Colter - Desert Trail Journal - 2012

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Bear Grass Blossoms

It's Supposed to be Challenging

It was one of the toughest days of the hike. I started out following a long-abandoned trail down to the 308 logging road and tried to find the 241 trail. Couldn't find any sign of it. There were brooks here so I drank a quart of water and took two more, then headed back up to the pass.

It was already hot and humid. This was going to be an off-trail bushwhack of about 5 miles. It's hard to guess what a bushwhack is going to be like. Not surprisingly there was a lot of steep stuff, downfall and brush. In many ways this FELT like the hottest day of the hike, so I was taking lots of breaks and it was slow going. At one break in a draw shaded my a mossy cliff and cedar trees I saw moose bones. When I looked around there was an old moose skull with antlers.

After hours of hard going I came to a grassy hillside and followed that most of the way to the next road. It was a huge relief to get back to easy walking.

I stopped to cook a late lunch just after watering up at a nice brook. There were clouds of mosquitoes which followed me off and on for the rest of the day.

My road paralleled Harvey Creek which was pleasant when it was nearby. I turned off to find the trail to Grassy Top and followed it until I found water and a good camp-spot.

On the PCT I asked a hiker named Pat what he liked best about thru-hiking. He thought for a second and said "Crawling into my sleeping bag at the end of the day." That was my favorite part of today!

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