Why Do I Hike?

Normally it's to return to nature, to recalibrate, decompress. But this August, I will hike for a different reason. This August, I will hike 450 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail in support of Cascade Beagle Rescue, a Portland-based animal rescue with a nationwide reach. Please follow my adventure or join the team by checking out my blog Follow Your Nose- A Hike for Cascade Beagle Rescue at www.followyourbeaglenose.blogspot.com. If you like what you see, share it with your friends. Together we can do great things! Thanks so much and happy trails to you! 

A Dream Written

"Beginning August 1, 2013, I plan to live in a tent for 5-6 weeks. My goal is to hike the entire Oregon section (some 450 miles) of the Pacific Crest Trail. Sir Edmund Hillary, in his autobiography, wrote, "I have discovered that even the mediocre can have adventures and even the fearful can achieve." I want to see if he's right. What do you think? Interested in joining me for all or part of the trek? If so, get in touch. Let's see if we'd make good hiking partners. I won't take it personally if we don't and wouldn't want you to either. Let's talk."

I posted the above on Facebook today. I wanted to mark it here too - the day I first gave my dream its public legs on which to grow or fracture. 

 Wisdom is the first to sign up. With multiple training hikes under her belt, she's already earned her "trail name"- Trail Wisdom. 

On the other hand, Moesha, my 15 year old, lies down immediately whenever the pack is put on her. She's earned her trail name, too - Couch Potato! Mo's job will be to meet me at the resupply stops with a full supply of dog hugs and kisses.

I may wear out, but I won't rust out! 

  

Yocum Ridge

Graded as a 16 mile, difficult hike with an elevation gain of nearly 4000 ft, Yocum Ridge scared me. Not enough to ignore its call, but enough to stop at the ranger station for a map, bandage up the two toes that promised blood and blisters if left ignored, and remind myself I would quit if needed. Not that I needed reminding- for better or worse, I'm fairly comfortable with quitting.

With so much focus on the mileage and degree of difficulty, I overlooked the other descriptors attached to the trail, such as beautiful, remote, a perfect solitude. Funny how the brain concentrates on potential obstacles when preparing for something, yet recalls mostly the feeling of sweet accomplishment once the business is complete. Yes, we remember the labor and hard work involved, but the true tangibility of pain is gone. Whereas, the pleasure of accomplishment tends to last long into the future. I wish my brain would remember that more often.

The Yocum Ridge Trail begins by sharing the Ramona Falls Trail for the first four miles. Two pretty paths through the woods that follow little streams or the Sandy River, depending which way you go.

Ramona Falls, a veil of watery lace stitched with light, shadows, and time.

Ahh, don't we all wear that same veil?


From Ramona Falls, it was onward and upward - four miles, but all uphill. Having been to Ramona Falls a handful of times, I knew what to expect from the first part of the trip, but everything now was new ground. That gets a hiker excited.

After a 450 foot elevation gain on the Pacific Crest Trail in little more than a half mile, we hit our mark. The PCT continued left for the California/Mexico border more than 2000 miles to the south. We veered right. I'm glad we didn't miss our turn!

Elevation 3900'






As we climbed into higher elevation, the trees changed and we began to see the start of what we hoped awaited us in the alpine meadows ahead - wildflowers.

A 700 year old Noble Fir at about 4300'

The picture is not the quality this tree deserves, but between my limited ability and only my iphone, the fir was out of luck. Now that I look at this, I wish I thought to capture some of its massive diameter - a diameter that stretched at least 20 feet around. A noble fir indeed.

We walked, the sun shone, the flowers bloomed, and the hills were alive. Julie Andrews herself would have been amazed! Then the show really started. We arrived at the first meadow, and it was spectacular.

Somebody joked about the poppies from the Wizard of Oz. You almost had to joke; otherwise, you might cry. It was that kind of beautiful.

The delicacy and tenaciousness of life embodied by the Mariposa Lily. 

In six weeks, these meadows will have snow. 

Approaching Yocum Ridge Meadow, Mt. Hood, and lunch. My shoulders look stiff!
 

                       Yocum Ridge Meadow. 

Man is but a small moment. 

With legs burning and stomachs growling, we stopped to have lunch at 6000 ft. My broken apart, cold tortilla never tasted so good!

 I look at Mt. Hood probably 300 times a year. I also ski, swim, snowshoe, snowmobile, and live on it. Yet yesterday, to hear its glaciers moan under pressure and to witness a rock slide on the opposing canyon wall, the mountain seemed an entirely new discovery.

Peaked out at 6200 feet.

Tom, our living field guide on all things flora and fauna.

Yocum Ridge was an outstanding hike. It works you - we started at 8 am and returned to the cars at 715 - but it rewards you with a soul-filling beauty that lingers long after being off the trail.  I was happy I didn't let my initial insecurities keep me from trying. I never once thought about quitting until I was about a mile from the car on the return trip when quitting wasn't all that appealing anyway. My knee hurt, my toes were crushed, but mostly, I was tired. Those things I can live with. What would be harder to live with is allowing an ambition to shrivel in the grass, to wither and contract, before it ever has a chance to grow.