We have wrapped up Washington, at least for now, and by tomorrow we will have completed our missing pieces in Oregon. As we make our way south to resume hiking in California I am struck by the similarity between 1977 and now.
Once we reached Canada in 1977 and drove back down to Donner Pass for the southern leg of our journey the atmosphere surrounding what we were doing immediately changed. Any summer activity, even on involving hiking most of every day, might be viewed as recreational, fitting in with all the recreationists encountered along the way. Once the summer is over there is no longer a pretense for recreation; what we are doing is really a way of life, without many other people joining in.
I felt this keenly in 1977. We were not returning for a college semester; we were going to keep on hiking from Donner Pass through the months of September, October and November. In 1977 that meant we would encounter few people for the rest of our journey; that promises to still be true this year. Though she is not capable of analyzing the situation I suspect Cindy has a similar feeling welling up now.
After Chinook Pass we encountered many thru-hikers, though only two we met before, Top Shelf and K2. The rest are further north or done. We chatted with Whiskey, Bard (who had a neat Rover guitar strapped to his back), Don Creosote, Tabasco, Leftovers, Milkshake, Hobo, Apache, Trolley and others. Milkshake clued us in to the Boneyard Brewery in Bend, which we intended to visit. We also had a nice time with Leith and Sally at Lutz Lake and a very nice talk with Joe the bow hunter.
Hobo and Milkshake
Once we came back to Oregon the thru-hiker funnel was cut off. All northbounders are north of here by now, the very few southbounders are south. We may encounter a few of the latter when we skip back down to California, but there aren’t many of them. The only folks we encounter hiking now are ourselves.
What impact will this have on Cindy? It’s hard to say. Our hike through Washington revealed that company has been increasingly important to her. Will that need continue to increase even as we become more alone out here? All along I’ve been ready to “pull the plug” if I felt she would be happier back home. We will just have to see how this plays out.
In 1977 I eventually came to terms with thru-hiking as a way of life. What helped was sharing that way of life with three other people: Savitt, Ken and Dan. Hopefully Charissa, Mike and I can provide similar comfort for Cindy.
