Thoughts from the mighty Zippy

They say that "the trail" will change you.. Starting out with a full pack of all of the " I have to haves", quickly find their way into a donation pile at the hostels. Simply put, the basic needs to survive are all that matters.

My hair is grown out, I have lovely roots that now shine in the sun. My worn out feet and toes have permanent callusus. I wear no makeup and yet I feel more beautiful each day. ( no mirrors of course )My clothes all smell like rotten guavas and I just go with it. No body here knows what a guava smells like anyway , let alone a soft pungent wormy rotten one.

This trail defines you. You have no alternative but to morph into the long days, the sore and tired beyond belief (I just hiked that??) body. And then you put up your tent, on a level spot if even possible. Next,you make a quick eye survey to where you want to face the tent with the opening near a perfect place to pee in the middle if the DARK forest at night. All the while double making sure you  don't pee near the hanging "Bear-bag". And then double triple check again. All good,

Fire up our miniature gas stove , boil some Moutain freshly pumped water, pour into our dehydrated food packet and then we wait.. For what? For our food to plump up. In the nean time we do a costume change into our long underwear tights and tops to keep us from freezing at night. It gets cold.. Very cold. All good .

Now , we blow up our Barbie sized mattress until you almost pass out. Fluff open our sleeping bags, blow up a pillow the size if an envelope and remind your head to stay in one  place all night long. All good .

Dinner ready ... Let's eat.

Lights out? Not. The wilderness stays awake until 9 ish. All good .

Morning routine is basically every thing in reverse . Then we load up our packs , situate the "the blue whale and the red watermelon "on our mule like bodies and off we go. Climbing up and down , all day long . Drink a ton of water, pee behind a stick or behind a flower and eat protein Bars , and more Bars and more Bars.. Just a side note . I am over with BARS.

However. ... I can remove all of the mind chatter that can weigh on your thoughts when i take that first deep breath of morning crisp air that smells like Christmas trees. And then I am completely at ease with the views of the beautiful wild flowers, the fluttering butterflies ,the forever changing mountain scape, perfectly formed bright white cliouds, the sights and sound of running water, the chirping of the birds and scampering of the chipperies ( chipmunks ), and that deep blue sky.  Oh that deep blue sky.

And .then... The chance to be alone. All alone. You are changed once again.. Just like that.

I decided to do a little "side trip". Not because I did not want to continue backpacking... I wanted to have to have time with just me . It is a bit odd as I am not a loaner. I have had many a great and fulfilling accomplishments thus far  . And I am greateful  for all of those experiences.

I send off daughter Pippy with Hobbit and new found friend ( she likes us) named "sparkle" and her side kick "Sir Harrison the 2nd" .. (He is a dog Just so you know) out on the trail to silverton. It will take them 3 nights and 4 dsys to get here . Darn. Now I have to spend the night in Quray in a warm cozy bed , and then go soak in the thermal hot  springs . Oh well, I guess I will manage.  Hmmm. No bars or mushy , mushy , yummy , yummy oatmeal for four days!!! Party!

There they go singing " the hills are alive..."

My little road trip begins .. "Rocky Mountain high..."

At the thermal hot springs... Glorious.. And the surrounding mountains were awesome.

I woke up early and felt the need to go for a hike ... I must have slept with my boots on because they were laced up and ready to go before I was dressed.!

This hike was calked the "Perimeter trail " it should have been called the I hope you are not scared of heights and shear cliff hike.. It starts out nice and easy..

Looks unassuming , but you cannot see the shear drop off because I did not take a picture looking down -down . The trail hugs the side of a rock Moutain. Yikes!

Yep, no room to be passing anyone soon.

Here I am . Omg.. I was shaking .. See the Moutain behind me???

And then I rounded a corner and saw this  angelic sight .. A waterfall glistening in the sun. So very cool!!

At the bottom of the valley with the water fall behind me. The trail followed a small Moutain stream.

Then the trail opened up out onto a high peak that had breath taking oh my gosh views!!

It's not a painting.. It's real . I just stood here for a few minutes. Looking, admiring,and looking.

Even the grassy meadows are mesmerizing .

And the trail took me to the top of this lookout.

Ta da!! 

I followed this rivier for a few miles.. It was moving pretty fast.

The river turned into a canyon that got really deep.

I took this photo from the  middle of this iron grated bridge that had holes in it.. If you looked down ( which I made the mistake doing), you will see the scary canyon below.

I quickly retracted off of the bridge. And then I saw a small cave like opening at the end of the bridge. It looked like you had to crouch down to walk through it. I saw some people coming out of it.. I did not want to go. 

A nice man said ( after he saw my frozen omg look) he would hold my hand to cross the fresking scary Empire State Building bridge.  I was shaking!! 

Here is the rabbit hole that was carved into the Moutain that I had to go through. I was half way through when I took this.

Soooo... After I braved the bridge and rabbit hole, I got to slip and slide down this!

Here is the vertical drop view from mid way down . I was hugging the side.

Here is the cute town on Quray.

After my hellacious hike , I continued on the road to Silverton. 

Drive over red Moutain pass. Love the colors.

Stopped along the road to take a photo of the mountains and saw a deer pop up out of the bushes.

Checked into the hostel. It was full of trail hikers. 

I have a room to myself . Made friends as trail hikers do. And since I had a car,  I happily appointed myself the trail angel shuttle sevice. You see, to get back to the trail , you need to hitch hike ( what I have been doing this past month) . And I know how great it is to get a ride.  Here are who I took to the trail:

The "Texans". Jim and Dan.

"Willow".

"Chop stick","River rat", and "picachu". I calked them "Chopratchu".

Cute little bungalow out my window.

I love daisies!!

Watched the trai come into town .

Went for a drive to molas lake campground.

Meet miner "Will". He us showing me a chunk of lead and gold from one of the several mines that he owns .

You never know who you will meet at a hostel.

My time was not spent entirely alone. I was however able to contemplate my time on the trail amongst other thoughts,

I thought a lot about my family . I am reminded of how my grandparents took us out into the "woods " in Northern California where my grandpa had logging rights. He would bulldoze a path into forest and set up camp near a crick or creek.My grandpa put up a bunk house for me and my sister . And he even had a makeshift solar shower for us to use. My days were spent hiking with my granny up the creek to search for Indian arrow heads. We would find them near a mound of which she told us was an old burial ground for broken arrows and other things.  No bones thankfully.

The creek was damned and then a large water hole would form . It must have been about 3 feet deep and 12 feet across. So very fun. My grandpa had an old black tractor tire tube that he blew up. And he added a wooded platform on top and lashed it together with white rope. He cut a 6 ft by 4 inch piece of log pole  pine and sanded it down smooth. It was to be used as a pole to push the tire around, while balancing on the tube!  When I was not hiking I was standing on that tube and did all kind if twirls and rocking motions. It was a favorite pastime. 

We got to see my grandpas crew cut down tall trees, and he let us yell "Timber"! When the tree fell there was a silence, a wind, and a boom that would echo in the valley.

I thought deeper about my my beautiful family. My Mom, my Dad , my Sister and her family, my Brother and his family . My grandparents , my Aunty  and uncle ,

My husband, my two amazing daughters and the life I have had. 

The trail will change you.