No rocks, no blowdowns, just manicured, maintained trail. It was a breeze and joy to hike. Just tromping through Oregon forest, as one does.
I found a few cool landmarks, including a raised stone path to get through a meadow without stomping the fragile terrain.
Because I got a late start and we planned on almost 24 miles, there wasn’t much time to stop and hang out. Just walking and walking, my favorite thing to do.
I caught Ketchup at lunch. We hung out a bit and took off. I went ahead because I was moving a little faster. I just felt good.
There were some really fun graffitied signs. I especially loved “all hail the white blaze”.
Further up there was a really cool waterfall and some water. I took a minute to appreciate it then continued along the trail. Still manicured.
There’s just so much beauty here. Insects, flowers, forest, meadows. It’s so lush. And it’s such a difference from what I grew up hiking in. Saguaros, prickly pear, cholla, and barrel cactus. Goat head weeds, thorny hackberry, gila monsters, diamondback rattlesnakes. The desert has a magical quality and forces you to look close but you can’t get close to so much. Sure, sage, creosote, and brittlebush are friendly enough, but so much of it will get you. And there’s so much dust and dirt, which is just as fragile as a meadow with the tiny plants that grow in it.
This is a flora filled boot kick to the face. And I love it.
And it includes a hidden toilet…which didn’t have a pit dug under it.
Walking on from that abomination I found signs and bones.
And then I came across some giant blow downs. One was so huge trail crews cut a path through it, and it was taller than me.
I can’t believe how immense that tree was. It’s a shame to see it fallen.
I found one of the world’s most interesting organisms, a slime mold.
And a broken down sign before a sunken down bridge.
There was a blaze with a happy message.
And then a climb. Somehow Ketchup had passed me, and I passed her at the start of this climb. I started to bonk because I needed a little food, but didn’t want to stop so close to camp.
I stopped to photograph a rubber boa, which looked fake. The poor thing had a torn up tail which I didn’t get a picture of.
Ketchup caught me here and I couldn’t catch up after. We were close to camp, which was fun since I got to catch up to her there.
One mysterious pinecone message for someone else, and then I was at camp.
