The Safe Side of the Fence. Part 1. June 27. Day 6.

The Safe Side of the Fence. Part 1. Tuesday June 27. Day 6. ~Mile 38 to ~ Mile 54.3. 

Dear Trail Friends

Here I am at Nehalem Bay State Park. My tent  is set up in the walk-in hiker/biker camp area and I am sitting in the restroom where there are electrical outlets letting my phone recharge as I write. 

I am soooo tired I don't know if I can write this. But it was a very beautiful day and I really want to share it. As far as I can figure (I don't have an app to tell me official trail mileage because none exists for this trail, and the apps I could use to track my personal mileage use too much battery), I only walked about 13.5 miles today. But I walked from 5am to 6pm with only two hours rest - that's 11 hours of walking. 

Okay. I just studied the guidebook and it looks like 16.3 miles today. Still you would think I could have walked that in 8 hours, not 11. But on the other hand ...

Part of the trail was difficult. There was sticky slippery mud. There were lots of fallen trees to climb over, crawl under, or hike around. There were lots of roots jutting into the trail to make hiking precarious. Photo 1 is a collage of a few tough trail moments. 

 

Oops. I stuck the wildflowers in by mistake. Can you believe I was in Arizona for the wildflowers blooming and here I am in Oregon getting to watch wildflowers bloom all over again? Chasing spring from place to place. 

So photo 2 is a few tough trail moments. 

 

It was actually a spectacular hike. I can't believe all the dazzling views I saw. Perhaps the most spectacular (though it ties with several others for most spectacular) was at the end of a short spur trail I followed with a view of a places called Treasure Cove and Devil's Cauldron. There was a very narrow spot of land extending out between them. And there was a fence making it quite clear that one was not supposed to go there. 

So of course I stepped through the fence and went and ate my lunch at the end (well...near the end) of the narrow spot of land. Only as I sat there I looked down to my left and there was a sheer drop-off and it went way down. And I looked to my right and there was a sheer drop-off way down. I then had my first experience of vertigo. I sat and ate my lunch but I didn't enjoy half as much as the beauty deserved. And then I turned around on all fours and stood slowly up and was most relieved to get back on the safe side of the fence. 

Photo 3 is a collage of that exciting experience - upper left is the view to my left (devil's cauldron) with my foot in it so you know I was really there; upper right is the view to my right of Treasure Cove; lower is view of the narrow spot of land from the safe (but oh so much less beautiful) side of the fence. 

 

So what competes with it for the most spectacular? Well, there was the view from the top of Mt. Neahkahnie (which by the way was a sacred mountain on which some natuve American tribes sought visions). It showed me the beach I would walk down (beside the town of Manzanita) to reach this campground. And it also showed me tomorrow's hike's beginning and the narrow water I will need to call or wave to get a ride across. That's Photo 4. 

 

Maybe not so spectacular but very moving to me after hours of hiking in woods under the great green canopy of the trees to emerge into an open meadow (full of wildflowers) and look across it to the sea. That will be photo 5. 

 


I started hiking this morning in the pre-dawn dusk at 5am. It hadn't occurred to me to think about tides for the short Beach walk between the inn and the Trailhead for Falcon Cape. But I was surprised how close the tide came to the rocks at the top of the beach. I even had to walk on those slippery walks in one place where it came higher. The low tides have been in the morning but every day almost an hour later - around 10am today, meaning that 5am was pretty close to high tide. I love the way photo 6 gives the feeling of that early misty light. But I took it to show, looking back,where I had to walk on the black rocks. 

 

To be continued in The Safe Side of the Fence. Tuesday, June 27. Day 6. 

Comments

  1. RochelleJune 28, 2017 at 5:46 PM

    Beautiful but frightening as well. You are amazing to keep your balance under threatening situations. And to do it all alone. How do you stay so motivated? Can you ever sit still? I would collapse at the end of your day and you still have energy to write and we are blessed. Thank you for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJune 29, 2017 at 10:51 AM

    I have to confess, River, I am enjoying your photos every bit as much as your descriptions and narrations. A double treat

    ReplyDelete

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