From Ashland at mile 1726 to mile 1738
Before leaving town we finally, at long last, saw Nightingale again. It had been well over a month and many hundreds of miles since the three of us were in the same spot at the same time. She had gotten into town yesterday so today was her zero day so we will be ahead of her again. The three of us and a friend of hers went out for lunch at the Pita Pit. Portrait and I had walked past the place a dozen times and I wish we'd gone in sooner. It was so good. And we had a lot of fun catching up: sharing stories of trail magic, the plight of her chocolate bar that she never got, and the gossip of who was where when. It was too short of a visit, but hopefully we will be seeing her on trail soon.
Nightingale's friend drove Portrait and I back to the trail head right after lunch. I was a little surprised to be back on trail before one p.m. but I didn't mind like I did when we left Etna early. I had finished everything I wanted to while in Ashland. I didn't see much of the town but I did sit on a sofa for many hours at a time and it was just what I wanted to do.
There was a short road walking section that I had managed to forget about while in town. It was only a mile, so nothing to really carry on about. The trail went slowly up after the road. About a mile later we came to a spring that the guide book describes as "not worth it" which would have been really handy to have read before I needed water at the spring. It was the weakest trickle of water in a field of high grasses. Once my bottle was full I looked in to find bits of grass and dirt floating in the water. It even tasted like grass.
The water only got better as the day got hotter as we climbed about three miles up. About a mile from the top we met a souuthbounder named Beads who did the AT in '07, but I don't know if we met. She gave us the scoop on better water in six miles and we told her about Ashland.
We hiked on, but did so slowly. Even with a lot of sitting town days are still not restful. I wonder how many zero days it would take to finish all chores and get enough rest.
Shasta treated us to move views of her snowy backside when we hiked across small clearings. It seemed like I was switching between wearing and not wearing my sunglasses a lot today. I did enjoy the sections of cool forest.
We took multiple short breaks so we would still get into camp early. My body was crying out for another break when Portrait told me we were .2 from the water and camp.
It was a lovely piped spring with a strong flow. It tasted so much better than the grass infused water I had been sipping on for the past ten miles. We found a nice camping area away from the water with a view towards Ashland in the valley. I ate dinner while watching the sunset-my first Oregon sunset. Then the lights of cars and buildings in the town came on and twinkled like the stars overhead in the dark sky.
Before leaving town we finally, at long last, saw Nightingale again. It had been well over a month and many hundreds of miles since the three of us were in the same spot at the same time. She had gotten into town yesterday so today was her zero day so we will be ahead of her again. The three of us and a friend of hers went out for lunch at the Pita Pit. Portrait and I had walked past the place a dozen times and I wish we'd gone in sooner. It was so good. And we had a lot of fun catching up: sharing stories of trail magic, the plight of her chocolate bar that she never got, and the gossip of who was where when. It was too short of a visit, but hopefully we will be seeing her on trail soon.
Nightingale's friend drove Portrait and I back to the trail head right after lunch. I was a little surprised to be back on trail before one p.m. but I didn't mind like I did when we left Etna early. I had finished everything I wanted to while in Ashland. I didn't see much of the town but I did sit on a sofa for many hours at a time and it was just what I wanted to do.
There was a short road walking section that I had managed to forget about while in town. It was only a mile, so nothing to really carry on about. The trail went slowly up after the road. About a mile later we came to a spring that the guide book describes as "not worth it" which would have been really handy to have read before I needed water at the spring. It was the weakest trickle of water in a field of high grasses. Once my bottle was full I looked in to find bits of grass and dirt floating in the water. It even tasted like grass.
The water only got better as the day got hotter as we climbed about three miles up. About a mile from the top we met a souuthbounder named Beads who did the AT in '07, but I don't know if we met. She gave us the scoop on better water in six miles and we told her about Ashland.
We hiked on, but did so slowly. Even with a lot of sitting town days are still not restful. I wonder how many zero days it would take to finish all chores and get enough rest.
Shasta treated us to move views of her snowy backside when we hiked across small clearings. It seemed like I was switching between wearing and not wearing my sunglasses a lot today. I did enjoy the sections of cool forest.
We took multiple short breaks so we would still get into camp early. My body was crying out for another break when Portrait told me we were .2 from the water and camp.
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