Down the mountain we flew this morning into Seiad Valley and the 51st State of Jefferson, USA. I don't know much of the history of this area, but it seems like it must have an interesting one tucked away somewhere. Isolated out here in the middle of endless green mountains. Backwoods; Live Free or Die. The logging industry has always lived here. Agriculturally, the whole region, stretching over the Humboldt County on the coast, is reknowned for its annually abundant and robust marijuana crop. Old hippie motorcycle towns. Vineland, in the flesh.
The town of Seiad Valley is one the very few that the PCT actually passes directly through. The Klamath River rolls heavy and sure down through the valley, a shining, snaking beauty seen from above. We had heard vague rumors of the town over this past week -- that the whole ordeal would be one big hurdle on the trail, that sacks of weed would come hurled at us from all sides, that we wouldn't ever want to leave. One thing we knew of for sure as we walked down Route 96 into town, past a few houses with their great overgrown gardens and kitsch, colorful lawn art sprawling out over the land -- we knew of the Seiad Valley Pancake Challenge.
The pancake challenge is a heaping tall stack of five one-pound cakes. It's something like ten bucks. If you finish, it's free and you are forever glorified, your image pasted up on the faded wall with all the other past pancake challenge champs. From reading the recent trail registers I knew that both Scrubs and One Gallon had succeeded thus far this year. One Gallon came as no surprise -- his name itself was derived from and lives on today as a legend on the AT. At the half-gallon challenge somewhere around the halfway point of the trail (the AT), One Gallon took the cake back in '82 when he completed not one but two complete half gallons of ice cream. Scrubs was more of a surprise -- this kid is just so small.
Me, I wasn't about to try something so ridiculous. Sure, I considered it, but God, if there is one thing I've learned out here it is that I would like to enjoy my food whenever I can and this was no way to enjoy anything.
So, no challenge was had, but a fantastic, long breakfast was enjoyed thoroughly by both of us. We then took care of our little errands -- PO, cleaning up, packing our food, etc.
The cook's son, Small Fry, hung around and helped us out throughout the morning -- named after his favorite lunchtime food. He was an exciteable, interested kid, nice to have around.
My new shoes arrived, which my mother had sent out along with some tasty snacks. I am hoping that they work out as well as my last few pairs.
Met Rain Queen and Jym Beam this morning and caught Lookout and Hugemongous (a mother/son duo from WA that we had last seen in SoCal) on their way down the road.
We were rolling onward ourselves by 1:30 pm. A six-mile roadwalk took us gently up along Grider Creek and out of the baking hot valley. We used our umbrellas as parasols and picked blackberries from along the road side, staining our fingers purple and filling our bellies with sweetness.
This evening, we came upon a campfire where Jym Beam and Rain Queen were sitting with Beer Poet chatting near the trail.
No comments:
Post a Comment