The Weirdest Day Ever

Day 26PCT Mile Marker 1328.84 – 1339.22

Miles Hiked 10.38

Sean dropped me off at the trailhead around 7:45. I planned to take it easy since I was meeting Aidan on Saturday morning, and I didn’t have that far to go.  

I meandered through the forest and stopped to take some photos. All of a sudden, I heard horrible crunchings and munchings! Giant trees were falling! Some machine was in the forest, eating the trees! I walked on a little, and watched a tree fall ahead. Holy Smokes! Should this trail be closed? 

Tons of trees were cleared out and being stacked in piles. It seemed so sad.

I wandered through the gutted forest, and found another four bright orange tree chomping machines. Driving around the forest, giant chains on their giant tires. They would drive up to a tree, hug it with long, iron clamper things, and then a blade would slice through it. It would pick up the tree with the huggers, and move the murdered victim unceremoniously to a pile. Dump the body, and head out for another.

Like some horrible domestic violence. Like a horror movie. Hugging and slicing.  

The kiss of death.

I found a spring and sat down to deal with my toe. I gently peeled off my sock. My big toe on my left foot was swollen, and the nail pushed it away. Like it was grossed out by my toe. I washed my foot with fresh spring water. It was so painful to touch, but I did the best I could.

So I laid out my mat as a surgery station. I carefully placed my first aid supplies in a row and stared at them. Pulled out my stove and lit it. Swiped my toenail with an antiseptic wipe. Turned my phone to video and hit record.

Partially because I knew I’d be more apt to actually do it if I was being held accountable by doing it on video. And partially because if it was Really Gross, I wanted to put it on the Internet the minute I had service.

I picked up the needle with tweezers and held it in the butane flame until it glowed bright red. My toenail melted like butter as I pushed the needle into it. Clear, yellow fluid poured out the hole. My toe was crying.  

I gently pushed on the nail, and piles of yellowish bubbles came out of the hole again and again and again. I pushed in a different spot and felt something pop under the nail. I winced. More bubbles.

It went on and on, so I finally turned off the video and worked on it for about twenty minutes. Washed it again in spring water. Put antibiotic ointment on it, pushing the cream into the hole. Wrapped it with a sterile bandage, wrapped it again in gauze, wrapped the outside of that with duct tape, and hoped I didn’t have any stream crossings coming up.

When I was finally ready to go, I put on my iPod, and the first song that came on shuffle was ‘On The Road Again’.  

I always wanted to get a horse and name it ‘Rodegan’. I smiled. Everything was going to be okay.

The trail was shady and soft with pine needles. I cruised along the trail…SLAM!…a huge crash in the woods!

“HEEEYYY BEAR!” Nothing. I turned off my iPod.

I kept walking. A few minutes later, CRASH!

“HEEEYYYYYYY BEEAAAARRR!!!”  

Nothing.

What is going on with the forest today?

I stopped to look around, and a huge sugar pine cone slammed to the ground six feet in front of me. It hit so hard, it bounced three feet in the air. I looked up.

Sugar Pine Cones dripped from the ends of a million branches, way up by the sky. The wind was blowing up there, and plucking the cones from their perches. BAM – another one dive bombed me. I hobbled to a spot clear of trees and sat down to watch.

It wasn’t windy on the ground, just way up there. I listened and watched for ten minutes as the earth was bombed over and over again. The cones are easily two+ feet long and pretty heavy, so as they crashed their way to the earth, it was quite a loud and rambunctious show.

Sugar Pine Cone carcasses littered the trail.  

My toe started hurting worse than ever, but the views of Mt. Lassen were what took my breath away.

I finally got to the river and a giant shadow blanketed me. I looked up at the vulture, circling overhead.

“Oh please,” I told him, “I’m not hurt that bad.”

As I tried to go to sleep, a strange note sounded in the forest. Over and over again.

What IS that? Howler monkeys?  

In California?

What a weird place this is.

I put in my earplugs.