Day 93,       35 miles

Marble Mountains               Klamath National Forest

I had a terrible sleep.  The trail to Bear Cub Springs, where I was camped, must be an animal trail.  I was woken to loud crashing and stomping through the bushes all around my tent.  It was startling.  I hit my hands and feet against my tent and yelled shoo.  I got out of the tent and flashed my head lamp around to see what kind of animals they were. The bushes would stop moving.  Deer?  Elk?  Bear?  Sasquatch?  This went on all night. I would just start to fall asleep and another herd would trample through.  Thank goodness Freddie Kruger was camped near by.  I would have been spooked otherwise.

This morning as I was coming up towards another spring,  I caught up to Blowout.  I met him in Castella and I knew he was on the trail somewhere ahead or behind.  Orange shoelaces!  Mystery solved.  He was wondering who he was camped with also.  We had a good laugh.  Blowout convinced me to do a big day today so we could hike 14 miles tomorrow morning for, !town food!  Then continue on out of Seiad Valley in the afternoon.  Great plan.

The rest of the day was a race.  I had started late this morning, so a 35 mile day was pushing it.  I was up at 7,000 feet.  I was looking down at the surrounding mountains and the valleys seemed so far away.

It sure was a pretty hike today.  The views of the marble mountains and the valleys were spectacular.  The wild flowers were in bloom.  As we hiked down into a meadow I could see Blowout’s white hat as he hiked through the high wild flowers.  It looked like his hat was floating along the top of the green, floral vegetation.

Many times I disturbed small birds from the bushes at my feet and they would flutter off right in front of me.  Also lots of small butterflies.  Orange, purple, white, and yellow. There were so many they would hit me as I hiked on.

The last 10 miles today was downhill to the warm valley at 1,200 feet, where we are camped at Grider Creek.  Rocketman was there when I arrived at 8:30.   Blowout arrived in the dark.