Sunday, June 27, 2004
Through the Eternal Twilight to Where?
06/27/04
It's a good thing we are all experienced hikers because sometimes on a long hike a simple mistake can take a long time to fix. At least on the CDT. I woke up on the bluff above the river and had sunlight before getting out of my bag, the first time on the trip. The chance I took sleeping out paid off. We left camp pretty late, around 9 I think. Our course for the day was pretty well defined. The hiking in the morning brought more lovely sites.
In a meadow, we came across a sign at a junction. It's here as a group that we malfunctioned. In one direction, it said Badger Pass-11 miles and in the other Continental Divide-3 miles. Apple Pie said the trail number doesn't match the map, and headed toward the Continental Divide. I didn't look at my map, and Spur, as he caught up, said, "Oh, I guess that's another way up to Badger Pass." Chris/Hiker 816 just followed.
The trail was the steepest yet, which I took note of, but did not voice any concern. Soon we were on the Divide, a spot famous because the previous locals used to use to cross to the plains to hunt. Apple Pie and I continued, and at about the same time questioned our location. I'd recalled that we were supposed to be hiking along a river all day, until we climbed. She had something else warning her: she was looking out for a lake. We soon confirmed that we had taken the wrong trail and that we were already off of Jonathan's maps. The DeLorme maps came out, changing our reference from a scale where one inch equaled one mile to one inch equals four miles. It makes a BIG difference in the amount of detail.
We could backtrack down the 3-mile hill we'd just come up, or patch together a series of trails to hook up with the official CDT further along. We chose the latter option and headed out.
We had a GREAT ridge walk through mature forest with flowered grassy hillsides. The walk led to a river and a junction. The junction was the trail we wanted, but it forked. The compass and map would have us go one direction, but we chose the other. To relieve any tension, it turned out to be the right trail, even though it had a Trail Not Maintained sign sitting at the base of the tree. The sign didn't concern me too much, but I had an idea of what we might be in for.
We got it all and more.
We faced a lot of questions, like Where does the trail pick up again after this bog? And Can I jump on that fallen tree then that one without slipping?
I fell twice, once I attributed it to wet loose bark on a blow down, and the other is one of those baffling falls that just happens with no explanation. How one leg ended up akimbo on top of one pole, the other extended in the opposite direction, one arm behind me with the attached pole pushing my arm at an uncomfortable complimentary angle to my bent leg, and the other arm struggling to catch the remains of the fall is a mystery. Everybody following said it looked like quite a fall. Luckily I was intact.
The tread on the unmaintained trail came and went. Mostly went. We struggled through impossibly tangled blowdowns, followed animal paths through forest limbs, crossed open areas ten feet apart looking for the scent of the tread and walked down the center of the river because it was the easiest path. At times I was reminded of cheap TV and movies, most notably strange planets on Star Trek where the forest was alive and a (was it Raquel Welch?) movie where a scantily-clad 'cave woman' is almost consumed by a wrap-around carnivorous tree. Apple Pie was struggling through a dense forest when she bumped a dead tree that proceeded to wrap its bark around her as it fell away. We ended up in the place that Gollum took Frodo and Sam. You know the place, with the dead in the water. The green surface looked like it could hold weight, but its depths were boundless. The mud was the beginning of an inhuman void. We could only walk on logs and stumps, but the logs were slippery and one stump collapsed in as Apple Pie relied on it as a foothold.
We eventually made it out of the mess, now hoping to find the trail that the former trail was supposed to intersect. We needed to get a perspective on our location after just trying to stay above the sludge line in the swamp. Spur spied a rise to the left, and we all converged, eventually making our way to the top of the rise. It's here that we would regroup and develop our next plan. Only Spur's GPS wasn't working for a battery-related reason. I had to get my GPS out, but it was at the bottom of my pack, and we were getting attacked by mosquitoes who seemed to never have had any mammals to feed on. When I say we, it means mostly me. Mosquitoes love me, so I was getting about 80% of them, while the other three got about 20%. I struggled to unpack, work my GPS, compare it to the maps, and be part of the decision-making process while getting eaten alive.
The others left as I packed up my pack, leaving 100% of the mosquitoes to concentrate on my exposed flesh. Spur began the next short section of bushwhacking, then Apple Pie took over. We were not on a good trajectory according to the maps transferred to my head. I finally spoke up and lead a path at about 90 degrees from our current course and promptly landed us on the intended new trail. The fact that we got right to it was a little shocking to me, but I acted cool, like I knew it all along.
At some point during the day, before the swamp, Hiker 816 asked if he could use my diaper rash cream. He'd heard me speaking about asking strangers for it and how Ready (Spur's wife) had sent me some. I said sure. When he returned it, he said that he'd done no double dipping. How considerate I thought.
During a break on the new trail, I mentioned to Apple Pie and Hiker 816 that I was thinking of starting a new blog called "What the Fuck is Going on with my asshole?" because I have been having such problems down there. The untimid discussion quickly lead to the fact that I was using the diaper rash cream on my ass. Hiker 816 seemed shocked and grossed out. He said he'd used it on his inner thigh. I said that I had Bag Balm for that. Writing this, it's not that funny, but boy was it funny then. I mean, what is diaper rash cream for?
We are camped just short of the true CDT. Our 23-mile reroute was matched by about the same number of miles on the CDT.
