Fireweed - Bigfoot Trail Journal - 2016
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Mary "Fireweed" Kwart
City: Ashland
State: Oregon
Country: USA
Begins: Jun 10, 2016
Direction: Westbound
Daily Summary
Date: Fri, Jun 17th, 2016
Start: South Kelsey TH
End: Sand Camp
Daily Distance: 11.9
Trip Distance: 61.3
Journal Stats
Entry Visits: 1,576
Journal Visits: 3,459
Guestbook Views: 140
Guestbook Entrys: 0
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Foxglove
Road walk to Sand Camp
My right knee bothered me and I had to do a lot of minor adjustments to my stride and foot placement while walking to minimize what was looming as future discomfort. Walking sometimes on the softer sides of the road, walking on the outer edge of my foot, walking more deliberately and slower, etc etc. New flower for my BFT list--"foxglove." I enjoyed the slower pace from babying my knee, observing all the goings on on the road side--all the plants, including ripe raspberries and blackberries. Clouds threatened, but then cleared. I put on my clip on sunglasses for the first time in 6 days. The weather was clearing and getting warmer--sun appeared unrelentlessly, of course, on the last day of my hike. More plants--"Klamath weed" and something with purple flowers in the mint family. Lots of water in drainages across the road. No traffic at all on the G-O Road. Some Hmongs were getting water at the spring across the Stevens Bridge. Copious flow with waterfalls going into the S Fk of the Smith. Weird to think I walked here instead of drove to the place where we did the Little Bald Hills trip last summer. Looking forward to WIld Rivers Brewpub in Cave Junction. Only a small spot of burned area across the river from the fires last summer. SO much for the need for a fire closure along this whole section of trail. The south fk of the Smith has many beautiful deep blue green pools. There was a very informative sign about the history of the Kelsey Trail--it was the main re-supply route to Yreka from the coast in the 1800's, some of it built by Chinese laborers. All the more reason to maintain it along its whole route.I still have two small BFT sections to complete around Hayfork that I was chased off of from fires last summer--hope to do those in August. I am giving a presentation on the hiking the Bigfoot Trail at the ALDHA West gathering in Nevada City, CA at the end of Sept.