miles: 27
Hard day.
I'll be keeping this post short and sweet, seeing as there is an abundance of photos to go along with today. I think the photos speak louder than words and sum up our experience today rather well.
The day started off great - we were feeling strong, moving fast, enjoying the scenery, literally flying along the trail. This was until we got to Jefferson Park.
Jefferson Park is a special place. We'd never been there before and it was one of the places we had been looking forward to the most (on the entire trip!) but it just so happened to be covered with clouds and fog. Just as we arrived and set up for lunch, the weather turned (yet again) and made it difficult to see. Visibility went down to probably 100 feet. This was sort of novel and interesting at first, creating an interesting atmosphere but after a while it really bummed me out.
The Mt. Jefferson area is unique, stunning, and WILD. Very rugged seeming. We'd like to come back in the future and witness this area when the weather is more hospitable. I'd also like to see the views and put the whole thing into perspective / actually be able to place myself out here. The clouds were almost claustrophobic and quite disorienting. I never knew which direction we were walking and usually I have a pretty accurate internal compass. Very strange afternoon...
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| View south looking back toward Three Fingered Jack who we passed only yesterday! |
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| Mt. Jefferson |
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| Mt. Jefferson. |
There was a formidable stream crossing today: Russell Creek. I wasn't ready for a difficult stream crossing and this one most definitely shattered my nerves for a few hours. It knocked a good chunk of time off of our day simply because I stood and stared at it for an hour, wondering if I was going to make it across. I couldn't fathom the idea of jumping and it didn't look safe to cross by walking through it. I sat and stared at that creek forever.
Ben was across within 10 minutes of being there.
He was even nice enough to cross, drop his pack, come back and get my pack, carry my pack across, drop it and help me across. These things don't seem to phase him! Here I was having a nervous breakdown yet it was so easy for him to do. Eventually I waded through the water using my poles, shaking the entire time.
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| Ben getting ready to cross Russell Creek. |
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| Just as we arrive for lunch, the sky darkens. |
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| Goodbye Mt. Jefferson. |
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| Like another planet. |
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| Cairns guided us down the backside of whatever mountain this is... we didn't even know where we were at this point. |
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| Unexpected weather. |
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| After the cloud experience we were dumped out into this burnt forest. |
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| So awesome. |
We eventually found camp at 8:30pm, tucked away in the dirt and pine needles of a very thick, dark, still forest.
2 comments:
I'm still trying to get caught up on all your post, so forgive me if this has already been talked about:
You keep mentioning your foot pain...and I totally feel your pain! Long story short, I have severe nerve pain in my feet and hands due to a nerve disease.
Even though your nerve pain is due to hiking and not due to a disease, you might benefit from a prescription like Lyrica or Gabapentin (neither are narcotics).
Each of these work in different ways to calm nerve pain. You may need one or both of these when you finish...for a while until you heal.
If you can talk to a doctor, or better yet, a neurologist...they can prescribe something that will help the pain (that is not narcotic such as Lyrica), and may help keep the pain at a minimum, and prevent further damage to the nerve.
Take care of your feet.
It has been amazing reading your journey. I live vicariously through you, as I am too crippled to walk this.
Cheers to you guys!! Keep on keeping on!!!
Bummer about the clouds. I camped at a lake in Jeff Park last year on a section hike of the PCT. It was stunning! The "mountain you came off of" was "Park Ridge" which is the ridge surrounding Jeff Park.
-GoalTech from Tigard
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