Date: 2005-03-05
To: Less than 10 days until my feet hit Eastern dirt!
Miles today: 0.0

9 days until March 14th...I'm finally into a single digit countdown, which is significant in my eyes, as I've been counting since 122 days! I'm in Olympia today and stopped by the Fort Lewis commissary to purchase food for my maildrops. $325 worth of tuna fish in packets, Lipton noodle packages, and a big bottle of Ibuprofen! I'm headed back to Portland tonight, though when I return to Olympia next Friday, I'll be packaging and labeling my maildrops.No ApeCave hike today, as the road to the trailhead is closed due to Mt.St. Helens activity and the 7 mile round trip hike from the temporarytrailhead is a little too much for the friends I had planned to take. I'd go by myself, as a 7 mile hike isn't much, but a 2.25 mile solo caving trip is a bad idea in terms of safety. Ape Cave will still be there when I get back and I've heard of some caves along the AT, so maybe I'll get be able to do some caving in the next 5 months. I haven't mentioned it in this journal before, but caving is another passion of mine. If anybody has any information on caves close to the AT, please, oh please, send it to me. Thank you to all those who have previously responded to my inquries placed in my journal entries.The second hike I'd planned with Ammo and Mason last week didn't happen, as they wanted to relax before leaving for Mason's practice on Sunday afternoon. I'm going to try to make it to the Columbia Gorge to hike part of the Eagle Creek Trail, which is a popular alternate route for PCT thru-hikers. I'd enjoy seeing Punchbowl Falls and Tunnel Falls before I head to Olympia on Friday. As far as I can tell from the USFS website, the trail is clear enough to hike. The Columbia Gorge contains hundreds of miles to hike and is simply an amazing place to be. The most basic description I can provide is that it's a hugegorge cut by the Columbia river, with mountains on either side. TheColumbia forms the Oregon-Washington border and has dozens of largewaterfalls feeding into it. One of the most popular attractions in Oregon is Multnomah Falls, which is the second highest year-round waterfall in the U.S. It used to be the #1 tourist attraction before the construction of the casinos near the coast. Geologically, The Columbia Gorge is the only place like it in the world. Generally speaking, however, I suppose that every location in the world is geologically unique.Regarding Mason's practice: Mason, who is 13 years old, is in a teenager's chorus, which is part of a play production with the Portland Opera. Ammo is a volunteer as a "child wrangler" and has been working hard as well. Even if Mason doesn't have a practice scheduled for a particular day, Ammo still has to help herd the kids around. I admire the amount of extra-curricular activities that she is able to make available to Mason.While on the topic of Ammo and Mason, I told them on Thursday, March 3rd that I'd be leaving on Friday, March 11th and they seemed a little surprised. Ammo said that it would be strange when I was gone, as they'd gotten used to having me around. Mason retorted that he hadn't gotten used to it. Last week, Ammo extended the offer to stay with them with I get back from the trail, which is an offer that I'll likely take up. I've only been here a month, but I'll miss living with them.Yesterday, I briefly saw my thru-hike plans dissipate when I went to withdraw funds from my Roth IRA. The bank representative told me that I might face up to a 20% penalty tax for withdrawing funds early. I was advised that "early" means before I turn 59 12 years old. Wow, I don't want wait 31 more years to start my thru-hike! After spending about an hour on the IRS website, I found the TaxTrails entry for Roth IRA distributions. Based on my particular circumstances, I was able to determine that if I withdraw only my contributions from last year, without withdrawing any interest gained, I don't have to pay a penalty tax. So my thru-hike is on!NOTE TO HEPZIBAH:Have you received any of my e-mails? I appreciate your kind e-mails and have responded to all them, though I've not received any response from you to my replies! I hope you don't think I'm ignoring you!