email sent to family Oct 3, 2019 5pm MtTime (slightly edited)
Left the Omak Library, got to Tonasket late enough in the afternoon to
start keeping an eye out for a camping spot, saw a sign for a "rest
area" pointing left in the middle of town, took the bait and crossed
the Okanogan River to a T. No recognizable rest area, but a sign
pointing to "Many Lakes Recreation area", right at the T, on Hwy 7
which parallelled my intended route on I97 through pleasant farmland
along the broad Okanagan river floodplain. Reached a Y and followed the
Many Lakes Rec sign onto Loomis-Oroville Rd, leaving Hwy 7. Turned off
at a large parking area with outhouse and a boat launch on Whitestone Lake,
with a nice view of snow-dusted Mts to the west. This seemed like a good
overnight rest spot. Except, it was still a bit early to just sit there, so I
decided to roll the dice again, back to the Y and continue on Hwy 7 to the
Veterans Memorial Park on Osoyoos Lake in Oroville, just short of the border,
that I had considered a fallback overnight spot in my library planning yesterday.
But that turned out to be more expensive than I had expected, at like
$23/night, so I backtracked to Whitestone Lake, getting there at dusk.
As I was settling in there, a truck pulling a boat pulled in. The guy
rummaged around a bit, looked like he would be spending the night
there too, which reassured me that it would be OK to overnight, so I
finished settling in and fell asleep promptly, waking up just at dawn.
Started my morning routine - bathroom and breakfast and started warming
up my car ready to take off, when the other guy came by and started
talking, and talking - I shut off the engine. Interesting set of jack-of-all-trades
experiences - a medic, a driller, good geology knowledge, but mainly a
fisherman now, evidently homeless.
I finally started the car again and said I had to get moving.
Stopped at the grocery store in Oroville, got a few things including
some cherry tomatoes. Got Gas. Crossed the border no fuss, took the
Crowsnest Hwy 3 west, got to a T at Keremeos, checked my phone map
and noticed I had a call from the Good Sam Senior Housing person in Boise.
But I had no phone service. Found wifi at the info center in town (the library was
closed Mondays.) Emailed GoodSam and Steve and waited, got impatient
and emailed Gina who called Steve, then got responses from both
Steve and GoodSam. After a message flurry back and forth, established that
I'd have to abort my trip and report to GoodSam by 1pm Thursday Oct 3 if I
wanted to redeem my summer-long wait in the list, although Steve
offered to pay the deposit for me if I couldn't make it in time.
Decided I could still make the drive to Manning Park and at least
check out the PCT Trailhead. Got to the park, poked around a few
places before picking up a $5 backcountry camping permit (since the
car-camping options were too expensive for my taste at $23 (didn't I
just see that number before?) Got on the trail at about 5pm. 2 hrs
later just at sunset conveniently found myself at the trail junction
where the gravel "road" I had been following took a switchback,
continuing up to Windy Joe Peak, and the PCT to the border became a
single-track trail. There was about an inch maybe two of snow on the
ground, although it hadn't stuck to the road gravel, but was sticking
to the trail tread. The slope had been too steep to find any
reasonable tenting spot, except at the switchback, there was a broad
flat area at the edge of the road. Good enough.
start keeping an eye out for a camping spot, saw a sign for a "rest
area" pointing left in the middle of town, took the bait and crossed
the Okanogan River to a T. No recognizable rest area, but a sign
pointing to "Many Lakes Recreation area", right at the T, on Hwy 7
which parallelled my intended route on I97 through pleasant farmland
along the broad Okanagan river floodplain. Reached a Y and followed the
Many Lakes Rec sign onto Loomis-Oroville Rd, leaving Hwy 7. Turned off
at a large parking area with outhouse and a boat launch on Whitestone Lake,
with a nice view of snow-dusted Mts to the west. This seemed like a good
overnight rest spot. Except, it was still a bit early to just sit there, so I
decided to roll the dice again, back to the Y and continue on Hwy 7 to the
Veterans Memorial Park on Osoyoos Lake in Oroville, just short of the border,
that I had considered a fallback overnight spot in my library planning yesterday.
