Have you ever experienced the feeling of being more alone around other people than you are with just yourself? That was surely the way we were feeling today. We needed to be alone and have an adventure. Since the last few days before this hike the snow levels had plummeted to pass levels, I knew that we were locked out of my favorite mountain trails as they were still in the vice-like grip of winter even here in the middle of June. So I had to come up with a good hike that would ideally keep us below 4000 feet of elevation. Not easy in the Columbia River Gorge to be honest. But I didn't have to think long before I knew what we should do.
So there is a trail system I know extremely well in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. In fact there are a lot of trails in this area that are popular and written about in all the hiking books. Normally when I have been up in this area I am already on a 16-20 mile trek and don't have time to explore other trails. But there has always been this one path that veers off the main trail near a waterfall that has called to me like a siren's song. Every time I have hiked near it, I whisper to him that I will someday come back just for him. Well, I decided that today was that day. I mean just look at this trail.....the trees, the ferns, how well groomed the path is, the beauty....how can anyone just walk past this over and over without needing to come back and spend some time together? The wonder of what could be around that first bend in the trail consumed my mind.
I had poured over maps and read everything I could. But there are very few maps of this particular area and even with hundreds of hiking books, I could not find a single description of this off-shoot trail. It was almost surreal and made me question if this trail really existed anywhere but within my own mind and heart. Perhaps I had made it up I thought to myself. But eventually I found some rudimentary maps that seemed to show a whole new section of trails I had never heard about that were west and north of the popular ones. I finally decided that if I connected 4-5 different trails farther west from the ones I knew so well, I could make an epic loop that I guessed would be about 12-14 miles. The problem was I had no idea what the trail junctions and connections would be like between the trails. I had no idea if there would be water sources available, but it appeared as if there might be some streams running through the area from the rough maps I found. I could not tell for sure what the elevation gain and loss would really be....but I was guessing 2000-3000 feet. There may be bush-whacking involved to make this plan work. It would surely put us in some very remote areas. Everything screamed that this would be a proper exploration and adventure for us....so I was excited beyond words. I love exploring new trails....especially when I am making it up as I go along! This felt a little like hiking blind since I knew so little going into it.
Not long after hitting the initial trail, we found a beautiful stream! "Okay, this was a great sign" I thought! Crystal clear and crisp water cutting down through gorgeous overhanging forests. You can't get much better than that! I was carrying 3 liters of water for this day hike today, but was hoping we could run into several more water sources so we would not need to conserve and could drink with wild abandon. The water was cold and refreshing for sure!
Now I am going to share with you a very private and embarrassing thing that happens when we first find water. I cannot explain why or how this ever started. But one day Nova just started to squat and urinate in water every time we found it....lakes, rivers, ponds, it doesn't matter; she somehow thinks that is where you should go potty. She is always careful to only then drink up stream of where she does this. It took a few times for Josie the Wolf to learn this funny, but important lesson. Both Nova and I use to laugh at her when she made the mistake of drinking downstream! We all stay away from being downstream of Nova now. But then Josie started to do it too. So it is real embarrassing to come to a watering hole with my girls if anyone else is around to witness this unnatural event. Luckily there were not going to be much in the way of people on today's adventure!
So after squatting in the cold water and relieving themselves in the river, the girls and I moved up into pristine forests. We found foxglove plants with their beautiful bell shaped flowers that were as tall as I was. There were wild purple Irises, along with red Indian Paintbrush and white Daisies. There were butterflies fluttering about everywhere. So many different types it was mesmerizing! Of course there were the Monarch looking guys, but I also saw small orange ones, black ones, lime green ones and my new favorite.....white butterflies with black stripes and red "eye-like" dots on their backs. These ones were the most interactive with us....flying around our faces, trying to part our hair and almost landing on us at times. Even Josie seemed to enjoy them and stopped trying to catch them like a mid-air floating potato chip.
