Briars, Rocks and Gunshots
- Cassandra Smith
- Mar 10, 2023
- 2 min read
Day 2
We didn't set an alarm or try to wake up a decent time at all this morning. We had such little sleep the night before that we both knew we'd need to sleep in to function. When the sun rose above the mountains we simply burrowed our heads under the quilt and promptly went back to sleep. We ended up not leaving camp until close to 11 am.
The day started out well, we were all full of energy, Sawyer bounded ahead of us to chomp at piles of snow and roll in leaves. We took a break at a beautiful rhododendron covered spot near a creek, where we loaded up on water to make it over the ridge. It was a steep, calf aching climb up onto the ridge. We met an older couple day hiking who said they help to maintain this section of trail and warned us that it was the "most difficult to maintain of the whole trail". A mile or so later, we believed them. The ridge itself was steep on either side and rocky, thankfully Sawyer is sure footed on rocks and had no trouble at all. The briars on the other hand...
I felt terrible for him, trying to push the majority out of his way before he'd squeeze through. Henry and I's leggings were torn and snagged constantly, my legs itching as they scratched my skin underneath. Soon, down below in the valley someone started target shooting. Sawyer does not like the sound of gunshots and tried to lag behind me for a few miles. It was a relief to come out to a pipeline and take a break in the grass. Between our late start and the terrible terrain we were well below our mileage goal but as the sun started to set, found a campsite by a flowing spring on an old, double track, grassy road. It was slanted as hell, but we were tired and in no mood to night hike, as we knew in a mile or so we'd be back up on that terrible ridge. The temperature is dropping, we're all cuddled up and ready for bed. I'm so proud of Sawyer. Anytime I start to doubt him, he shows me I should just mind my own damn business. I am worried though about the remainder of this section. I won't push him unnecessarily and do not want him to get hurt.
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