Five Plus Three
   Equals Eighty

September 15, 1985  6:40 am

Well I found them less than 200 feet away just eating behind a big stump. Britt had slipped (out of) one side of her hobble (but) was not hard to catch. Both horses (were) still cold under their blankets.

I never thought daylight would come. What between the rain coming and then gusting, I slept off and on all night. Echo got friendly with Britt just enough times that I knew they were still around all night.

I had hoped that the rain would have stopped by daylight and that I would have a fresh morning. Too bad. A campfire would be nice, but along with all this wet equipment, all I could find would be wet wood.

I’d like to recap some of the things I missed on yesterdays trip here. As we started up the trail, I heard Bill honk his good-bye. That was it, no turning back now. This is something that I need to do for myself, to prove that I can do it? I’m not sure, but my excitement is occasionally briefed with moments of doubt.

A few hundred yards up the trail, Echo stepped off the side and scared himself, both from realizing that the weight of the packs prevented him from just stepping back on and that the packs bounced when he did, making a lot of noise. I dreaded close trees that he bump his packs on them, but he soon learned to step away and when he didn’t it was because he was sleeping and the sound (of tarp rubbing on tree trunk) soon woke him up.

A lot of the trails have been cut out of the side of steep slopes, they frighten me because it is my first time across them and my first time packing Echo. But they are no worse or no better than the slope cut in the Capital Forest. Occasionally we will see fresh sign and track of other horses, but we met only three girls hiking with their dog. That explains why I saw no good mushrooms and the bad had all been tipped over.

I came across a pretty little area to stop and look at my map and let the horses graze. I took pictures of the horses there. It was also visible that someone else with horses had tied them to trees there, as the animals had circled the tree and trampled the moss and grass.



As I turned my horses loose this morning, I see that no one will be able to tell that that is where I tied up and that’s the way it should be.

After taking pictures of the horses, we traveled through more forest. Through the trees I could make out the outline of a rock precipice with a smaller, yet still huge rock balanced on top as tall as the big fir next to it. As we continued opportunity did not provide me with a clear view to take a picture.

Next we approached rock hill sides, where from far up the hill to very far down was shale rock as big as basket balls. The trail cuts across and most of it had some dirt brought in so that we where not trying to walk on the boulders. As we met forest again, so we met the hikers.

They were up for the day trying to reach Table Mountain, some one told them it was an hours hike from the road. I had been riding 3 hours maybe more. I look back now and see we were talking on the slopes of Table Mtn. After passing the hikers, we crossed more rock hillsides, the rocks were baseball or smaller sized. I could stop and look down, but could not look down while we were moving, I could (not) look back either. Britt kept making me mad because she kept looking down instead of where she was going.

Soon we hit an old logging grade that climbed. There is a lot of grass here, but not a lot of room. Then at 5:30 we reached this basin and I set up camp.

My tarp overhead is hung low to keep the wind and rain out, but the wind here is minimal. I noticed some huckleberries on the bushes around me, but haven’t picked any except one for taste, not bad.

I’m going to break camp starting around 9:00 (am) and try to get in 12 or so miles before stopping to let the horses get some lunch. I was not too hungry yesterday, but my stomach now growls for breakfast. This afternoon I hope to make camp near Panther Creek somewhere, that would put me back on schedule.

• 
• Cover Page
• Table of
  Contents
• Preface
• History of PCNST
• 1985 Travel Schedule
• Diary Entry #1
• Diary Entry #2
• Diary Entry #3
• Diary Reflections
• Introduction
• Aug 3, 1986
• Aug 4, 1986
• Aug 5, 1986
• Aug 6, 1986
• Aug 7, 1986
• Aug 8, 1986
• Weekend
• Where Are
  They Now
•