But that turned out to be more expensive than I had expected, at like
$23/night, so I backtracked to Whitestone Lake, getting there at dusk.
As I was settling in there, a truck pulling a boat pulled in. The guy
rummaged around a bit, looked like he would be spending the night
there too, which reassured me that it would be OK to overnight, so I
finished settling in and fell asleep promptly, waking up just at dawn.
Started my morning routine - bathroom and breakfast and started warming
up my car ready to take off, when the other guy came by and started
talking, and talking - I shut off the engine. Interesting set of jack-of-all-trades
experiences - a medic, a driller, good geology knowledge, but mainly a
fisherman now, evidently homeless.
I finally started the car again and said I had to get moving.
Stopped at the grocery store in Oroville, got a few things including
some cherry tomatoes. Got Gas. Crossed the border no fuss, took the
Crowsnest Hwy 3 west, got to a T at Keremeos, checked my phone map
and noticed I had a call from the Good Sam Senior Housing person in Boise.
But I had no phone service. Found wifi at the info center in town (the library was
closed Mondays.) Emailed GoodSam and Steve and waited, got impatient
and emailed Gina who called Steve, then got responses from both
Steve and GoodSam. After a message flurry back and forth, established that
I'd have to abort my trip and report to GoodSam by 1pm Thursday Oct 3 if I
wanted to redeem my summer-long wait in the list, although Steve
offered to pay the deposit for me if I couldn't make it in time.
Decided I could still make the drive to Manning Park and at least
check out the PCT Trailhead. Got to the park, poked around a few
places before picking up a $5 backcountry camping permit (since the
car-camping options were too expensive for my taste at $23 (didn't I
just see that number before?) Got on the trail at about 5pm. 2 hrs
later just at sunset conveniently found myself at the trail junction
where the gravel "road" I had been following took a switchback,
continuing up to Windy Joe Peak, and the PCT to the border became a
single-track trail. There was about an inch maybe two of snow on the
ground, although it hadn't stuck to the road gravel, but was sticking
to the trail tread. The slope had been too steep to find any
reasonable tenting spot, except at the switchback, there was a broad
flat area at the edge of the road. Good enough.
It was a cold star-lit night (forecast for the farming valleys called for a
killing frost.) I had just brought two folds of the foam
pad, that normally suffices to pad my shoulders and hips. But that
night I felt the frozen ground through the bag on my legs, and again
there was dampness seeping through the tent floor dampening my bag.
Got an early start as a result, and hiked the now snow-covered trail
in the shade of Windy Joe Mt to the east for about two hrs, getting
more than a bit hypothermic and a bit hypoglycemic from an abbreviated
breakfast. Finally reached a sliver of sunlight through the trees, dug out a
snack and squatted there in the sun-ray to absorb as much as I could.
Several trail runners in shorts passed me by, and another hiker who was
meeting someone at the border. Following that needed warmup the trail
began popping in and out of sunlight, and also revealed some nice views
of snowy peaks which served to energize my photo-motivation.
Arrived at the border with a dozen PCT hikers at the monument on the
American side greeting me. My voice was failing me from lack of use and
probably some dehydration, but I croaked out a few congratulations to the group
and some jokes about not having my passport with me and thus not daring to
cross the border, said I'd see them later on the Canadian side, and started heading
back. Took a break at a sunny spot for some rehydration, and one person passed me,
a Canadian. I really needed to take a dump and found a convenient spot not quite
out of view, and as I was squatting there, most of the rest of the group passed by.
Exquisite timing! Later, as I was hiking along, I almost ran into one straggler from
that group just off trail evidently doing the same. Made me feel a little better. Later,
on the road near the bottom, that same person had paused to find something in her
pack and I passed her by, giving her a "congrat's" for having finished the trail.
A few minutes later she caught up with me and we chatted for a while.
