10.29.2010

Crossing into Cali: the Siskiyous & the State of Jefferson

North of Ashland

8/16: Walked south from Ashland today. This evening - thought I heard a trippy hippie bells & xylophone concert or wood windchimes through the forest, and I thought I even heard Buddhist gutteral chanting. Now I have concluded that it is livestock with bells around their necks that I am hearing especially since it seems it is random & changing/moving...(turns out the sounds were from mooing cattle and the bells they wore)...Hitchhiking is humbling.


At the California border




near Happy Camp (off of the trail)...8/19: Easy hitch into Happy Camp from Seiad Valley. Hot here. The Cali section so far is way more dramatic & spectacular than the 250 miles in Oregon. Think I've walked over 300 miles this trip. The sunset by Lookout Springs atop Middle Devil's Peak past Copper Butte last eve was stunning! Too bad my camera battery had died. At Cook and Green Pass, I had a cosmic moment with a black mama bear and her brown and cinnamon cubs. We made eye contact for awhile. They didn't run away. The cubs scrambled up a tree - easy like koala bears and stared at me. I stared back. Woman of the Karuk tribe who gave me a ride told me that male black bears attack & kill more humans than grizzlies do - but don't wanna believe it.

Grider Creek

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