The most enchanting thing we experienced on the unexplored paths today was surely the simple fact that we were walking on serpentine like trails through forests screaming with life. There is very little so beautiful to me as a simple brown dirt path winding through a forest. There is a peace there that passes understanding. You can stop and just smell the forest. You can feel the humidity rise as you duck beneath the trees. You can watch the sun filter down from the heavens to kiss the ground beneath your boots. You can hear the birds sing and the breeze move through the branches above and around you. It is truly magical. I know someone else might look at a picture of a trail through the trees and think "So what? What is the big deal?" But I say it is everything if you stop and soak it in. Everything. These trails draw me forward like a magnet. I could not stop if I wanted to.
I learned that most of the trails I was on today were owned and managed by DNR (the Department of Natural Resources). I had no idea their trails would be so amazingly maintained! We never even had to step over a downed tree the entire day! It felt like princess hiking and since we were on such a remote and unmapped system, that was particularly surreal! All I can say is thank you DNR--you guys rock!
There were two connections to make that were a bit unknown on the trails. These were mostly where the trails would cross old logging roads, but where you were expected to hike along the road for a bit until you could find the trail again on the other side. The problem was that there were no signs in these two particular areas to tell you which way to go. I went off instinct alone and both times was spot on. I love when that happens!
I have no idea what was wrong with me on this hike, but for some reason I was utterly famished. Normally I eat a tiny bit in the morning before leaving home....usually like 100-200 calories of peanut butter. Then I hit the trail and feel no need to eat again until about 5pm. We had only hiked maybe 2-3 miles when I found myself feeling that I would pass out if I didn't eat something. So I rummaged with frustration in my pack's side pouch to see what I could find. I had a miniature bag of mini gummy bears...exactly 8 tiny bears in total as I counted them. I gobbled the little guys down and thought that would be the end of it. About 15 minutes later, I knew it was not. I rummaged in the other side pouch remembering I had had a fruit leather strip for emergencies in there for the last 2 years or so. I gobbled it down in about 3 bites and thought that would surely be the end of this silliness. Alas, when we hit almost 6 miles I would have eaten a bear if one had crossed my path. So in that moment I learned something new about myself. While standing on a ridge where a section of trees had been logged a few years ago, I dropped my pack off my back to search for food. Apparently I am willing to suffer for hours and many miles post-holing through snow and ice battling frost bite, scratches and changing skin color, because I refuse to take my pack off for pants to put on over my shorts........but I get a little hangry and that pack comes off faster than a rodeo cowboy on his first bull. But finding a snack size zip-lock bag of Golfish crackers soothed the beast inside me and I felt like a new woman after eating those 3 handfuls one unladylike fistful at a time! Even Josie and Nova looked at me in surprise and disgust. "I'm sorry." I mumbled around the food in my mouth proving I had lost all manners on this hike! "Josie, am I more of a Beast than you are today?" I asked the wolf. Her face was the only response I needed.
After being able to carry on with the help of the goldfish, we started to climb in earnest. Higher and higher we went with views peaking out of Mt. St. Helens to our North and huge vast expanses of forest all around us. The sky was blue save for some white puffy cumulus clouds moving to their own beat above us. Eventually we reached the connecting trail I had been watching for. I finally knew right where I was. My plan was working!! We were standing across a single track logging road from the other trail system I have been on dozens of times. I calculated that we were about halfway through the hike. This is typically when we want to find a place to lay out on our hiker's quilt and get in some reading and napping in the sunshine. But we had yet to find a good place to do so. After a brief period of deliberation, I remembered that with a 3 mile round trip climb from where we stood, there is a secret meadow. What's three more miles I said to the girls and told them their supper awaited them at the meadow! So up we went moving through higher elevation bear-grass and more flowers along with alpine trees. We were surprised we had not run into snow!
We made it to my secret meadow with views of several volcanoes. But most were being shy and hiding in the clouds today. Just like last week, Mt. St. Helens kept her head in the clouds. "I think she is being bashful," I thought!
This meadow has some unique low growing plants intermingled with rocky sections throughout it. So as not to smash any fragile plants, I chose a rocky island to lay out our quilt. I arranged some of the rocks beneath the quilt to line the sides of my body and it felt like I was being cradled by the earth to lay in the channel I created. "This is better than a four poster bed!" I said to the girls who were both ready to lay down with me and eat their supper.
