Charlie Hyde - Pacific Crest Trail Journal - 2010

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Columbine and Tiger Lily

What a Day for a Daydream..Custom Made for a Daydreamin' Boy...

Plenty of time for some good daydreaming today, didn't see a soul on
the trail all day until 5:30 when southbounder Matt/Chocolate and
Cheese and I passed.
The daydreaming didn't keep me from realizing how tired I was pretty
much all day. Might have had something to do with not getting a very
good sleep. Even though it was great fun catching up with old friend
Chief Daddy and the others in the hiker hut, the carousing and tv
watching until 2:00 am in the room I was trying to sleep in didn't
work so well. Next time I'll splurge and get a private room.
Perhaps also contributing to my fatigue were the hot west facing scree
slopes I was on most of the day. The heat really saps my strength and
rather than use my umbrella I chose to use both trekking poles to save
my joints. Tomorrow I think I'll use the chrome dome again to keep
cooler.
Rather than list the dozens and dozens of reasons to hate scree
slopes, I'm going to mention the one nice thing I can say about them,
they provide homes for my favorite mountain beasts, the fuzzy wuzzy
bright eyed marmots!
Instead I'm going to give you some of the many reasons I absolutely
LOVE the forests: they provide shade from the hot sun. They often have
cool breezes flowing through them. They're quiet. They're mysterious.
The duff or forest debris and needles make a soft trail that's easy on
the feet, knees, hips, and back. There's no scree. The trail usually
has a steady slope not a lot of tiring roller coastering up and down.
Woodpeckers! Fungus. Dozens of different kinds of cones. Moss. Owls.
Good hiding places if you want one. Usually few mosquitos. Bilbo loved
them and the Ents. Shade, shade, shade. I love em, especially
northwest forests with lots of old growth Douglas Fir. And they're
great for skiing in winter!.
To be fair to scree I will mention one thing I dislike about some of
the forests here: they are home to the little flying gnats that dance
around in front of your face before dive bombing into your eyes or
flying into your nose.
Off to bed just as Pika and Catch Up roll into my private little
campsite in the dark. Ah well, there are only so many watering holes
in these mountains.
{startlocation=Etna
Summit}





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