Sunday, 26 August 2018
Breitenbush Lake Camp (613.2) – Salem, OR: 0 miles / 527 total miles walked
I hardly slept all night. Partly because it was freezing cold, although my quilt is deliciously cozy, and partly because my whole left leg hurt, from my hip down to my ankle. The moon was also very bright again.
By the time 5:30 rolled around I was awake and unless I snuggled way down in my quilt, I was shivering.
There were some decisions to be made. The sky looked pretty ominous and I knew we had a climb and an exposed section close to Mt. Jefferson ahead of us. I really didn’t fancy being in that kind of cold, wet conditions for the next two days, with no chance of drying out my gear in between. That is some prime hypothermia danger.
I told Sink as much and she agreed right away. Since it’s a Sunday and there were a few cars in the campground with us, we figured we’d probably be able to hitch a ride into some town. So we waited for people to wake up. In the meantime I made some oatmeal and actually enjoyed it.
At around 7:30 I heard a car door slamming and an engine starting so I yelled over to Sink, and we scrambled out of our cocoons to try and stop the car from leaving. We talked to them for a while and Mike, Hannah and their Labradooodle Kaz were kind enough to give us a ride.
We packed up our soaking, freezing stuff in record time and climbed into the back of their camper van.
I hadn’t realized how remote this campground actually was and the ride down the 7 mile gravel road took about 45 minutes and quite a few clenches of my hands on random handholds. It was fun though. Thank you guys for the ride!
They were kind enough to drop us off at the Cedars diner in Detroit (Oregon, not Michigan) and we immediately went in to warm up and eat all the things.
Having a burger at 9 in the morning isn’t strange, is it?
We hung out at the diner as long as we could, Sink ordering a giant milkshake and I getting refill after refill of soda. Thankfully Sink knows so many people that we found someone to stay with close by.
SimonSays picked us up around noon and we went to his house in Salem. Laundry, shower, and food shopping later, I made some Italian food for dinner and got to sleep in a bed again.
Sink and I pretty much decided independently but at the same time that the cold in Oregon is not something we want to deal with for long. So some decisions will have to be made.
Keeping you posted….