Date: 2004-05-11
From: Little Wilson Creek Wilderness

To: Troutdale Baptist Church
Miles today: 8.5

10:30 PM Troutdale Baptist ChurchToday was wonderful. I had a peaceful night¢s sleep. I even slept late ¢ till 6:20 AM. I soon discovered a puddle of water in my pack. The platypus water bag has sprung a leak. I guess I have handled it roughly, stuffing it in my pack and yanking it out to transfer water to my small water bottle. Fortunately, the leak is at the top, so it can still hold water. I just can¢t put it inside my pack full of water. Also, I am grateful I didn¢t put the full bottle inside my tent for the night. It took me a while to get things dried out to pack up, but everything that got wet was nylon, so it dried fast. I left camp right before 10:00 AM, pretty close to my usual time, socks hanging on my pack. The trail was absolutely beautiful from the Little Wilson Creek to the Scales. I even stopped to take a picture of the view, a rare thing for me. Pictures never come close to what I see in the moment, but I just had to document that moment. To enrich the scene, just as I got out my camera, Maine Dish and Oxymoron walked up. Maine Dish offered to take my picture and I took her up on the offer. So there is another rare thing ¢ a photo of me with a spectacular view in the background. I left the AT at the Scales, as I had planned. I read the poster about the ponies and their purpose of maintaining the bald condition of the mountains. The poster said very clearly to avoid interacting with the ponies. Dingle and many others obviously ignore such admonitions. I was happy just to admire them from a distance. I saw a mare with a foal this morning under a tree. She and I looked at each other, and I said "Good morning." That was enough interaction for me. The four mile walk down the forest service jeep trail was glorious. The weather was cool. There was a brief shower of rain, perfect hiking for me ¢ not too hot, not too cold. I got some water from a spring on the way down the road. I tied the partially filled platypus, in a stuff sack, to the outside of my pack. By the time I got to the main paved road, I was all dry from the rain. Before I got to Troutdale, my socks could come off the outside of the pack and be stowed discreetly inside.On the jeep trail, I saw 2 turkey hunters in a 4x4, pulling a trailer full of camping gear, and a couple on horses. That was it ¢ Four people in 2 1/2 hours. I walked 3 miles on the road into Troutdale in one hour. That was tolerable, because it was a relatively short time, to have my life endangered by speeding trucks and vicious dogs. Actually, there were only a couple of spots where the visibility around the curves and the absence of a shoulder was a problem. There were only 2 dogs, and they came out of one house. Thankfully, they were intimidated by my stern reaction and my raised sticks. I felt an evil sense of satisfaction that a car almost hit one of the dogs, who was stupidly trotting down the middle of the road after me. No one offered me a ride, but I didn¢t ask for one. I enjoyed walking beside Fox Creek and hearing the water roar. I enjoyed seeing the pastureland, a covered wagon in a field, and watching the Martins fly around catching bugs. When I got to the Troutdale Trading Post, the cashier commented on the dogs trying to get me. He was the one who almost hit the dog.I got everything I needed at the Troutdale Trading Post, except they were out of cheese and alcohol. I¢ll have to make do with cream cheese. The alcohol supply problem was solved by God¢s grace. Seabiscuit, a section hiker who had not planned to come to Troutdale, learned of my problem at dinner, at the Trading Post. Seabiscuit was finishing his section a day early, so he generously gave me enough alcohol to fill my bottle, which I will transfer to my new bottle when I have finished drinking the water in it.I am sleeping in the old church, now used as a gym and Sunday School space when not occupied by lady hikers. The rest of the building has toilets, showers and washer and dryer. There are clean towels and laundry detergent freely available. Truly I have everything I need. I even located the vacuum cleaner so I could make the carpet more acceptable for my bed. I am spoiled by my tent. But I am happy not to have to sleep outside on the wet grass with the full force of the highway noise.I haven¢t been dreaming much lately, but early this morning, I dreamed that I was driving a car through a strange town. I turned down a road which suddenly dropped off into a steep mass of huge boulders. I worried that the car would get stuck, and I wouldn¢t be able to make it through. I was amazed that I could physically lift the car over the gap between the two boulders and keep it from plunging down the steep drop-off.It is way past my bedtime now, but I am wired form having an asthma attack when I took the lid off the garbage can to throw my trash away. There were cigarette butts in the garbage, and the volatile fumes of the tobacco tar set me off. I am just now beginning to feel calm again. I hope to sleep comfortably, and then get going in the morning, get breakfast at the Trading Post, and hope to arrange a ride to Dickey Gap.