At The Cabin

Our rest at my parents cabin was 3 days and our longest break from hiking. The first night there were 8 hikers including Tiffany and I. My Mom insisted on cooking for us all. I warned her about how much hikers could eat.  She hoped they ate like cannibals. I told her I was not sure she really understood how much they could put down, but they would certainly eat whatever she put in front of them.

When we arrived at the cabin Mom had us draw cards for the shower line-up. In between the shower rotation we drank beers and Jimmy Buffet Margaritas. Mom set out a serving line for taco salad. In less than an hour it was all gone! Mom was delighted not to have to put away leftovers, but as hikers continued to snack throughout the evening she was amazed. Later she would say, "now I know what you mean when you say they eat a lot".

The fire danger was too high to have a campfire in the ring in front of the cabin. We all still migrated to the sitting logs around the ring anyway. Like usual we swapped some more hiker stories. Below is one of my favorite.

That's All I've Got:

A hiker has a bear wander up to his camp. He puffs out his chest, bangs his trekking poles together, and yells at the bear to go away. The bear pauses for a moment and looks at this odd human in bewilderment. The bear does not appear to be frightened like it should be. The hiker continues his bear scarring act, but a horrifying thought comes to mind. 'This is all I've got'. There is no bigger set of trekking poles or step two in bear encounters. Luckily for this hiker the bear lost interest and sauntered off.

Luckily for most of us out here usually only park bears are so casual around humans. All bears we've seen are scared away.

The first night we found a bed for everyone in the cabin. Between Dad and a few of the other guys, earplugs were the only way I was getting any sleep through the snoring. Although this didn't keep me from hearing T Grit's nightmare. In the middle of the night I heard a loud "Oh shit", then a thud. In the morning the household found out that T Grit had dreamt that a wall was falling on him. When he woke up under the pitched roof he yelled and thrust his hands to support the falling wall of his dream. Gavin in the bed next door suggested he turn the light on. When Grit came to a full awareness of his surroundings he said he was okay and went back to join the snoring choir.

The second night we were joined by Two Step & Split. I think the core cabin crew was tired from the night before. We enjoyed a more subdued dinner with the 6 of us and went to bed fairly early. The second night on a bed was even better than the first.

The 3rd and 4th night at the cabin was just Mom and Dad and Cowgirl and me. This worked out well for relaxing, taking the time to organize our resupply for Portland, and coordinating the upcoming hiking with friends. Cowgirl soaked her feet several times in an Epsom salt bath she hopes will help with her foot pain. I joined in a couple games of Boggle with Mom and Cowgirl. I play more for the entertainment value of others. After dinner the four of us also played a couple rounds of Rummy.

All in all our cabin stay was what we had hoped for. With Mom's home cooking we certainly made up for any calorie deficit we had and then some. Wednesday morning we had a leisurely breakfast and packed our bags.  To quote someone from our anti-campfire night, "the trail isn't all back flips and fireworks is it?"  We headed back to the trail.

Happy Trails!

Trail Statistics

Days: 112

Miles: 1,852

Showers: 25

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