Monday, August 9, 2010 Miles Today: 13.7 Total: 1,620

Monday, August 9th, 2010

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Last night I read for awhile before turning out the light, and it was a fascinating little book about 2,100 Jewish people who were saved from the Holocaust by escaping through Russia, then China and Japan.  What a story–it added to my “collection” of stories to tell to people who say, “Where was God when the 6 million died?”  Actually, it is becoming more and more obvious that He was very much at work, warning people in time for them to escape before the Nazis came to power.  The problem was, most chose to ignore the warnings. 

Well, I’ve got plenty of people who are on my case right now, not about Nazis, but about “Eat!  Eat!” Yikes!  I eat till I’m stuffed, but no matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to “put back” any fat on my bones! Susan gave us a great breakfast with more awesome conversation.  She’s busy doing what every older person should do–thinning out all her “stuff” so that she doesn’t need a whole house to keep it all in.  I finished writing, mended the knee of my pants, and then Susan  took us to town where we did the usual town chores plus more eating at the famous Etna drugstore fountain.   The place was full of PCT hikers, and we weren’t the only ones getting banana splits!  One girl said, “Wow–this is the BEST banana split I ever had in my whole life!”

There were a few more errands–I got a couple of new pairs of socks at the thrift store to replace ones that were wearing out, and found a jar of Nutella at the grocery store.  Then we went and got pizza!  I was so stuffed that I could hardly waddle, but my stomach gave me no problems, because I’d picked up some digestive enzymes at the drugstore, and they are really helping.  Susan took us all the way back up to Etna Summit–that was really going above and beyond–it’s a long way up to the summit from the town in the valley!  At the trailhead were a couple of motorcyclists who turned out to be from the town of Cotati, just north of where we live!  Wow!  After the usual round of taking pictures, and farewell hugs from Susan, we were back on the PCT, saying “Oregon, here we come!”

 

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As soon as we started walking, I knew that I was feeling WAY better than I did on Saturday!  I can hike right on up any hill, my strength is coming back, and the hike is a joy.  The mountains are dark grey rocks that have amazing shapes, as if they were once molten, then suddenly frozen. We can see Mt. Shasta peeking over the ridgetops, and it’s definitely SOUTH of us now!  Wahoo!  On the horizon, I think I’m beginning to see Pilot Rock and maybe even Mt. McLoughlin.  It’s fun to look ahead and speculate about where Oregon is.  “Can we see it yet?” is a joke for every ridgetop on the trail here. 

The trail winds its way past many jagged, knobby mountain peaks, and traverses long, steep hillsides above deep canyons.  Wildflowers were continuing to be lovely, and the butterflies were everywhere– whole “clouds” of them, flying alongside us. The trail itself is very nice, though a bit rocky.  When we did this section in 2005, everything was covered with snow, so we didn’t even feel the rocks! 

Late in the day we spotted a nice camping spot in a grove of trees down below– we hurried down the switchbacks and lo and behold, there was Blue Butterfly, all set up in her tent.  She had a very nice PCT blog a couple of years ago, but said this time she’s just section hiking.  There was more room for us nearby, so we happily set up a cowboy camp by the pretty creek.

Walk with Aragorn to Isengard: In the foothills near Edoras

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