PCT 2007 Day 62 – Oak Creek – Waterfall Canyon Cowboy Camp

PCT 2007 Day 62

Day 62 / 5-26-07
Oak Creek –  Above Waterfall Canyon
17.70 miles;  575.7 total miles (12.4); 3651 trip miles
70’s; Sunny, no shade

I slept great last night and woke up feeling refreshed, which is a first in a while. I got up and had a small breakfast of an apple turnover and some water, then got going.

Wounded Knee’s friend was going to pick us up 8 miles north of camp on Highway 58. The hike to the highway was all exposed and super windy. We were walking through the wind farms so the wind in this valley is always blowing. We had to hike through a herd of cows at one point. Also Wounded Knee almost stepped on a baby mouse. Later I caught UB filming something on the trail. It turned out to be a rattlesnake that had just killed a large mouse. We hung out watching it until Wounded Knee came and it never moved. We all took some pictures and all it did was stick its tongue out once.

The rest of the way to the highway was straight forward. Once there we headed for the shade of a bridge next to some railroad tracks. When we got under the bridge, someone had thrown three dead dogs in 50 lb. dog food bags into the wash below the bridge. I was disgusted and wouldn’t stay there. These weren’t puppies either.

We moved on up the road to the highway and found some shade on the north side. We ran into Rosewell, who was cooking lunch.

Wounded Knee’s friend, Terry, showed up and gave us a ride to town where we got food at a diner; food shopped and got water. UB got a hotel room so she could let her blisters heel up. While I was food shopping, I got to the checkout and the woman was about to start ringing me out and I realized I didn’t have my wallet. I had to sprint back to the car for it.

We left UB in town but picked up Lisa another through hiker. When we got back to the trail, we hung out near some Joshua Trees in the shade then moved on about 35 minutes to better shade. We met Forest,______?, and Joe enjoying some shade as well. We hung out there until 5 and decided it was time to tackle the 7 mile climb we had to do. It was super windy on parts of the climb. So much so it made walking difficult. We cooked dinner under some trees almost at the top and then moved on another couple of miles.
We are camped next to the trail but it looks more like an ATV trail than a hiker one.

Scatman 2011- I must have repressed the memory of finding those dead dogs because I don’t recall it all at.  Humans are capable of the most loving of gestures and the most gruesome.  What is most unfortunate is sometimes it’s impossible to know who is capable of which or both.

It was a bummer losing U.B. as our group of three was broken once again.  Lisa did fit in nicely but she would only stay with us until Kennedy Meadows.  Like many of the people I hiked with she was friendly and a strong individual.

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Scatman

Get out there!

You can check out my Appalachian Trail or Continental Divide Trail journals too!