It was a nice night.  Not as cold as the night before and I don’t even need a jacket early in the morning.  I get packed up and start walking down the road which has a number of areas of snow but nothing serious.  I know I should get back on the trail and at one point I am disoriented again and head the wrong way to get to the trail.  Realize it quickly and turn around and get back to the trail.  Always a relief to have feet back the official PCT trail.  The water source that is in 2 miles is actually .7 miles off the trail.  I have no desire to try and find it because in 1.24 miles is a water source that is closer to the trail.  When I get to it, I go down to the water source but it is only a marsh and not really a great place to get water.  There is plenty of snow still around so a little down the path I stop and dig down into the snow to get the nice clean white snow and I scoop some of it out and with my pocket rocket stove I melt enough snow to get about 1.5 liters of water.  Probably good water but I still use my purifying drops and after 30 more minutes of hiking I stop and have some breakfast and feel great.  After about 6.5 miles there is a small stream crossing the path and so I sit down to rest and have a snack and contemplate getting more water.  While I am there is man comes up from the south and indicates there is really good water in another 4 miles.  Also a hiker comes from the north.  He and I sit around for awhile and talk.  His trail name is “Freedom” which he said he got an an earlier age but did not indicate why.  However he is a retired British soldier.  Got to retire at age 55 and now spends most of his time hiking.  He has done trails all over the world.  Done the Appalachian trail and he did the PCT from south to north last year.  This year he wanted to do the trail from north to south but because of snow was having a hard time finding places he could hike. We walked together for awhile until we hit the snow below

This little snow mountain is 20 feet high and was still quite frozen so there was no walking over it.  We can see where others have walked down the slope to get around it and so we did the same.  It was VERY steep and I had a rather hard time getting around it and up the other side.  “Freedom” was much quicker and I told him to go ahead as it might take me awhile.  He did leave but as I got to the top I looked ahead and he was looking back to make sure I made it.  He waved at me and kept walking.  Wasn’t too much longer he takes a break to have a snack and I catch up to  him and also stop and we talk a bit more.  About this time another hiker comes up from the south and tells us he had plans to walk to south to Castle Crags (about 180 miles away) but got to Seiad Valley and found out the trail from that point south to Etna and on to Castle Crags was not passable because of snow.  “Freedom” was not a happy camper about that news.  So the hiker giving the news just turned about at Seiad Valley and was heading back to Ashland.  I asked him about going through the snow again and he said he was ok this time because he knew to use the road.   I told them my story about getting lost and he indicated he had the same issue when he went through the first time.  He got turned around and went the wrong direction.  Made me feel not quite so stupid.  “Freedom” indicated that it was pretty common to get lost in snow.  “Freedom” takes off an I’m pretty sure I won’t see him again because he is much faster than I am.

Probably about 5 miles ahead I get to another water source and it is about 2:30 and time to have a little lunch.  “Freedom” is still there having his lunch and this also seems to be a spot the locals can drive up to and have a day hike.  There are cars about.  When I realize this is probably a place Lenora can get to, I decide to text her to see if that is possible.  She can see where I am and can see a path and indicates she will come.  Seiad Valley is only 14 miles away but the last 7 miles are a steep descent into the valley and I don’t think my toes are going to handle it (as of right now 6 toe nails are black).  Somewhere along the line I have also bruised the bottom of my left foot and it is tender.  “Freedom” does not see any reason to continue and asks if we will give him a ride back to Ashland.  Sure we will.  It takes about 2 hours for Lenora to reach us and we trade stories while we are waiting.  We agreed on almost everything and therefore I declare “Freedom” to be a very smart man indeed.  As we drop “Freedom” off in Ashland we exchange contact information and I expect “Freedom” to be in our lives sometime in the future.

While doing those last 5 miles I come across the following wild flower.  I do not remember ever seeing it before and there were only 5 plants in this one area and that was it.

Lenora’s Story:

I’m working today on ‘Chocolate’ and watching the computer now and again to see that Don is going forward and not backward again today so I do not realize at first that he is stopped.  I get his message asking if I can pick him up a few miles sooner than I had expected so my first concern is to be sure he is ok.  OK means not sick, not injured just ready to be done for today.  Ok it is and so I locate him on the tracker map and plot my path and once again I am in the car.

He is 43 miles away and I’m a little surprised that it is expected to take me 2 hours to travel that distance but after all it is the wilds of southern Oregon and what do I know?  Apparently I know very little.  I start off on some ordinary country roads and am making good time but my projected arrival time does not get shorter.  When I leave the paved road I am 11 miles from my destination and an estimated 45 minutes travel time.  As I start I laugh.  No way this is going to take 45 minutes I think as I fly up the gravel road at a smooth 25 to 30 mph.  Suddenly I am at a big iron gate with a road closed sign.  I begin to panic then recall just a little ways back I saw what appeared to be a driveway with a small sign with the numbers 1055 on it.  I laughed as I passed it because I thought someone lives at 1055 on Road 1055.  Now it dawns on me.  I am on Road 1050 and that was my next turn.  Soon after backing down to the ‘driveway’ and onto 1055 I find out why the travel time is going to be so slow.  It is a one lane road that has some really impressive washboard sections, large boulders at the edge of the road and huge tree trunks that have been moved just enough to let me pass.  Some of them look like newly broken or cut wood and in some places the melting snow is flowing across the road.  I go slower and slower.  Finally a wide place in the road and the orange shirt that tells me that once again my love has done his best to clean up before I get there to pick him up.

He has a friend he made on the trail with him and we are going to take David to Ashland for some recreation and sight seeing while he decides if his hike for this year is over.  As I drive back down the mountain I am entertained by the conversation and the tales they have to tell about their adventures.  David finds it amusing that I drive the mountain roads with seeming confidence and then pull over before getting to the main highway explaining that driving in city traffic makes me nervous.  Remember the thing about being a country gal.  Just more evidence.

Again and again we are amazed at how close the Lord seems to be, not only in our daily lives but especially on our many adventures.  We manage to meet up time and again when we are not really sure where Don is or whether any of the roads to pick him up will be passable.  Our misadventures have been inconvenient but never disastrous and at the end of the day we both know we can still count on our Father in Heaven and each other.  God is good and we are blessed.