Me 2007-08-05 The breaking of the fellowship
August 5th, 2007
 |
The bed was so comfortable, the duvet so thick and soft. I can’t remember the last time I slept on something like that. I miss my bed. But as I wrote at the CA/OR border, the trail goes on and so must I. |
Laura had prepared a hearty oatmeal breakfast with fresh apple and strawberries. I finished my bowl, then the pan and she drove me to the trail. I said goodbye to Blue Sky, now back in the real world as Caitlin. Hopefully not for the last time. Both she and George have said they’d come visit me on the trail though you can never hold someone to that. People get jobs and commitments and the hike they did over summer becomes less important. I’ll do my best to visit them on the way out which I guesstimate to be the last week of September.
I walked alone up the road from where we were picked up yesterday. Caitlin and I didn’t walk side by side but it still felt odd to be without anyone at this point. At the sign I stepped back into the forest and more pressing things came to mind. Avoiding poison oak, where the next reliable water was, when I could stop for a snack. The walking was incredibly easy. If the rest of Oregon is like this I’m not surprised that people say it can be done in 3 weeks. I could have done a lot more today but there’s no point. I only need to do 20s until Thursday so by 5:30 I had settled next to Little Hyatt Reservoir to cook dinner and sleep. Then I discovered I have lost my ground sheet. That was really useful, and worth the few ounces on my back. Maybe someone will overtake me with it tomorrow. A few cars, a truck (that almost got stuck in the mud) a quad and a motorbike have driven past while I’ve been here. Though the setting is nice I regret being off the trail and near ‘civilisation’.
Apart from Gary, the only other hikers I saw today were from a near-by church camp. A very cheerful bunch they immediately offered to take my photo, then got one for themselves with the strange explorer guy they’d found in the woods. A nice bunch of people, very interested in the trail and gave me some fresh water which was very welcome as the next source had lumpy bits.
More photos of this day’s journey can be found at Ashland to Crater Lake
Distance today: 22.1 miles. Total distance: 1748.4 miles
August 6th, 2007 at 9:54 pm
I just read about four blog entries, so this is a bit jumbled… I agree with Bex about the “car park” image. I think that was a piggy amount of icecream to eat (though you probably deserved it) and you should bring me back some of these blackberries you keep finding.
Sorry to hear Blue Sky has gone but glad to know you’re still going strong. Just think, with all this practice you should be able to piggy-back me on the next hike we do back here 
.
!
Keep going strong and make the most of it