Books I read this summer

As summer is winding down, I am sad that my fun reading will be lessened. This summer while on my journey I read:

Waking up in Jamaica - Stephen Foehr
Siddartha - Hesse Herman
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
The Hidden Messages in Water - Masaru Emoto

We also listened to the Audiobook of:
When you are Engulfed in Flames - David Sedaris

Before leaving I read:
Omnivore's Dilemma - Michael Pollan
Courage and Misfortune- Mountaineers Anthology Series 2

Since then I have read:
Stiff - Mary Roach,

I have started:
Endurance: Shackleton's voyage- Alfred Lansing
Guns, Germs & Steel- Jared Diamond
The Year of Living Biblically - A. J. Jacobs
Digging Dinosaurs - John Horner

I should finish three of these books by the time school starts. We shall see.

Some Math

Marie and I were curious how many different ways we traveled and what distances.

Using Google Earth and websites, these are the estimated distances I think we traveled:

Airplanes: 4, 332 miles
Train : 3,200 miles
Buses: 320 miles
Car: 900 miles
Mass/Public: 200 miles (includes Jamaica Buses)
Cabs: 20 miles
Foot: 200 miles

Total distance: ~ 9,172

Earth's circumference is about 25,000 miles. We went approximately 36% the distance.
We traveled through 17 states, 2 countries.
We stayed on 4 futons and fold out couches and 7 beds in 10 people's houses, apartments, and 1 hermitage at a monastery.
I was gone for 43 days, including the entire month of July.

It was a great Journey.

August 8

The best part of the rain was that the bugs went away as it rained. Marie and I stayed dry and slept fairly well through the shower. When it stopped, the little biters came back in swarms. I mummified myself inside my sleeping bag and was not bothered, but Marie could not get back to sleep. At first light, Marie decided she was getting up and it was time to get out of there. She told me she was going to take down the tent and I groaned my ok. I slept for a little while longer with no covering.


We ate our breakfast and packed up while waving and slapping at pests. We started on the trail earlier than I usually do and found respite from the bugs about a mile down trail.
At that point we found a place where lots of trees had blown down in a storm. We walked along and Marie took it upon herself as our leader to clear trail. She did a great job of moving anything about 6 inches in diameter or less. Teamwork was required for a few logs, but if any of you plan to go down the Crag Creek Trail, know that it is more passable because of Marie.

When then came down a ridge and found that our trail was over grown with lots of little shrubs and plants. It became the Crag Creek "path of least resistance" instead of a trail. We marched on while the rain soaked leaves happily transferred the liquid into our clothing. We were soaked to our chests and then found a river crossing. The trail had eroded. We less than a mile to hike, but a river was between us and our car, so we bushwhacked for a half an hour or more along the bank trying to find a place to cross. There was a place where the trail crossed the river on the map, but if a bridge was there, it was washed or crushed long before we got there.
We then decided to find a shallow spot and wade across. I chose a tree to cross on, but the women moved through the wet cold river up to their belly buttons, wow. We then decided to just walk straight north, knowing that we would hit the road or trail. As we found a clearing we stopped for a break and then followed what looked like an old trail for bit. We then cut through more brush and came out EXACTLY AT THE PARKING LOT!
Bobbi had packed beer in her trunk for us. We all took off the wet clothing and packs and laid articles out on the warm rocks. We then enjoyed a beer relaxed. We got to the car just after 10am and headed back to Carlton after a long while. Marie and I got home at around 1:30 and quickly did laundry and cleaned the house to host her Mom, Dad, Aunt and Uncle that evening. We cooked a great dinner and went out to listen to music. Needless to say, I am home but I am still moving around.

Jefferson Park

The next day we woke up early, ate our breakfast and picked the driest clothing to put on. We then packed up and headed to Jefferson Park, right under Mt. Jefferson. About a half an hour into hiking we ran into a small amount of snow off trail. As we kept hiking, eventually our whole trail was covered by snow.

There were beautiful waterfalls made from small snowfield runoffs, and amazing views of the mountain as we climbed. Once we made it to the ridge, we worked our way down into a gorgeous meadow filled with wild flowers, snow and a wide stream. Our trail disappeared and we crossed where we could with helpful rocks.

Our final goal was a set of alpine lakes that should have filled our valley. We found the trail and kept hiking until it was clear we had gone too far. We looked at our map and decided to just bushwhack through the snow fields in the direction we knew the lakes to be. About 10 minutes later we found one. We are pretty sure it was Scout Lake be we are not 100% on that. We stopped and ate lunch. Bobbi and I each took our turns splashing in the cold water and then we relaxed and dried out the rest of our gear in beautiful sunshine. We debated putting up camp, but seeing that we wanted to leave early the next day and the bugs would be atrocious at the lake, we decided we should move on.


