Day 147: Seiad Valley

8/10/20; mile: 1,661; elevation: 4,300 ft.

Without an alarm nor sunrise, I was up early and hiking by 0600. When my heart and mind is motivated or anxious and I need to be up, I wake up. No need for an alarm. Mosquitoes weren’t bad at all last night in, but some critter stole one of my gloves. I suspect that it fell off of my drying rack and some R.O.U.S. has a nice addition to their nest. Fuckers. So the Fire Swamp isn’t that bad. I’m not saying I’d like to build a summer home here, but the trees are actually quite lovely.

For five miles, I follow the creek downstream starting with my headlamp due to the steep and wooded valley I’m in. It’s a pleasant walk, not nearly as overgrown as yesterday, but there are couple of areas of bushwacking. Just before I reach the trailhead, I see Bambi gathering water below the bridge crossing the creek. Because it’s loud, she doesn’t hear me. But she sure jumps when the rock I throw splashes quite close to her. Tee hee. They camped nearby last night and seemed to enjoy it, but didn’t get any trail magic, not that there are a lot of car campers here. I take advantage of the vault toilet since trying to crap back in that river canyon would have been hard to find an appropriate place PLUS to find a clear enough spot without poison oak.

From here on out, it’s road walking. Like 7 miles worth back to trail on the other side of town. But it’s still a town day, so my mood isn’t down at all. I put in my earbuds, smoke a bowl and start walking. It’s hard to make time when you find so many blackberries along the way. Sure, they’ve been picked over by previous hikers, but there’s SO many! For me, the worst part of a road walk is that it’s hard to find an appropriate place to take a piss. Out in the boonies, the only other people are fellow hikers, and they get it should one “catch” you. But here, there are cars and ranches and homes. You just don’t really know when eyes are upon you. And the closer you get to town, the more congested it gets…relatively speaking.

As the morning wears on, the temps rise along with the humidity. It’s going to be a warm one down here. Once on Highway 96 (east-west oriented), it’s hard to find shade to walk in. And then I start feeling some pain in my hamstring. Road walking is likely the culprit. It’s repetitive, not giving my legs a change of pace like the trail provides. What really kills you on this stretch is you once the road bears to the east, you’re on the south bank of the Klammath River. You can actually SEE the town on the other bank. It’s RIGHT THERE!. But no, we have to walk a bit upstream to the bridge. I’ve read stories of people who’ve swum across, but the properties on the north bank are private, so it’s not advised. But tempting in this heat.

I stop at the store first and take a walk around to see if there’s anything I need. Due to my speed and getting ahead of schedule, I don’t really NEED anything. I get some snack stuff then head next door to the cafe for REAL food. And there’s the Cuddle Puddle gang again. As I sit, place my order and chit-chat with the gang, Polar Bear and Bambi join me. With the lunch rush, service is a bit slow to get my food, but the company is grand. And so is the strawberry shake! With a full belly (not for long most likely), I head back out and head to the Wildwood Tavern.

The Tavern is closed to everyone but hikers due to Covid. They’re providing camping, showers, laundry, device charging, air conditioning, a minimal menu and hiker resupply. Oh, and beer on tap! By now, it’s in the 90’s outside, so I crash inside with the other hikers. I find an outlet for my battery to charge, order a beer and kabitz with my friends. Tommy-So-Happy takes the chance for a shower and laundry, so is given some loner “clothes”. I swear I think it’s a donated choir gown. He takes our grief in stride like only Tommy can. And I catch Vader napping, still clutching his phone. I almost got it out of his hands without him noticing. Almost.

At 6 I pack up and head out with 4 liters of water, planning for a dry camp. It’s still in the upper 90’s but I don’t want to camp here tonight. If I do, I’ll just drink too much beer with my friends. And the climb out of here is brutal in the sun since it’s dry and a former burn zone so it’s exposed. Doing that in the morning dehydrated with a hangover doesn’t sound fun or wise. I figure since the trail initially climbs the south and east face of the mountain, I’ll be mostly in the shade as the sun is setting if I leave tonight.

Polar Bear and Bambi pass soon after I start the climb for real. It’s slow going and kind of miserable at first, but I know I made the right choice. After climbing just a couple of hundred feet in elevation, the temperature has dropped quite a bit. I’m normally not a fan of evening/night hiking, but this was the right choice. I’m sure that valley is holding in the heat quite well. I hike for a couple of hours and finally decide to quit after only 5 or so miles of hiking. The next listed Guthooks camp is a long ways off, and I don’t like scrounging for a site in the real dark. But I got the worst of the climb out of the way.

Not a bad day. I woke in the Fire Swamp, spent part of the day in a valley town with friends, food and beer, and am now on a dry mountain ridge. That’s the PCT for ya.

Savior out.