Day 10 – A river shot

August 24 – Trail of the blue mountainsNe oregon

Did they just shoot me?

It was 7 in the morning and I was taking a last look before going to the path. Then I heard a vehicle approached, and it was already quite close. I’m not sure how he approached so much without me listening to him, but there he was. Close, but even out of sight. Given the spooky atmosphere of my camp, I immediately made the decision that I did not want to be there when someone appeared, especially at that time. They did not seem likely to come there just to enjoy the view. So I threw my backpack, grabbed my posts and ran through the trees to get on the road. I knew I would be out of view almost immediately. But just when it was disappearing in the trees, there was only one pop of a gun. Wtf?

The forest was still mostly dense Pino Lodgepole and the path was falling in the North Fork John Day River Canyon, so I did not feel too worried that someone could see me or even follow me. But WTF? I didn’t hear a single other sound from my visitors. (They were probably waiting in silence to see if they listened to something else before burying the body they brought with them). There was nothing to do to do more than enjoy my descent to the NFJD River.

North Fork John Day River

I was excited to walk along the NFJD River. This was North Fork Day Day’s unit North fork John Day Wilderness. What I think of how the main unit of the four Wilderness NFJD units. The path, which was in decent conditions, except for short portions where it was difficult to continue, went down and went down to Granite Creek and then to the confluence of Granite Creek and the NFJD River.

Looking towards the NFJD River.

Great Old Western Alerce along the NFJD.

The path along the NFJD was completely pleasant. There are not many places when you are really right next to the river. Above all, you are well above him, giving excellent views of the river and the canyon. There are regularly spaced side currents, so even if you are not well next to the river, there is a lot of water easily available.

Approximately half of this stretch, the path crosses across the river. Fording was easy at this time of year, but I am sure there are times in the year it could be heartbreaking. Cold water surely felt very good on my feet. Unlike some people, I really enjoy walking with wet shoes. Keep my fresh feet and provide additional damping.

Later, the river must be seen again before heading along Crane Creek. I stopped at this point and swam, I rinsed my sweaty clothes and I had a good lunch.

Crane

Then the clouds began to build. I didn’t think too much, but they kept building. And suddenly the heavens release with a torrential downpour, including hail. I couldn’t have rained harder. Fortunately, I was still quite hot.

My shoes were already wet from the Ford, so I didn’t worry about maintaining my dry shoes. Although my hood was still wet when rinsing it in the river, I put my rain jacket and added my baseball cap for the protection of the head and face. Then I continued, hiding under the trees when the hail became too hard. There was a ray, but it didn’t seem to be arriving at the cannon.

The path became a current almost immediately. And Crane Creek was furious. The bush along the path was getting wet as as the rain itself. And it was a bit fun. I knew that my team would remain dry and the rain would not last forever.

In fact, the hard rain lasted an hour or so. While I was going for drainage, it seemed that I hadn’t rained so hard above, but I was still raining slightly. I started thinking about finding a camp, and in dry conditions there were probably some pleasant places along this section of path. But today everything was wet and soaked. Before I realized, I was on the Crane Creek path.

A section of the «Last of the Mohicans» path along the NFJD.

It was still very gray and began to obscure before usual. I considered camping in the parking lot, which was gravel with grass that grew. Then I read the path of the path that said there were scattered camps at the beginning of the path. I looked again and I saw one, and I even had a picnic table! The rain left a little while I made a camp and cooked dinner, then rained slightly at night.

Elevation tracker

Day 10: 1,700 ‘

Total: 24,279 ‘

The Vado del Río NFJD.

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