Me 2007-08-17 Booking it to Bend
August 17th, 2007Fall is well under way in Oregon. Thankfully rain hasn’t arrived yet but it was a surprise to be so cold this morning. Rumble, Angelhair and Rigatoni all left camp before I did but the thought of a town day got me moving fast and I passed them all within a few hours.
The trail tread here is great. The path is about two feet wide and soft to walk on. There are patches of almost sand-like material but mostly it’s just dirt with ground-in leaves, needles and general duff. Not as hard on the body as granite and more traction than sand.
It wasn’t until after 10am that I had control over my fingers. They’d been in that semi-frozen state of still moving but not fully responsive. The sun had been up but the dense forest kept me in shadow all morning. The lakes and ponds were beautifully still and reflective. A small mist drifted across the larger ones and I stood on the shore for a while trying to see it forming. It definitely came from one side and flowed to the other but was only visible over the water and not in the trees.
I churned out the miles and soon found myself at the first junction to Elk Lake Resort. Four hours into my day and I’d done a half marathon. That’s what a town day will motivate you to.
I continued to the second trail and on the way down I found Arnold, a fast looking Korean guy, talking to Tony, who has an impressive long red beard for someone in their late 20s. I got Arnold to teach me “thank you” in Korean, always a good word to know, then he went north and Tony and I went to the resort where he had already sorted out a ride to town.
Bend is by far the biggest town I’ve been in for a while, and so much of it is new. We’re way out of town with friends of the Noodleheads that stayed with them while doing the CDT. The strangest thing is Rumble already knew the guy here, Tradja, after walking with him 10 years ago. Small world.
So we’ve eaten, shopped, talked and eaten. World Market is a fun store. Besides interesting housewares they have foreign chocolates and pasta and such. I bought some Lion bars, Double Deckers and McVites Chocolate Digestives but resisted the urge to buy the super exotic Heinz Baked Beans.
More photos of this day’s journey can be found at Mt Thielsen to Bend
Distance today: 15.5 miles. Total distance: 1959.3 miles
August 19th, 2007 at 7:56 pm
Sounds like it’s getting colder, but it’s nice to hear you sounding so ‘chipper’ in these last few posts. I liked the nit in a buzz cut metaphor from the 16th
Other commenters: am I the only geek who looks at Craig’s source code to see the decimal places of what proportion done he is (currently 73.97358490566%)? Or do some browsers show it with the header graph?
August 20th, 2007 at 2:37 pm
Nah, the number isn’t displayed, just the graph.
August 21st, 2007 at 2:45 am
Look closer
August 21st, 2007 at 7:55 pm
you just put that there!
August 21st, 2007 at 8:00 pm
Denis: In case we don’t sound grateful, I should take this opportunity to thank you for all the time and effort you have been putting into maintaining this site – we all appreciate it!
August 21st, 2007 at 8:00 pm
We aim to please
August 21st, 2007 at 8:16 pm
I don’t know what I’m going to do with all my free time after he gets to Canada