Memories from July 29
This looks like a pretty nice place, right?
That’s why, when my resupply boxes delivery date was updated to today from yesterday, I was of the opinion that is would just hang around until the mail carrier dropped it off. Jan, however, caught a ride into Ashland since wanted to exchange his Darn Thoughs (Darn Tough socks have a warranty which lets you replace them if they have holes for the entire life of the sock which makes them the favored brand of sock for most through hikers I’ve met). While he was doing that, I took a bath in the Jacuzzi in our room. Perhaps we were each productive in our own way.
Jan showed up before the mail carrier with both our resupply boxes as I’d given him my ID to get my package from general delivery if he could. They even gave him a box for someone with my last name but a different first name. We left that one for the mail carrier to take back to General Delivery. By the time we’d repacked our backpacks, it was noon and we are lunch at the restaurant. Finally, by 2pm, we got back on the trail.
Since it was hot, we made the questionable decision to hike what we thought would be a shadier route back to the trail, then re-hike a mile or two instead of walking back up the exposed road we’d come in on. In practice, the route we took was steep enough that we were covered I sweat by the time we could start re-hiking back to the road where we’d gotten off to go to Callahan’s. In slightly mutinous mood, we considered just walking up the nearby I-5 to Canada.
The trail that evening started rather undecided as to whether it wanted to go up or down, switching frequently. Eventually, it decided to break out along a hill where we could see Pilot Rock.
Since we didn’t make it as far as planned, Jan and I decided to synchronize schedules for the Oregon in 2 Weeks Challenge but not hike together. He likes hiking later and I prefer to get up earlier. It’s easier to do big miles when you can do them the way you want but having the same schedule will keep us motivated knowing that the other is expecting to see him at each resupply.
Isaac Takes A Hike 