Go, No Go, Part 2 - Wednesday, May 21

Sometimes it is as painful to quit as it is to keep going.

We woke at 5 am and quietly went through our morning routine of packing up so as not to wake the professor. By 6 we were ready to go. The road was only a mile and a little more, and we were there quickly. Sally remarked that her ankle felt better this morning. As we approached the road we could see a trail angel carrying water jugs to a bush 200' off the road. Sally felt heartened by the reduction of pain in her ankle, so rather than asking for a ride, we talked with "Moose" about his 2002 hike of the trail and filled our bottles.

About another mile and a half up the trail Sally did whatever movement causes the shooting pain up her leg. She cried out, bemoaned the end of a pain reduced morning and again talked about ending our hike. The next exit point was about two miles up the trail, a 3/4 mile side trail to a campground, so we aimed for that. Along the way we met Heckle, Jeckle, The Grad and Sinbad still preparing to hike and two ladies near our age, Thumbs Up and ??? We announced our intention of leaving the trail, received sympathies but understanding nods, and continued on.

We reached the trail junction and sat down to eat a bite before making the turn off the trail. Sally dropped the F-bomb for the 20th time, then said again, "I don't want to leave the trail. Let's keep going." So we ignored the trail leading off to the right and the hustle and bustle of civilization it represented and hiked north on the trail.
We did well for next few hours as the trail wove in and out of small valleys as it contoured around the hills overlooking a broad green valley with ranches and homes, paralleling a road. Sally did not mention her ankle, so she was being stoic or the pain had somewhat lessened, or both.

The trail dropped down to the level of the road we were paralleling, putting us at the bottom of a large earthen dam that holds back the water of Silverwood Lake. The trail emptied out onto a gravel road. Behind me I heard a cry of pain and a scuffling on the ground. I spun around to find Sally moaning in pain lying on the ground. I dropped my pack and tended to her, her left forearm the focus of her pain, which she cradled. I asked what happened. She said she had momentarily looked up at the sound if a dam maintenance truck approaching on the gravel road and was wondering if the driver might have a beer when she misstepped and went down. The driver of the truck came up to ask if he could help. We suggested ice, so he drove off to get some while we got Sally to her feet and moving down the trail. Her forearm had taken the brunt of the fall, but it did not appear broken. Two gallon Ziplock bags of ice were soon delivered by the dam worker. I stowed one in my pack for later and we ace bandaged the other to Sally's arm and continued on our way, profusely thanking our ice angel.

The trail continued along the highway for half a mile before mounting the hill holding back the waters of Silverwood Lake, which we were soon looking down upon. We were putting ice on, ice off every twenty minutes on Sally's arm as we hiked the trail around the lake to a picnic shelter down on the shore. There are only a few access roads to this man made lake, so this picnic area is accessible by boat or foot only. We cooked up some scrambled eggs and had 3:00 o'clock breakfast burritos while we rested. We had 13.2 miles behind us and 1.8 to go to reach the Cleghorn Picnic area on the north shore. About 3:45 we climbed back up to the PCT and continued our walk, getting to our campsite a little after 5. By the time we got here Sally's ankle was singing loudly and my right knee was beginning to talk as well. But, here was running water and flush toilets, acres of grass and lots of picnic tables nestled in shrubbery and low trees. A garden paradise.

We quickly got the tent up and Sally down, then enjoyed a dinner of chicken and rice with butterscotch pudding for desert. Sally went for an evening stroll around the park to check it out before we sunk into our cocoon for the night.

Today it was more painful to leave the trail than to stay on it. We enjoy the adventure it brings around every corner, the kind people we meet and the satisfaction of the exercise. Although exhausted at the end of each day, there is deep contentment at completing the day's goal.