Project Eveningland

6/17/2023 Saturday

This tiny rental has a Lee Harvey Oswald aftertaste. It’s neat and clean and there’s some fun decor but also glumness. I got a late start today.

After two, count ‘em two, back-to-bed sleeps, I ordered a rideshare around 9:30. It took forever to get a driver. I hit the trail just before 11. The rocks. The climbs. The rocky climbs.

The tread was brutal for most of the day. But the forest was so very pleasant. Lots of breezes and clouds to offer shade. More fern-scapes. The path crisscrosses with and joins very old roads amid the new growth forest. Some patches of road become pillowy green carpets. White roses bloom nearby.

Day hikers were everywhere. I don’t know where they were coming from. Parking lots accessible by side trails I guess. They didn’t look equipped to go far on rugged terrain like this. People milled around on Pulpit Rock. I saw maybe a few other backpackers and some people who had big packs but not quite big enough for overnight gear.

There were some dry miles. Several springs were flowing too slowly or not at all, making collection difficult. Near the end of the day I collected water from an ancient piped spring accessible via a side trail marked by a gnarled old tree. The tree has no fewer than four aged signs to mark the spring. One is cracked slate propped on a rock. Another is a white sign that has become too faded to read. And so on. It was only a trickle.

The light had an afternoon quality to it. I kept thinking it felt like an idle day on summer break.

I camped at a small hillside site with fine sunset views. The breeze grew stronger as the light faded.