PCT day 75 - mile 1634 to mile 1660 (Seiad Valley)

"In their different ways art and philosophy help us turn pain into knowledge." Shopenhauer

"People like the idea of thru hiking but not necessarily the process itself." Fomo

Today consisted mostly of going downhill to Seiad Valley, I arrived there in the afternoon with a couple of interesting events along the way, heatwave was in full blast and it sucked the will of life from everyone.

First of all, I've seen two more bears which doubled my bear count to date. First one was walking on top of the trail and didn't notice me at first, he sat next to a tree looking like Baloo from Jungle Book for a moment, then our eyesight met so he slowly stood up, went behind a tree and started to run away looking like a regular scared black bear again. The second one saw me from far away, he was on the other side of the river and despite the large distance between us, he also run away as fast as he could. Bears make so much noise once they start running it's hard not to spot them at that point.

Second and one of my favourite encounters on trail so far was finding a baby deer who's mother decided to give birth right on the trail! There was method to her madness though as the part where the fawn was placed was hidden between many fallen trees and well protected from eyesight. Mother did not predicted that it might be a path through the forrest despite this advantage. Initially I just took few pictures of the fawn and started to walk away, but then I thought that there will be many more other hikers walking through this area today causing mother deer a lot of distress and perhaps even injuring the fawn as it wasn't that easy to spot right away. So I went back, gently picked the baby up and placed it about ten metres away to the side of the trail. I've stood it up for the good measure (it was on the ground not realising it had functioning legs when I found it). My only worry is that my scent might have deter the mother from approaching it, but out of two bad outcomes I think I've chosen the better one.

Third memorable thing that happened before I arrived in town was the picture of a snail I took while having a break by the river. It's quite symbolic and I really like the light and composition of it - snail going downhill with his whole house on its back, just like people on PCT slowly trying to reach its goal, my own 'home' backpack with the PCT badge is in the background.

Seiad Valley turned out to be a tiny village with post office, general store and a restaurant, it satisfied all the hikers essentials but that was pretty much it. I managed to get to the restaurant half an hour before it's closure at 2pm, recharged my phone a little and ordered a gammon and chips which were quite tasty. I think the place dubbed as the house as I could see owners two year old daughter in her play area watching cartoons and causing havoc from where I was seated. Once I was done eating I went to the shop next door to buy couple of snacks, beer and ice cream, then I sat outside to take advantage of restaurants free wifi, owner left it on for us even though it was already closed. Two older American guys sat next to me and we started to chat about hiking and generic world issues. They offered me a beer, some peanuts and a ride back to trailhead, which to be honest wasn't that far but every little helps on a hot day, I accepted and appreciated their offer.

I went back on trail and completed half of a big ascent out of the valley leaving me with just over 2000 feet to walk up tomorrow. After setting up my tent, two guys I've been camping with last night Cowboy Dan and his friend walked in and decided to stay so we are sharing this tiny campsite together. And so another day like no other ends.

Born right on the trail, this fawn has adventurous future ahead:
Snail shot! I really like this picture :)
Gammon and chips:
Seiad Valley from above:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Appalachian Trail (day 77) - Hikers Welcome Hostel to Eliza Brook Campsite / mile 1816

Image
"After hiking in White Mountain's everything else seems easy" Sue First day in the White's, I can confirm now that terrain here is unlike anything we faced on the AT so far. In the morning I had a coffee and a breakfast muffin at the hostel, surprisingly despite the early hour Tum Tum, Iceman, Yukon and Gutsy were up as well. Weather was supposed to be a mixed bag but we were all determined to climb Mt Moosilauke today. I headed out and started the 4000 feet climb first, it was a long, steady uphill going through well maintained terrain, problems only started at the top. Day was quite windy, combined with the rain and exposed, alpine environment, it became a recipe for a very wet, cold and uncomfortable time. At the top wind was pushing me left and right and rain was cutting across with great speed, I was completely drenched in just few moments. Luckily exposed section didn't last too long and the AT dived into the pine forest soon after. ...
Read more

Appalachian Trail (day 12) - Icewater Sorin Shelter to Cosby Knob Shelter / mile 231

Image
Today could be described in one word - windy. And it was not your refreshing summer breeze, it was the kind of wind that chills your bones and the moment you feel it you want to turn around and go back home, except there's no home and you can't turn around. The food I hanged last night was completely frozen, it was funny to crunch on a solid snickers and granola bars for breakfast. At least it was sunny, I've put all my layers on and started hiking. Trail looked really good, I could see small patches of snow and icicles probably formed last night hanging from the bushes. Later during the day you could see the damage last years hurricane has done, fallen trees, layers of uncovered rock showing that there was not much trees could hang on to beneath, trail was trying to manoeuvre around the blow downs and disturbed earth. I haven't met many people today but I hiked alongside Blazer, a friendly, older American guy. He also hiked PCT, so w...
Read more

Appalachian Trail (day 76) - Lambert Ridge to Hikers Welcome Hostel / mile 1799

Image
Hot, humid, stormy day. My goal was to place myself withing the short distance before the climb to Mount Moosilauke. AT in New Hampshire definitely prooved from the very begining that it means business. The first and second climb of the day:  Smarts Mountain and Mt Cube were steep and rocky, the path was muddy, overgrown and not very well marked, combined with the hot and humid weather I was moving at a snail's pace. Views were quite rewarding though and after the initial struggle trail got easier for the rest of the day. I've seen yet another two bear cubs, no mother in sight this time around which got me a bit spooked. Cubs climbed so high up the tree I could hardly see them from the trail, they were so incredibly agile! I've taken a blurry video of the couple as I thought it was fairly safe to do so, that's 10 black bears I've seen so far on Appalachian Trail.  At one point I took a break  by the road and tried to dry my feet a...
Read more