The Day of Gullywashes, and Thorns Sunday April 3,2022

We woke in the hallway of the 19th century ranch house that serves as a visitor center for a 3,000 acre NFS reserve. Thru Hikers land here because the terrain is pretty forbidding before and after this Forest Service Land. We found it wasn’t uncommon to pitch tents there and if there wasn’t room, to sleep on the porch or inside the ranch house exhibit. Being the last to arrive, we put our sleeping bags down at the end of a hallway inside the 19th century bunkhouse. We would have much rather camped alone away from such civilization. I felt as though we were in the movie Power of the Dog. I dreamt that Terry made me play the piano for the Hummel family who were pictured on one of the displays. My mother was a piano teacher, so she played well. I was horrible. You know the scene, if you saw the movie.

We left the ranch at 7:00. We walked to the top of the hill and and got LTE signal. I loaded my blog post we wrote on the night before. While we were doing this, two of the other hikers passed us. Two women aged 62 & 70, who haven’t hiked in 30 years. Now their gear is old and heavy and they need to carry lots of water. So we assumed we’d pass them shortly.

I called my brother. Greg has been following our Garmin locator signal that tracks our movement. He zoomed in and located us on Google earth. He wanted to know why we were in a building last night. He told me what our next post office looked like. He thinks the PO is new, so now we’re excited. Later at our 3:00 break Terry said, we must hurry because Greg will wonder why we’re stopping so log.

I turned on my Garmin watch yesterday for the last two hours of our hiking day. It tells me how far and fast we’re going. With the watch on, I was focused and faster. Terry has stayed behind me this year because, he says, I lose things. So I just sort of lallygagged along. Not good if you’re on a schedule.

Terry walked behind looking for pigpen to lose yet another pair of glasses. But when I turn around he is way behind bent over with his his new app (Seek) trained on some plant or tree. He looked serious and studious. When he catches up to me he shares his finds. We both love their delicious names like Desert Globemallow, Silver Nightshade and Rock Harlequin.

Two hours & fifteen minutes and five miles later, we stopped for our first break. As we were packing up, the two women caught up to us. We’re had they been? We thought they we’re in front of us. They had taken a wrong turn. We took the same turn, but checked our app and turned back immediately. They went on, as we donned our packs. we found them on break just ahead of us and never saw them again. We headed down the hill to a road and there across the street was an incredible trail angel cache of food, water, beverages and even chairs. We had just snacked but there’s always room for chocolate milk, bananas and apple pie. OMG it makes you weep.

Just up the trail we ran into a threesome walking merrily down. They were carrying no packs. People with packs don’t walk merrily. I asked if they were from Minnesota. Yes, from Brainerd. There was a car parked by the food cache with MN plates. Somehow they got around to telling us about how their son and a friend had pulled his ice-fishing house from Brainerd to the BWCA and then three lakes into the wilderness area to fish. Hmmm—

We maintained our good pace fueled by increasing pain. We ended after a 17 mile day. The weather was super. The one water source, a trough, covered in thick green algae, has served us well and will probably last to through the next 12 miles into town.

Tonight we made a campsite just a step up from a wash. It’s narrow and surrounded by cacti, snags, thorns, clothes-grabbing trees and bushes at every turn. Yet big enough to pitch the tent in a relatively flat spot. The slight slope keeps us on our toes. But we memorize every snag and rock to successfully maneuver down to the wash.

The pebbles in the wash made super comfy seats. We had quiet alone eating Cuban Rice and Beans from the same cook bag using the same spoon. We watched the sliver of a moon come into view as the sky darkened just after 7:00. Doves cooed. So much peace to be found.