She was from France, near the border with Germany, I told her I
was born just on the other side of that border with France. I told
her of my having visited relatives there while I was in college, and
being asked by one of my uncles If I had seen Yellowstone, the Grand
Canyon, etc, and when I said no, was asked why I would be visiting
Germany when I hadn't yet seen my own country. And how now, finally
in my retirement, I'm trying to follow through on that challenge. I
offered her a ride from the trailhead to the Lodge, but she wanted to
finish the route on her own. (The group had already bypassed a section
from hwy 20 to Harts Pass due to waist-deep snow drifts, laying low in
Mazama during the recent storm, that's why there were so many at the
border at that time.) I was having trouble keeping up with her
walking pace and told her I would be hanging back to take pictures (it
was good late-afternoon lighting on colorful autumn foliage.)
pad, that normally suffices to pad my shoulders and hips. But that
night I felt the frozen ground through the bag on my legs, and again
there was dampness seeping through the tent floor dampening my bag.
Got an early start as a result, and hiked the now snow-covered trail
in the shade of Windy Joe Mt to the east for about two hrs, getting
more than a bit hypothermic and a bit hypoglycemic from an abbreviated
breakfast. Finally reached a sliver of sunlight through the trees, dug out a
snack and squatted there in the sun-ray to absorb as much as I could.
Several trail runners in shorts passed me by, and another hiker who was
meeting someone at the border. Following that needed warmup the trail
began popping in and out of sunlight, and also revealed some nice views
of snowy peaks which served to energize my photo-motivation.
Arrived at the border with a dozen PCT hikers at the monument on the
American side greeting me. My voice was failing me from lack of use and
probably some dehydration, but I croaked out a few congratulations to the group
and some jokes about not having my passport with me and thus not daring to
cross the border, said I'd see them later on the Canadian side, and started heading
back. Took a break at a sunny spot for some rehydration, and one person passed me,
a Canadian. I really needed to take a dump and found a convenient spot not quite
out of view, and as I was squatting there, most of the rest of the group passed by.
Exquisite timing! Later, as I was hiking along, I almost ran into one straggler from
that group just off trail evidently doing the same. Made me feel a little better. Later,
on the road near the bottom, that same person had paused to find something in her
pack and I passed her by, giving her a "congrat's" for having finished the trail.
A few minutes later she caught up with me and we chatted for a while.
She was from France, near the border with Germany, I told her I
was born just on the other side of that border with France. I told
her of my having visited relatives there while I was in college, and
being asked by one of my uncles If I had seen Yellowstone, the Grand
Canyon, etc, and when I said no, was asked why I would be visiting
Germany when I hadn't yet seen my own country. And how now, finally
in my retirement, I'm trying to follow through on that challenge. I
offered her a ride from the trailhead to the Lodge, but she wanted to
finish the route on her own. (The group had already bypassed a section
from hwy 20 to Harts Pass due to waist-deep snow drifts, laying low in
Mazama during the recent storm, that's why there were so many at the
border at that time.) I was having trouble keeping up with her
walking pace and told her I would be hanging back to take pictures (it
was good late-afternoon lighting on colorful autumn foliage.)
Back at the lodge, I found I could take $5 a shower at the swimming
pool, then drove back on hwy 3, crossing the border after dark. The
Border agent checked through my stuff (I was drying my tent and fly
which looked like I might be trying to hide something I guess.) He
poked into my cooler where I had the still unopened carton of cherry
tomatoes, said he would be quarantining that. I let out some kind of
complaining exclamation, but didn't think of explaining that I had
just bought it a few miles south at an American market. I returned to the
same boat launch site to overnight, getting talked-at some more by the same
fisherman there.
Next day, did the nonstop drive to Boise (except for photo-stops on the Palouse,
in Moscow, and overlooking Lewiston.) Arrived in Boise after dark on the still
construction-torn-up State Street, passing through town back to my usual
hwy rest stop beyond the Airport on the way to Mt Home.
Today I dumped some of my stuff from the car to my storage, did my
laundry, then,after getting a last minute email from GoodSam, went to
the bank to get an $810 1st month rent + $80 key deposit + $80 service
fee for the room at Good Samaritan. Turns out no shower in the room
(just sink & toilet) and no wifi available although there is a cable
connection, could order an extra cost data connection. The room has
bed and chest of drawers, room cleaning and laundry service once a
week, 3 meals a day if I show up promptly at 8am, noon, and 5pm,
guests able to eat for $5/meal. Shoot, I just missed tonight's
dinner!
