Day 2 of the 50 miler was quite adventurous! When we woke up in the morning, we had to set down camp and pack the horses again. Our tents were quite wet from condensation from our breathing so it took a while for them to dry out. We laid the tents out in the sun but the cool air made it so they did not dry very fast. In the meantime we made breakfast, and repacked out backpacks. Finally the tents were dry enough to roll up and pack and we were off.
About a half mile into the hike we came to a river we needed to cross. A couple of the girls just walked across because they wanted to get their feet wet. Most of the girls and adults however got to ride the horses across the river.
This was a fun experience. I have only been on a horse a few times in my life and every time, I am amazed at how big these animals are. Emily was led across on the horse by Dawna and I rode double on the back with Nora. I was scared of falling off but we made it with no problems. Some day I would love to learn how to ride a horse. I think it would be fun.
So we made it across the river and then continued on our way up the trail. After a while, the pack horses caught up with us. Watching the pack team file passed us on the trail was quite remarkable. The handlers, Dawna, and her son Chet and his wife, and Casey and even little Rosie, were so good with the horses and mules and really knew how to handle them and guide them through the wilderness.
At one point though it was kind of scary. Casey's big white mare is afraid of water. As the pack team was passing us, there was a small stream of water surrounded by bushes. In order to continue on the trail, we had to jump across the little stream. Well the white mare was not going near the water no matter what. Casey tried to pull her but she wouldn't go over the water. Instead she jumped through the bushes which ended up being a crazy move because we had no idea what was under the bushes and neither did the horse. There ended up being a steep drop off under the bushes the stream had carved out. The horse went down almost pulling Casey and his mule with it and just about dumping everything in her pack. Luckily the mare was able to right herself and jump over the bushes to the other side of the stream without too much more trouble. It was pretty scary because we though we were losing a horse. Thankfully no one was hurt and it was just the horse being stubborn about water.
Once the pack horses had passed us, we continued on the trail through what was called the 'Burn Area.' A few years ago, there was a forest fire through this area that burned all of the trees.
This whole area was full of burnt skeleton trees. It looked like a tree graveyard. In its own way though, it was quite beautiful. There were a lot of wildflowers growing and in bloom. The ground was covered in fireweed plants and flowers. After a big fire like this one, the fireweed plants are the first to regrow. Their purple flowers were so pretty.
Along the trail we found a fresh pile of bear scat... We knew it was bear because the poop was full of berry seeds. From them on, we were on alert for bears. All along the trail, we saw many bear prints in the dirt.
We realized that we just seemed to follow the prints. We didn't know how old the prints were, but we kept our eyes open for sightings. Seeing a bear from a distance would have been kind of cool but we sure did not want to see one up close. Luckily (or sadly however you want to look at it) we did not see a bear during the whole week. We saw many signs but no actual bear.
Continuing on the trail, we reached the Frog Pond. We knew we were getting close to the camp area once we reached this point.
At the Frog Pond, it started sprinkling on us a little bit. This did not deter the girls from enjoying the pond. The rain drops actually felt pretty good after the long hike. While at the pond, Emily, Nora, Zoe and Ilse, walked around the pond looking for frogs to catch. They found a few frogs but were unable to catch any. Instead they just wandered around the pond while we waited for the rest of the group.
Continuing on, we had to cross a few more rivers and streams before arriving at camp.
We all became pros at crossing logs by the time this week was over.
Finally we arrived at our camp area for the day. The pack horse team had arrived a while before us so they already had everything unloaded and set up. When we got there, we just had to select our spots and set up our tents.
This was a really nice camp right on the bank of another river. The water was ice cold but felt good on our feet. We planned to stay at this campsite for two nights.
Being at camp was probably the best part of the trip. It was fun to just sit around and talk, listen to Dawna's stories, and just get to know each other.
We would all gather around the fire area and just joke around. While gathering sticks and wood for the fire, Rosie found a round stick and decided it would make a great jump rope. We all laughed and laughed as she jump roped around the camp with her stick.
After dinner, Dawna brought out some dough and we each carved a willow stick to use to cook the dough over the fire.
Once the dough was cooked, we rolled them in butter and cinnamon sugar and ate them. They were so good!
That night we all slept so well again just listening to the river as it lulled us to sleep. We hiked 8 miles this day.
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