Sunday, August 15, 2004
Two Months on the Trail
Two Months on the Trail
08/15/04
So here's what the rest of the day was like. It actually started last night. I finished journaling around 9:30 and fell fast asleep. From the midst of that sleep, I heard, "Cupcake" in Spur's voice. I said, "Yeah?" and they rolled into camp. I was pretty out of it, but I invited them to set up next to me. Their noises kept me up a short while, but I was soon fast asleep.
I woke up at 5:30 and saw that Spur was still asleep, perhaps a first. Since they said they'd like a late start, I went back to sleep, but by 8, I just couldn't stay in my bag any longer. By 10 I have to leave. I'm worried about my foot injury and afraid it's going to slow me down. I don't want to be left behind.
Before too long on the trail, I saw the most amazing bird, amazing in that it was so unexpected and that I'd never even seen a photograph of this kind of bird. Perhaps it was a stork or a type of crane. It was a wading bird with long legs, anostrich-like light brown body, a long neck, and a head topped with red feathers and a wader's beak. In all, it stood over 2.5' tall. It was not too afraid of me. It actually walked toward me as it foraged. I got some good shots of it. As I walked past, it took flight for a short distance. It began to whoop as I moved further along the trail, then, it got a reply. There were two of them! They did the standard, "Are you there?" "Yes, I'm still here," "OK, good" 3-part persiflage. (I just learned that word. I have a Thesaurus and Dictionary in my Palm, and banter wasn't quite the right word, so persiflage: frivolous bantering talk:*light raillery.) They did it until I was out of earshot. They were really cool.
Heart-Stopping
I saw wolf tracks today that were so big, they triggered an instinctual fear that said, "Pay attention. This thing can take you out." I can't imagine how big this thing was.
I saw bear scat on the trail all day, and even a few black bear tracks. I also saw more frogs. It's so good to see frogs.
My path was headed upstream along the Snake River for most of the day. Here the Snake is pretty small; an easy ford. Later, it gets pretty big.
I'm camped on a plateau above Fox Park, just south of the Yellowstone border.
It's nice to be able to camp where I want to. I still hung my food because of the amount of bear scat I saw today. Something in the near distance has bells. Cows?
