I'm a day ahead of schedule.
Last Thursday it was of course a last minute scramble to tie up as many of the many remaining loose ends before leaving Betsy's granny that I had called home for the last two winters, Oregon-bound
I think I managed to tidy up the place for the new tenant reasonably well, even gave the new tenant a walkthrough, though it was about two hours later than ideal. Then I still had to make another trip to my storage to drop off vacuum clraner etc. that I didn't want to carry to Oregon. That set me behind another hour.
So I didn't get to Pepperwood Preserve til 11AM. Had planned to do three things while there, one my normal Herbarium Data Entry session, 2nd the Phenology Monitoring on the Serpentine Trail that I was scheduled to do tomorrow. Third, I wanted to upload all my Phenology Photos from this spring. Decided to forget about the Herbarium stuff. Did my monitoring, then brought my laptop in to upload those picts, and thought I could add those to the batch before "exporing" them all from Lightroom then upload them to the server. About 4:30 I noticed the time and realized I wouldn't have time before teh place closed, to even finish processing that day's photos. A well. Sorry Pralahda. Now I could maybe find time to upload them to my muddyknees site, then use Smugmug's feature to create a zip file of the gallery, that Pralahda can download. Or, wait till I get back.
Anyway, in the car again. Drove east on Franz Valley road, taking some shots of the brewing thunderstorm over Mt St Helena. Got rained on just as I got to Tubbs Lane in Calastoga, but the road up to the saddle was dry, as was the rest of the way. Passed the Walker Ridge turnoff still way to early to overnight, and figured I could make it to Castle Crags by just after nightfall. Passed Lake Shasta still just as half-empty as last year (thought I might see the bottom this year!) Stopped for gas just south of Redding. Got to the Castella exit at dusk. Two miles beyong the Castle Crags campground, just past the National Forest sign, I knew there was a turnout where I would overnight. flat plot for a tent.
Woke to birdsong at 6:15. Oatmeal breakfast. Was ready to move on by 7, expecting to buy a coffee at the gas station mart at the I5 interchange, but it was closed. Onwards to the other side of I5 to the tunnel "connector" between the two campgrounds (so east side campers could access showers on the main west side grounds, I guess. Last year a hitchhiker I had picked up nearby told me about that "opportunity" to take a shower - I'm always asking people where I can find a public shower.) But this morning 7am the gate at the tunnel was locked: "Open 9am to 6pm said the sign. Onwards. Got my coffee at the gas station mart at north end of Dunsmuir. Kept driving all the way to Ashland. Got some groceries at the Albertsons just off the exit. Onwards east on Green Springs Hwy 66 to the Green Springs Inn where I wanted to check out the spurr trail access to the PCT, and ask permission to stash my bicycle there later today or tomorrow. Stopped at a turnout at the Green Springs reservoir just before the Inn, where the access trail crossed the dam to reach the trail just west of there. Took a few photos, then drove the final quarter mile to the Inn, realizing at that point that I didn't need to ask at the inn, since it was downhill from the inn to the reserviur. Stopped t the inn anyway, and asked anyway, and bought a breakfast, then took a walk behind the inn with my camera to check out the access trail. Took some photos of a flock of chickens I met on the trail near the inn. I went back inside and asked the cook whetehr they used eggs rom those free-range hens. Yes indeed, he said proudly. It was about 11am, I still hadd time to do the first of my planned day-hikes today.
Drove the two miles uphill to the Hyatt lake PCT crossing, parked my car, got my bike out, got my stuff together. A southbound hiker passed by on the road, said he had to go get some food. Finlly ready I passed him on the road, then my front wheel went flat. That shouldn't happen because it was a tube filled with goop. pumped it up while the hiker passed me, then went on & passed him again. Air seemed to hold this time.
Stashed my bike at the reservoir, changed my amera lans (I had tried to use the fisheye to take video of my ride, but the way I tried rigging it up didn't work, so I just dumped the camera into my backpack. Now I was trying changing back into my regoular lens. I normal lens-changing routine is to hold one lens with my left elbow Somehow, the lens at my elbow slipped after I had removed the cap, and it fell onto the gravel roadway, exposed back-side glass down! Uogh! Looked, and indeed, an obvious scratch, right in the center of the back lense! Uogh! Mounted the lens on the camera, got an error msg, saying cant communicate with the lens. Removed the lens, wiped the contacts on my shirt, tried again. this time it worked. Took a shot. Zoomed in. Hard to tell - nothing obvious. Oh well. This isn;t the first time I've dropped it. It's been occasionally, randomly, getting error msgs of various sorts.
Nine miles of wonderfully blooming scenery later, back at the car, drove back to fetch my bike, then drove on to "groundtruth" tomorrow's logistics. Decided to park car in same place, biciycle north around Hyatt Lk down to Howard Prairyie Lake, This was a slightly longer bike ride but a shorter hike, only 7 miles. Finished that by 3pm this afternoon, wend back to fetch my bike, stayed there to hide my bear-canister full of food and water for tomorrow's hike. This will be a three-day hike to Hwy 140 near Fish Lake. Aboout 25 miles total, Probably about 6 miles first day after the longish bike ride with some more significant uphill sections. Left another gallon of water at the trail crossing at Dead Indian Road, which is about mid-way. I was low on gas, and had a few hrs daylight left, so decided this might be good time to head to town. Now of course it's way past daylight, and haev to stop, about an hours drive on windy roads back to the trailhead on 140 near fish lake.
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