But I was so distracted by the brand new pair of hiking boots I was wearing today that I could hardly peel and eat my juicy orange! These were a colorful pair of Merrell hikers. I knew it would only be a matter of time before they turned completely brown like all my other boots, but I was determined to enjoy them for as long as I could. Nova only cared about the little bone she was chewing on and not my bright boots despite my trying to convince her to appreciate them with me. Alas.
I was reading a new book today that was completely captivating. It is called the Limey Project and is about two British guys who came to the States to ride 5000 miles by bicycle never having really done anything like that before. They were meeting Americans and trying to understand the cultural differences as well as manage their own expectations of what this would be like. It is hysterical and had me repeatedly and loudly laughing out loud! Have I told you before how I love UK humor! Their sarcasm and discussion of the taboo is unmatched. They are a blessed group of people who make my heart very happy. Eventually the warm sun kissing my skin and the gentle breeze caressing my soul had me falling into a hard fast sleep in my rocky cradle.
Something woke me with a start and I realized it was because the sun had lost some of its heat against my skin and I was feeling a coldness creeping in. That can only mean one thing I thought.....it is later in the day than I think it should be! I pulled out my pedometer that also gives me the time and my jaw dropped to see that it was just after 7pm! Had I been lost in a time machine I thought?? I shook the pedometer and looked again. I had somehow lost hours while reading and napping!! I did some quick calculations. I figured we had about 6 more miles to hike out on new trails. Of course I did not know if that would be uphill or downhill or if there would be water or any of the things I was unsure about in my first 9 miles as it was all exploration trail from here out. I knew today, being the official first day of summer, was also the longest day of the year! That meant sunset should not happen until 9:03pm. That gave us about 2 hours to get to the truck. "Six miles in two hours....not a problem" I told the girls. But we better plan to do some trail running on this brand new trail in my brand new boots! They were ready to go after a few more pictures.
We ran and ran and ran some more. That brand new trail system through the lower section was to die for. Of course, I was seeing most of it in a blur, but was trying to appreciate it as we went. The elevation dropped more than I had expected telling me we had climbed a fair amount during the day. I have gotten to where I rarely notice uphill ascents, but the downhill kills my knees and toes, so I always notice them! Down we switch-backed through the forest as the daylight was dwindling and being locked away from us by the trees. We dropped in and out of ravines with more cold creeks to refill our water bottles. It felt like we were in a race with the sun! "You will not win today!" I shouted with my finger pointed to her like a crazy person!
When you hike as much as we do, your body just starts to know how many miles you have gone without looking....like down to the tenth of a mile kind of knowing. I knew this was feeling like the longest 6 miles of my life and I briefly worried that I was not on the trail system I thought I was on....the one I needed to be on to find my truck. But my instinct is also pretty good and it told me that I had just miscalculated some miles and to keep going as I was heading right to where we needed to be. As we flew past more foxglove in shades from white and lavender to deep magenta and then crossed in between two battling creeks through a wooded ravine, we could almost smell the end of the trail. The girls go faster when they know we are closing in on the truck, so we were really flying, jumping over small obstacles as we went.
We arrived back to our lovely and patiently waiting Nissan at 9:12pm exactly. Then I looked to see how many miles that really was from the meadow. I was once again shocked by a number. We had just dropped 8 miles running with a full pack on new trail under darkening conditions in 2 hours while still taking pictures! My fist pumped the air with the challenge accepted and won! So my trail length guess was off and we had done 17 total miles today.....but it was insanely awesome. Here I had spent the entire day just with my girls exploring and putting together so many unknown trails and having a great adventure. Never once did we feel alone in any way despite the forlorn and seemingly forgotten trails (forgotten by hikers, but not trail maintenance crews!). I think God wants us to remember that we are never forgotten by Him or alone when we allow Him to be by our sides. We surely felt that when we got away from the things of man today and joined the world of trees, flowers, ferns, mountains, meadows, creeks, clouds and butterflies.
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