We made our way to the Pacific Crest Trail and followed it for a bit. We lost the trail and at that moment, a woman looking for the trail going the other way appeared, and then a gentleman following us also appeared. We all hiked around the snow looking for old footprints. The trail was finally located and we each went our separate ways. The woman we found was leaving notes and signs of the trail for people following her, so it was easy to make it through the rest of the snow. We ran into a few other groups of hikers and had another creek crossing. We finally found a nice campsite and decided to make camp. As the sun went down the bugs came out in swarms and attacked any exposed skin. Marie and I had packed light and only brought a tent footprint and a rain fly. This left the bottom of our tent open to the elements, mainly MOSQUITOES!!! As we hung our food and brushed our teeth we started to see lightening light up the sky. We covered most everything we had and went to bed.

Backpacking

I arrived back in Oregon mid-morning Monday. I promptly slept most of the day and relaxed at home. I was happy to be back in Oregon and not having to move at the end of the summer. It is my first time in 6 years that I have not moved twice or more during the summer.

Tuesday I spent all day sorting mail, doing laundry, and general organizing of life. That night Marie and our friend Bobbi sat down to discuss backpacking plans to the Mount Jefferson Wilderness. I was back and forth on whether or not I would go, and when they invited me, I decided I would kick myself if I didn't.

We left Wednesday at around 2:30. Bobbi drove Marie and I out of town and toward the little town of Detroit.
We did not get on the trail until 5:26 pm. It was a late start, and we had about 5 miles in mind for the night. We started to hike an unrelenting uphill climb, when we heard some thunder. The mountain was hidden by some clouds, and as the clouds came overhead, it began to sprinkle. We decided to keep going until it was a soaking rain. The rain came not too much later. We ducked under a large tree for cover. Marie was the only one with a pack guard, although she has never used it before. I do not own one, and Bobbi laughed at her husband when he tried to lay one out for her. The storm began to pour a little harder, and then we noticed pea sized hail coming down. We starting laughing, thinking of hiking in the rain and hail when the sky broke loose with marble sized hail. It pelted us through the limbs of the trees. I was leaned over to protect my head with the top of my pack. The hail lasted no more then 10 minutes and the rain stopped soon after. The trail we were hiking on was a dirt trail that turned into a raging current flowing against us.
We had to straddle the trail as we hiked up the hill. Hail on the sides of the trail was 6 inches deep and the stream kept going until we decided to quit. We were wet, cold, tired of the uphill, and the sun was going down. We stopped by a large rock and decided to make camp. The sky cleared beautifully that night and we were able to steal about an hour of sunlight to try and dry out some gear. We made some pasta and hit the hay.




The stream going by here is the trail and I picked up all hail with a little dirt. The hail was deep!

PHOTOS ONLINE!

I have uploaded all of our trips photos (500) to the web. You can now view them at your leisure. Enjoy.


http://picasaweb.google.com/cory.eklund/OurSummerJourney?authkey=0gfS5T_bHsA

Harvest

Today the combine broke down, but luckily we had a mechanic already coming out to fix the radio.  The mechanic stayed from 10:30 am to 4:00 and still wasn't sure they fixed the problems.  They were looking at something electrical.  I have been in the kitchen most of the day helping my mother and my aunt.  I finished canning some jelly, so I will be able to have my own preserves.  I finished my last bit of laundry, and tonight I will socialize to get my last bit of family before I head back to Oregon.  I will get on the train tomorrow at around 3 and get into Portland the 4th sometime in the morning.  This will be the last post for a while.  I hope that if any of you are still reading it, you are not dissapointed.  I have had too much fun, and am not sure if I am ready to go back to work.  

Happy August

Today I was a gopher for harvest.  I started the day by dumping two grain trucks at the local farmer's co-op and then proceeded to cook harvest lunch.  We had bbq'd cheeseburgers.  My cousin Mark showed up today to help with harvest and my aunt Mary came to the farm as well.  We now have a full house and there is lots of commotion as we try and get the winter wheat cut.  In the evening, I went and watched my dad put on a coat of varnish on his cedar strip canoe.  He is planning on entering it into the county fair under the woodworking department.  I think he will get some praise.  Two more days, and than I am back to Oregon.