Saturday, August 14, 2004
A Perfect Day With Two Flaws
08/14/04
I saw an odd frog today. I was at one of the few shady water crossings today.
I'd decided to take lunch there since the heat was getting to me, the noon hour was drawing to a close, and the place was lovely. I wanted a nice place to take lunch since I knew I'd be here a while waiting for Spur and Apple Pie.
I woke up in the approved, official gravel pit non-campsite, and neither Apple Pie nor Spur had shown up during the night. I stayed in camp longer than I might have otherwise, leaving at 7:30. I walked back along the highway to the Heart Lake trailhead parking lot, which had trash cans, a toilet and a register of very recent hikers. Nameless Mike had been through two days before, as had Oshi and Sara.
I signed in with our permit number and with a group size of three. I figured that Apple Pie and Spur had stayed were we had had dinner, or camped (illegally, non-approved, and unofficially) between the dinner spot on the lake and the gravel pit, and that they'd be along before too long. I left them a note letting them know when I'd been there and that I would see them at 8C5, our official, approved, and legal campsite for the night. 8C5 is about 14 miles from the parking lot, so even if they had camped at the lake, it would still be a manageable 21 mile day.
It's now 8:15 PM at 8C5, and they are not here yet. I'm still holding hope that they will show up. As I wrote that, I saw the first big mosquito show up. Not what I wanted to see. I'm DEETed up, so that will be a big help against the horrors that may soon befall me. Although I had hoped it might not be the case, I may have to resort to physical protection from the little, horrible bloodsuckers.
Another nice quality of my lunch spot was the lack of bugs, especially mosquitoes. I had a simple lunch of almond butter and crackers, plus some other munchies, washed up in the cool river, and began looking for a place to nap. I found a green, grassy hollow in full shade very near by. The hollow was just big enough for me. The surrounding earth and grass was high enough that, when lying down, I was in my own little world: a perfect place for a nap. The only danger was that this place was so perfect, it might have been out of a faerie tale, and who know what might happen if I take a nap on a warm afternoon on the set of a faerie tale?
I took the risk anyway, nestling my groundsheet and sit pad into the comfort and promise of the next hour. As I settled my naked body into this nest, I looked up at blue sky and felt a little warm air blow in from the day, reminding me to soak in the coolness of the shade.
I rested well, and returned to the same spot to mend my underwear. The only other chore I had left to do was to pump more water. I grabbed my filter, bladder and sun hat and walked to the stream. As I was setting up, I noticed a little frog near the end of a broken log. It could have fit on a quarter with just a few toes hanging off in all directions. This frog had two notable features. I noticed both by taking (and having) the time to observe the frog.
The first was its camouflage. It had a thin, straw-colored stripe down the length of its spine. I didn't recognize the stripe as camouflage until, when hunting, it ducked its head under a piece of straw. Wow.
The frog's wanderings also revealed its other distinctive characteristic: It walked on all fours like a salamander with long legs. Its hind legs were not particularly developed. It was fairly nimble and even climbed up a log many times higher than itself. Its odd gait seemed efficient, and certainly helped it get around while searching for its next snack.
Apple Pie and Spur did not show up, even after all that waiting at lunch, so I headed out.
The trail's final miles before camp were through a completely burned out river canyon. I crossed the river at the first crossing over a log, and while traversing to get back to the trail slipped and fell, apparently taking the brunt of the fall on the inside of the smallest toe on my left foot.
