Day 41: Going through Heck ... Together!

This bug was escaping ants - they are all over its legs.
What IS this thing?

(568 to 586 = 18 miles)

My mom had a quote for a canoe trip she and I took after I graduated from college.  It was just the two of us on a 19-day paddle in the Boundary Waters.  19 days of food and gear and a 75-pound aluminum Michicraft.  Portages were a challenge to say the least.  She would say something about them along the lines of, "If you think you are going through hell, don't stop."  (It is a real quote ... but I am without service to look it up.)  I thought of my mom this morning as we battled another day of winds.

Bear scat!

Now, don't get me wrong, I said before that I love wind, and I will stand by that.  But being out in this sort of wind for days is mentally and physically exhausting.  It has been a knock-you-down-and-blow-you-off-the-ridge kind of wind.  I grapevined up most of the ridge this morning and walked backwards for other parts.  (Jazzercise came in handy once again!)  Coming around a corner, I'd have to spread my arms to my wingspan, plunge in with my poles, bend my knees to a 45, and lean over until my chest was parallel to the ground.  I bumped into June and Flatlander after the worst of it; June crawled through part of it -- Flatlander found her on her hands and knees and then joined her.  She couldn't get back to standing without him.

About an hour into the hike, I thought of my mom's quote while walking past the shelter of junipers.  I wanted to stop to escape the wind for even 15 minutes.  But what do you do after 15 minutes?  Head out into the wind again, just slightly more miserable after a break.  So, I did as my mom said and just didn't stop.  It was one if those times where you could hardly believe that an event was actually happening.  Could it be so relentlessly windy?  So windy that it was difficult to even catch a breath?  I hadn't had that sensation since I had skydived.  And the answer was, yes and yes, it indeed could.

Our last day in the windmills for awhile!

And then it let up a bit, and/or we had more cover, and the day got a little easier.  I bumped into Taka and hiked with him for the first time for about an hour.  (Taka, June, and Flatlander have teamed up.  Taka and June are from Japan.  Flatlander was traveling with Waterboy and Ned the Fed, but those two left the trail a couple of weeks ago.)  It was a pleasure.  I hadn't really had the chance to talk to Taka because his English is a little rough and someone else always chimes in first.  (And my Japanese is nonexistent!)  But, we were able to chat for an hour, and I've come to enjoy his company and his sense of humor. 

Must have been fed before ...

Later in the day, I bumped into nine other hikers at the water stop.  Sparrow and Barracuda were among them, and, again, I had a chance to chat.  Barracuda is 7 years old, and Sparrow is his mom.  And they are ahead of us!  What a trooper.  I enjoyed them both.  Sparrow is interesting and Barracuda is extremely bright and well-spoken.  His favorite thing on the trail so far?  Rattlesnakes.  Namely, his mom scaring off a rattlesnake by throwing a rock at it.  He's allowed to do that when he turns 35.

Beyond the horse trough is a wild turkey!

This morning was pretty rough.  And although I was mostly hiking that ridge alone, I did find comfort in knowing that every other hiker out there was doing the same thing.  One foot in front of the other and lean.  Or crawl if you were June or Barracuda.