July 28 Seiad Valley

1644-1662
Before reaching the small town of Seiad Valley we reached another milestone...
WOW mile 1653!
Only 1000 miles left to reach Canada!
Unfortunately in our tired, hot, stupor we mistakenly wrote 10000 miles and neither of us caught the error- I guess it only seems like we have 10000 miles left-anyway we spent a lot of time collecting materials and making the marker so I am putting it on the blog anyway. I believe you will all forgive the error and enjoy seeing it regardless. We may seem to have super-human strength but sometime that circulation doesn't get to the brain.






It should read 1000 miles to go

In route we met hiker Scrambled Leggs. He started out a south-bound thru-hike from Canada but could not get through Washington and northern Oregon so started in Ashland. He reported there was snow above 5,000' but it was melting fast. GPS and micro spikes would be helpful to us.
Our hike took us through deep shade as we descended into Seiad Valley.



We paralleled Grinder Creek and crossed several bridges.








The water looked so inviting but we had our mind set on reaching the RV Park before dark.
Blackberries lined the 6 mile road walk and helped make the shadowless walk more tolerable.

We reached Seiad Valley by 430. The small town consists of an RV park, cafe, and small general store.













The cafe was closed but the store was open and we helped ourselves to drinks and of course ice cream. Temperatures in the valley were in the 90's but the RV Park was shaded with lovely full-canopied trees. We picked a shady spot under the plum trees and visited with other hikers.



Running Wolf, Backwoods, Train, and many others were resting under the trees. There is a 10 mile, 5,000' climb out of Seiad Valley so most are planning an early morning departure.
Temperatures cooled to the high 50's and made for good sleeping. We zeroed here today and before 5pm over 20 other hikers arrived, one of which was my previous hiking partner Ooops!



So great to see Ooops again!
We caught up on hiker adventures and commiserated about our injuries. Ooops came face to face with 2 bears and had a close encounter with a rattlesnake. None of his injuries were the result but unnerving nevertheless.

Heart