On Friday we spent some time at Mad Matilda's Coffeehouse in Baker City (truly a first-class coffeehouse; they even roast their own beans). This Friday there were hundreds of cyclists in town for a stage race; I was surprised at all the goings-on in Baker City. It's a much more happenin' town than you would think.
After stocking up on chocolate, mints, and coffee beans, we headed north to the North Fork Umatilla wilderness. This is what I wrote that night:
Friday night, summer solstice, 9:05. Finally putting Melina to bed, completely punch-drunk. We are at a creekside campsite. It's still light enough to write by, plus I have a campfire going in front of me. Still quite warm.
The hike here was relatively brutal, despite being very level. Damage from the winter has not been repaired, so there was a lot of crawling over and around downed trees. Parts of the path were overgrown with itchy plants. Also, it was fairly warm and muggy, and the path never wavered from its straight, monotonous, claustrophobic route paralleling the left bank of the river (which was often too far away to see). There was so much dense greenery it is hard to believe that above us there are grassy plateaus.
Saw no wildlife, but many deer prints. No ticks and no mosquitoes!
Jeff ended up carrying Melina on his shoulders most of the way, because she toddles along so slowly and it was getting late. We figured our speed at 1.4 m.p.h., given waiting for Melina and climbing over/under/around downed trees. We passed one nice campsite at 2.7 miles, but it was too far from the creek, so we continued on and found a nice one 1.6 miles later. This is near the creek and has a nice firepit with a ton of firewood left by previous campers.
Saturday evening, 9:03. Slept horribly the previous night, for no apparent reason. Woke to cloudy skies, but we climbed up above the treeline onto the grassy hillsides, and our moods improved as the view grew more expansive. We hiked to a viewpoint at the end of Coyote Ridge. There were many wildflowers and much elk poop. Several small rain showers came and went; Melina fell asleep on Jeff's back during the first one and slept with Jeff's hat over her head. We saw one snake (a uniform brown) and a lizard or two, plus some interesting bugs; but no large wildlife. In camp, we are constantly serenaded by Swainson's thrushes.
Melina got busy cleaning the camp this morning. She found tufts of pine needles and used them to sweep rocks and dust off huckleberry leaves. She even cleaned our dishes in the river and wiped them off with a baby wipe.
On the hike, Jeff told Melina endless "one days"; I honor his fortitude.
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On Sunday we hiked out. This time it was sunny, and I was wearing long pants so I was immune to the itchy plants reaching out onto the trail. All in all, a much more pleasant hike. At one point, Melina dropped her orange Tigger somewhere, and I headed back to find it (meanwhile, Jeff had offered to buy her another one, which she readily agreed to). But Tigger was found lying by the side of the trail, and became the star of several One Days about mountain lions and monster cougars. After hiking out we treated ourselves to some gloppy iced coffee drinks in Pendleton and then zipped on home back to civilization and hot showers.
The next morning, I found a tick on my stomach!
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