If you see Forrest Gump, say hi for me. July 1. part 2.

July 02, 2017

Continued from; If you see Forrest Gump, say hi for me. July 1. part 1.

So finally, 12 miles into my hike (thanks to the extra 4 mile round trip along the long Cape Overlook promonotory - I remember saying to myself as I hiked it, and it was a gorgeous trail and I did love it, but saying to myself I was like a kid who might not pass her class who decided to work on a project for extra credit.,.). Anyway, had to take a breath before I finished that sentence, 12 miles into my hike I reached the by now mythically feared and desired Sand Lake outlet. I sat down on the firm sand at the edge and ate my lunch and looked at the outlet. It was 30 or 40 feet across but the depth was hard to guess. Knee deep? Waist deep? Neck deep?

Then some people with a golden retriever came along on the other side and threw a ball into the outlet. The dog kept joyfully in. My a couple of feet from shore he was neck deep and then swimming. Wow I thought. If it's more than knee deep (a golden retriever is more than knee high) that close to shore, what is it like in the middle? And with only one hour (which by my calculations with a low tide of 1.2 and a high of 5.8, and about 6 hours between tides, could only make it about 8 inches less deep) to go til low tide, did I really want to chance it? I was already a little bit chilled - despite the forecast the morning fog and cool had persisted - and I did not like the idea of hiking part way and having to turn around or worse ending up with soaked gear. The road walk around was really long and I'd already put in quite a few miles but I decided it was my wisest course.

Just for the fun of it - why not? - I stick out my thumb when the occasional vehicle passed by. And then after less than a mile a truck pulled up beside, a tall man hopped out and said they only had room in the back and in a minute I had heaved my sticks and pack into the truck and was trying to figure out how to clamber up (it was about shoulder high) - and then found a place to put a foot under the truck and up I went. "Well, you climbed that mountain" said the tall young man. They left the window in the back seat open and we sped through those miles that would have been slow and arduous on foot. I signaled to get off at Whalen Island, well before the Trailhead that would lead me back to the beach. Photo 6 is a photo of the guys in the truck. Dave, the one who climbed out and opened the back, said to me in parting "if you see Forrest Gump, tell him I said hi." I looked at the tag on his shirt and said "okay if I see him I'll tell him Dave says hi." "Forrest Gump," he said again, to be sure I'd remember the name. These guys and their kindness were the high point of my day.

While I was toadwalking the last bit to the trail head (I had gotten out of the truck early to be absolutely sure I would be walking in the right direction and not miss the Trailhead) I walked by a property with signs that made me laugh. Here's a collage of them ( photo 7). When I first saw the one in the upper right I thought it said "no pics" - but I'd already taken some!

The trail back to the beach turned out to be much longer than I expected and it took me way north around Sand Lake to the south side of the outlet. Then I started my beachwalk south after a little excitement when I had tucked my poles under my arm to eat an energy bar only to discover when I finished that I had only one pole. Retracing my steps in the sand wasn't so easy - there was no clearly marked trail. Can you imagine how good I felt when I glimpsed the stick on the sand (photo 8). Can you see it? It's behind that curved piece of white pipe about 2/3 of the way to the grassy dunes. You can imagine how hard it was for me to spot and how lucky I felt when I found it.