Day 127: mile 2229.4-2242.8
After a night of drinking a few beers and some wine I wasn’t feeling 100% motivated to get moving, but I made it happen anyway. I packed up, grabbed a veggie wrap and an Americano (I felt so fancy) and hopped in the back of the 9 am shuttle to the trailhead.
It was actually a bit chilly, surprising after the 95 degree weather yesterday. I headed out under cloud cover feeling certain I made the right choice to zero and make the climb in the cool weather.
Unfortunately the clouds didn’t last long and the heat and humidity returned. Which I heard yesterday is not normal for this area. How lucky for all of us!
The climb was beautiful, full of views of Mt Adams and I believe Mt Saint Helens.
I was moving along, deciding whether to stop short of where I planned for the day when the choice was made for me. I approached Adams Creek, which was looking more like a river, and spotted Dad Jokes, who I’d met the day before. Thankful to have someone to scope out a spot to cross with, we searched high and low, but didn’t find anything. The spot most people had been crossing was under water and the current was looking very strong, and as you can see we were unable to see the bottom to judge the depth. The heat of the past few days caused the water to rise higher than usual. We opted to wait until morning to cross, better safe than swept away!
We nervously watched 4 hikers struggle across over the next few hours. One was so shaken, almost losing her balance a few times, she sat on the other side for quite a while to calm down. Another was so terrified she was crying halfway across and had to return once before successfully getting across.
Believe it or not that isn’t the craziest part of the day! Four people on horseback rode up to cross the river, and thats when the day got wild. The first rider made it across, but the horse wasn’t happy. It stumbled through the rocky creek and nearly fell off the trail making it’s way up the bank, and once there was acting very erratic. While the rider was down trying to assist the others across, her horse came running back down the bank, almost trampling a hiker before it crossed back over, running a little too close for comfort to me. Phew! Now the rider was stuck on the other side with no horse, oh my! After a few more stressful situations all the horses hesitantly crossed and the riders were off! That was intense!
Meanwhile Joe and Madelyn (a couple I met yesterday) joined Dad Jokes and I, making the choice to wait until tomorrow to cross. We set up our tents near the creek with the intention of crossing first thing. The plan is to cross at 6 am, I haven’t been on trail that early since the LA Aqueduct. Wish me luck people!
Goodnight!
XOXO Green Light