Hot day at the Taylor River

Broadcasters were talking about record breaking high temperatures. I was actually up and ready to go fairly early. I wanted to get going before the heat hit. My cat decided that me leaving early was just too shocking and escaped. She was missing for several hours. By the time I found her I was hot and motivation was waining.

The call of the woods was too strong to ignore. I was very worried about my geriatric mutt with his heavy black coat. I remembered that the hike to Big Creek Falls runs close to the river most of the time. I knew we wouldn't make it to the falls, but getting out there was enough. One of the nice things about the hike is you can't hear any roads. Come to think of it, I didn't hear any planes either. Just the sound of the river, birds and bugs.


We spent quite a bit of time literally sitting in the river. We were out there for about 3 hours and we saw 3 people the entire time. The insects were horrendous. I was quite mad at myself, because I knew this was an especially bad bug year. Mostly it was deer flies and the key was to keep moving. Coal, however, need to sniff and cool off frequently. I ended up pulling my towel out of my pack and if Coal needed to stop, I'd squat down and cover as much of me as possible. It wasn't quite as bad as the year I hiked McCLellan Butte and was inhaling the numerous pests, but it was close. In spite of the heat and bugs, Coal seemed disappointed when I turned us around. He's an amazing dog.


I should be sleeping now, but it's still 71F here. That just doesn't happen much here in the Pacific Northwest. Still, I'm smiling as I write this. Perhaps I like the adversity, neither the bugs nor the heat seem to matter much when compared to the beauty and solitude.