Crosscut Trail Day 3: that makes 2 days without people


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Friday, August 25th, 2017

It was cold overnight in this damp ravine, I had the sleeping bag over my head to capture my breath for a bit of warmth. Breakfast is a numb-fingers affair; I eat the last of my eggs. The plan for today is to hike up at least to that ridge where I saw the tent if not all the way back to the motorcycle. I'll just see how I feel and plan on filtering enough water if I want to stay on the ridge.

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I'm heading back the way I came but I don't find it boring, I'm enjoying the effort of schlepping the pack along in the heat. My water filter is annoyingly slow, I've had to start taking a Zen approach by listening to my breath as I squeeze the filter bag. Otherwise I'll throw the thing off of a cliff.

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Creek. I couldn't have done this hike without them.

Still no people today, that makes 2 that I haven't seen any. I guess this isn't such a popular trail, and being midweek people are probably doing wacky stuff like working for a living.

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The air is pretty smoky again today. The wind is carrying it from the fires to the west.

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View from the top of the second to last ridge.

That tent and tarp are still on top of the ridge, they haven't budged since I first saw them. Now they are wet and covered in pine cones from the storms. Maybe I should tell someone at the ranger station, kind of strange with the gear being new and all.

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Grouse. There were 4 of them under a tree, 3 scattered but this one stayed.
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Funky caterpillar.

I decide to keep going back down to the trailhead. I'm a bit worried about the motorcycle, although I needn't have been, she is waiting there patiently for me just like I left her. I'm hot and tired, I just chuck all the gear on the back, strap it on, and head down the rocky road towards Pine. It's much tougher going down than it is up.

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There she is waiting for me, thankfully unscathed after 2 nights alone at the trailhead.
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This road... shit.

When I reach the reservoir I feel something biting my ear. It hurts. I'm on a sandy road, nervous as it is, panic ensues with this thing chewing my ear in my helmet. I stop as quickly as I can without crashing, rip off the helmet to find -- ironically enough -- an earwig. The thing must have moved into my helmet that was locked to the bike while I was away. He pays for that stay with his life.

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Back to the reservoir. The earwig almost made me crash right here.

After buying some food and cold drinks at the general store in Pine, I head back to the reservoir to camp. I'm chagrined to find an RV in the spot where I camped a couple of days ago. It's Friday night so I suspect it will be busy. The reservoir is a noisy mass of humanity: boats, jet-skis, dirt-bikes and dune buggies riding up and down the beach, huge RV's all over the place. I have a depressing moment of reflection on the state of humanity: why bother to go out into nature to camp if you're going to bring 5 tons of machinery, generators, stereos, etc... and turn it back into a city? Might as well just stay put in the comfort of their homes.

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Greta's like: "WTF? I didn't sign up for this".
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Fading light on the hills to the east of the reservoir.

Stats for hike (Strava data):

Miles hiked: 9.5mi

Elevation gain: 2,354 feet

Moving time: 3:51:14