Day 127 : Brown Mountain Brown Cow
Miles Hiked: 6.6
Mile Camped: 981
Early in the day I passed Uncle Eddie and Sponge – two of the guys I fished the Kern with before flipping to Oregon. They’ve come through the Sierra and Northern California. I do wish I could spend a little more time with all the folks I’m walking past.
About ten minutes later though I did a terrific death drop into the abrasive crushed rock trail. That I was perfectly happy to be alone for. I cursed and yanked my headphones out and pulled my feet back under me before hobbling down to the nearest soft spot to sit. I cleaned my filthy legs and gravel chapped ass and ate a snack while I pouted. Falling benefitted my aching knees in no way whatsoever and the rest of the day the back of my left knee was now stiff and sore.
On the upside though the sky was blanketed with a thin layer of clouds and the breeze was cool all afternoon. A welcome change to the climbing temperatures the last handful of days.
I slowly made my way to the South Brown Mountain Shelter and along the way ran into John who lives near Lake of the Woods during the summer and had caught wind the handle on the well pump at the cabin was broken. He had taken it home to get the findings to fix it and was on his way back to replace it.
It started to sprinkle as I approached the cabin and once inside I set about making myself some lunch.
John tinkered with the pump and realized he had missed a component so he wished me well and took off for home.
The rain wasn’t very bad but I was tired and sore from my fall and decided to call it quits for a bit. As soon as I made up my mind the rain started to really come down.
I changed into pants, got my sleeping bag out and ….
I watched tv.
A small group of SOBO hikers came in – Goose, Waist Deep, Ice Man and Just Right.
They decided to camp as well which I kind of anticipated happening. I was glad I had set up early.
The rain continued to pour and hikers continued to pile into the small shelter as we all chatted for hours. A few of us were torn about sacrificing personal space for a dry tent but packing up a wet tent always sucks so nine or ten of us tetris-ed into the small shelter.
I fell back on my usual social tactics and started pulling my stories out.
It made for good banter.
As evening fell everyone tucked in for the night. I’d made my nest up on the table that wrapped around the backside of the cabin and almost fell off a couple times in the night and Waist Deep definitely wasn’t lying when she said she sleep talks but it was wonderful to be dry.
Day 128 : Howard Prairie Lake
Miles Hiked: 15.4
Mile Camped: 995
In the morning the NOBO late arrivals headed out early and the SOBO folks petered out between 7-8.
I slept in and caught John once again as he arrived and installed the repaired handle to the well pump.
The forest was dew covered and the skies were blue. I walked a ways down to a paved road crossing and found a sunny spot to eat breakfast alone.
I had planned to hike about 12 miles to Howard Prairie Lake but hoped that my leg would loosen up after some stretching and that I could push on towards Hyatt Lake at 18 miles on.
The forest is oppressively humid but smells absolutely amazing and the birds are ecstatic.
I pass a NOBO hiker who informs me there’s a viewpoint about a quarter mile on and I sit and look out over the rolling pines for a bit there before heading down to a spring where I see Merlin.
We catch up and I eat lunch. Someone gave her a beer she didn’t want to carry so she passed it along to me and I gave her and her companions Pigeon and Mercury the lowdown on the next stretch.
Right as I was leaving the spring I also ran into Peter and we sat and caught up as well.
The rest of the day went by smoothly. The trail was even, the sun was out, and water was relatively abundant.
At 3pm I stopped at Grizzly Creek just to sit in the grass by the bridge and relax. I decided to head down to the campground on Howard Prairie Lake near there to check that out and then walked on a couple more miles past that.
At a spot in the trail that looked out over the reservoir there was a makeshift campsite and I settled in and started making dinner.
I set up my tent and sat down to eat then heard a snap. Out of nowhere one of my tent poles had failed. I tried duct taping and splinting it and eventually gave up and went back to my cold lentil soup. $400 tent my god damn ass.
At dusk bats swooped through the clearing and when night fell the only movement on the hill was headlamp adorned hikers swiftly trotting along the trail above me.
Day 129 : 1000 got dang miles later
Miles Hiked: 10
Mile Camped: 1005
That morning I climbed the rest of the dry rocky oak and pine covered hill. The golden grassy openings made me feel like I was walking through a late 70s – early 80s gear ad.
Just after hitting my 1000 mile mark I arrived at the junction to Hyatt Lake Resort. I was out of water and $3.50 drafts and free WiFi seemed like a pretty good reason to just head in for a moment and let Alan know I was in the area.
I walked into the cafe and Bob immediately chastised me for not calling for a ride from the trailhead. I ordered a beer and onion rings with my last $10 and chugged water.
Bob insisted I call Alan from his phone and gave me a ride back to the trailhead after the Cafe filled up my water bottles for me.
I planned on taking a shortcut down a dirt road so I knew I wouldn’t take as long as I said I would and I stopped at the Little Hyatt Reservoir Outlet to eat my celebratory 1000 mile cheesecake and relax for a bit.
DB and EB came by and I caught up with them – they were section hiking from Saiad Valley to Crater Lake. I met them outside of Tom’s place on an earlier section hike and saw them again when they trail angeled back in the desert.
I set off down the dirt road short cut and was at the 66 in no time. I laid my pack down in the shade and breathed in the scent of pine and prairie while I wove myself a little hat band.
A big group of around 40 women motorcyclists rode by and left me seething with jealousy.
Soon enough Tim – trailname Plugging Along – reaches the road. We’d been leap frogging each other most of the day. He asked me which way Green Springs Inn was and I told him I wasn’t sure but my friends would be along shortly and they would know. Alan and Trisha pulled up a few minutes later and we all made our way to the Inn for dinner. Tim introduced himself and said he was from nowhere but good old Olympia Washington.
We’d been to the same PCT crash course at REI and didn’t even know it. After dinner he treated us all to pie and got a last minute cabin there at Green Springs as we headed for Trisha and Alan’s
The sun put on a dazzling show setting behind the rolling hills and my aching legs climbed into a soft bed and I fell asleep full of gratitude and wonder at this entire experience.
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