03 October, 2020 - So Very Quiet & Great Gobs of Food

 Dear, Mom -

Kim and I have had a really nice day today. It started out with a yummy breakfast of eggs and hash browns with a cup of coffee and some oranges. Kim is a fantastic cook on the camp grill. She brings her cast iron skillet and we pretty much eat whatever we feel like cooking (as long as it got thrown in the cooler, of course)!

Eggs and Hash on the Camp Grill

This naughty Gray Jay almost landed on Kim’s head then went right to the skillet for breakfast.

Kim doesn’t like birds in her cook ware. I shoed it away post hast!

After breakfast, we sat around for a while and looked at some books. We chatted with a nice lady who was traveling around to different campsites by herself and camping for a few days at a time. We didn’t catch her name, but she did say she was from Wilsonville and just makes her way around to different parts of Oregon and Washington camping as long as the weather allows. I would say she was in her mid-70s. I hope that I am able to do that very same thing when I am in my 70s. That is exactly how I would like to retire. 

We decided to get our hiking poles and head out for a walk. We started close to camp where there was supposedly a pond that the creek ran through. There was not much there except some small pools of water with lots of water skippers and tadpoles. It was very pretty regardless, but the trail that led out of the area looked very steep and a bit slippery due to the moisture in the soil, so we headed the opposite direction.

Physalacriaceae: Poisonous, but pretty mushrooms

Kim atop the bridge to the pond

South side of the bridge to the pond

North side of the bridge to the pond. I stood down near the stream to get the photos.

Kim and I decided to walk east to the horse camp and take a trail that was about a 5 mile loop. We walked down logging roads for a bit then came to a trail that took us west again. Kim was trusting me to get her back to camp. I had a rough picture of the trail loop on my phone and would refer to it every now and again. As we hiked, we came across some huge, orange mushrooms (it is mushroom season right now).

Hypocreaceae: Another deadly mushroom. Just nice to look at.

Common Selfheal

Western Pearly Everlasting

A picture from the trail

Hymenogastraceae: Just don’t eat any mushrooms. They’re all poisonous!!!

We did our loop, but cut it down to more like 3.5 miles instead of 5. I took us on a detour so we could get back to the camp to make some lunch and have some more water. I took enough, but it was getting hot and didn’t feel like we should go too far on an unknown trail without knowing we could properly hydrate ourselves. We made it back and all was well. We just had some snacks and started talking about heating up Mom’s Famous Taco Soup for dinner. It was, indeed, delicious.

We had our dinner then sat around for hours in front of the fire listening to all the different families and the people next to us. Everyone was having an interesting conversation of some sort. We had our own as we always do, Kim kept stoking the fire (Kim’s job...she likes to poke it with a stick), then we decided to turn in for the night. I ate too much, so I got up a few times during the night to use the port-a-potty, which made for a long night.

I will write you again when I get home tomorrow, Mom. I have been thinking about you a lot while we’ve been hiking around and seeing nature. I hope you have had a lovely day today. Talk to you very soon!

🍀🌲🍄LOVE YOU, Your Daughter, —-Sally Ann🌸🍁🌿

❤️✨❤️✨❤️