When the opportunity arises to run with Bighorn Sheep, you just have to take it. There is a river canyon on the east side of the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon that parallels an active railroad line. On rainy days on the west side, it is the perfect place to retreat to for a hike. The land here is gorgeous and full of rattlesnakes, ticks and waving grasses alongside a river. The sunsets are beautiful, the sky open with vistas for miles and the terrain easy to navigate. This seemed like the perfect trail on a cool October day to shoot for a new goal. You see, when I start to get bored, I look for challenges. I am my own worst enemy sometimes. So I decided I wanted to break the 20 mile barrier. Up until this day, our longest day hike had been 20 miles. I was longing to push that.
This was when I broke the news to NovaLeigh that we were going to shoot for 23 miles on this day. Other than her initial reaction, she took it pretty well really. When we first started to hike together, both Nova and I would hit our wall around 14 miles. But the more we hiked, the farther out that wall moved. We got to where 16-17 miles felt pretty normal. But hitting 20 and above was always the holy grail of hikes. I longed for goal setting as we were nearing the end of 2021. The problem is when I start to get bored, I get a little stupid. I begin throwing out new challenges to myself just for the fun of it. I can be very competitive and sometimes it gets us into trouble.
So on this day, I decided we were not only going to go for 23 miles....but we were not going to take any breaks at all. No sitting down. We could squat to pee as needed and stop briefly for photos, but that was it. Then I decided that was not enough. So I decided that I would not eat the entire day. Nova could have treats of course, but I was going to fast. Sadly, that didn't feel like enough either. Since I knew it was October, I knew the days were shorter and it would be dark early. My next self imposed challenge was that I would night hike out the last 7 miles in the dark, on a section of trail I have never hiked and I committed to not turn on any flashlight the entire time and just see if we could do it by black of night and whatever stars might shine. That finally seemed like enough for one day, so off we went.
There were some beautiful fall colors along the river before we climbed up to the rocky cliff side trail. Some of these rocky cliffs are truly unique to view! Geology at its best!
While we were hiking along, we came around a corner and then saw movement below us near the river. At first I thought they were brown deer, but then realized that these were very different. My heart jumped into my throat as I identified these beasts! The infamous Bighorn Sheep that I have always wanted to see on the trail!! I have run into deer, elk, bear, mountain goats, cougars, you name it....so many creatures...and I love them all. But I was especially thrilled to find these guys in the wild. I had read about how hard they are to find and it was a dream come true. Even Nova was surprised to see them run in front of us! Look at those guys run straight up!!
Once they got just above us, they felt safer to turn and watch us. It was amazing to see how well they could camouflage into their background. You really had to look closely to see them all. But this particular male was clearly their leader as he stayed closest to us and watched us quite seriously. I started to wonder if he would charge us in a display of aggression to protect his herd. Luckily he did not and we only had a staring contest. I don't think he blinked at all!
I loved watching these guys and probably could have all day, but I had miles to push out under my boots, so we kept moving. We hiked and hiked all day long until we hit 11.5 miles and our turn around point of the day. Now we just needed to hike 11.5 miles back and take a new section of trail in the dark to complete our 23 miles! So far so good on all our other goals. I just hoped that we would get to see the sheep again! After about a total of 17 miles of hiking, my feet were growing rather weary as the sky was darkening and I was wishing I could eat a granola bar or something. But I was quickly distracted from my thoughts when I saw a very large herd of brown critters down along the river. I told Nova we had to silently run and sneak up along side them to see what they were. At first I was disappointed to realize they were deer, but then upon further inspection, I saw many Bighorn sheep mixed in! There must have been over 50 deer and sheep all grazing together along the river. Who knew they had these relationships when they thought no one was watching. It was the largest single herd I had ever seen!
As we were trying to observe them without giving ourselves away, one of the deer spotted us and silently signaled to the rest of the herd that there was danger. Instantly they all started to run in one giant moving mass alongside and away from us. Nova and I took one look at each other and both said...."Bucket list moment!" I mean how many times in your life will the opportunity arise to run with a giant herd of bighorn sheep and deer living in harmony together!
Off we went as fast as we could go. But after 17 miles, you can't sprint quite as fast as you would normally and my large pack was bouncing hard against my back. I had to hold my holster with my right hand to keep it from bouncing right off my tactical belt. Nova was leaping along my side and clearly had found her second wind passing me in our quest to get into the middle of the herd of animals. We ran as hard and as fast as we could. "Faster!" I shouted to Nova trying to catch them. We got so close to the stragglers in the back of the herd. I suddenly felt like a kindred spirit to a lion, only I did not intent to eat my prey. As we drew nearer, the herd changed tactics and the ones in the back started to go in different directions as a self preservation measure. Man, those guys can run! I felt a little guilty for disrupting their dinner, but I knew we meant them no harm and they were going to run just by our presence anyway. So we might as well run with them. It was a magical moment and my blood and lungs were fully pumping! I was ready for my night hike out after that with a refreshed vigor in my mind and body.
In the last couple of miles back to my truck, I longed to turn on a torch as the way was getting harder to navigate and I kept tripping on rocks and holes in the path. I had to move slower so I wouldn't fall. As the wind kicked up, isolated bushes alongside the trail would move in menacing ways and kept making me jump in the dark. Dang my challenges I thought!! But I had committed to this plan, which meant I would do it. What I couldn't figure out though was why my feet felt like I had walked through a river. I could literally feel liquid sloshing through both pairs of socks in my boots. Squish....squish.....I could even hear them. It was October, I shouldn't be sweating that much and I knew I had not walked through any water. But I tried to ignore the uncomfortable sensation along with the pain in my feet and my super sore shoulders and angry knee as I wrapped up mile 22 into 23. I was about to celebrate when I hit my truck and I knew I had my standard hot cocoa and M&M's in there for the drive home. Nothing draws me in like those special treats I only get to have when completing a hike. Nova feels the same way about her special after hiking truck bones.
As I hit the button on my key-fob from a distance and watched those interior lights come on in my truck, I felt such a sense of accomplishment. The glow from that truck matched the glow of my entire body. I could feel every bit of those 23 miles, but it was the best feeling in the world. It was the feeling that I had really used my body with a deep, almost aching tiredness down to the bone in every muscle and every cell that truly makes me happy. I swear, even my hair hurt. It takes a lot for me to get that feeling and it is addicting!! However, when I went to take off my boots and other gear, I had a new sensation all together. While using the light pouring out of my open truck doors, I saw that both of my outer socks were not just wet, they were soaked through with blood! Blood through two thick layers of socks and blood inside my boots! Well that is going to suck for next week's hike was all I could think! I am always trashing my feet! But I knew that it was completely worth it as I stood there in the black of night wrapping my feet in bandaging tape for the drive home!
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