I’ve had it with pee munching deer and yellow jackets. I can only pray for a hard frost to take care of the yellow jackets, and I can smell it in the air. It’s coming. As for the deer, I found an even better approach. There are lots of livestock wandering around this section of trail. Cows are disgusting animals (that are delicious when grilled properly, so I’ll cut them a little slack), but cows poop anywhere and everywhere (very similar to Bunny which explains her soft spot for them). I decided, if the deer want my pee, let’s see how bad they want it. I peed on cow pies every time I went last night. Even deer have a lower limit. None of my pee was disturbed this morning.
We had an easy path to follow down to Highway 3 where we were to be picked up and whisked to town for a night of rest. The sky overhead was blue, but the sun barely pierced the haze of smoke on the horizon. It was, by all accounts, an easy walk. We passed out of the Trinity Alps wilderness without incident. We didn’t run into any bears or rattlesnakes as had been reported. We did find the carnivorous plants in the area and Bunny confirmed they do not eat poop. Why were we so uneasy?
Town days are usually much anticipated, but today we looked towards with dread and regret. We are in the process of enacting the final plans Bear made before he prematurely exited the trail and our lives—may he Rest In Peace (on a beach in Oregon). Perhaps foul play was involved. Perhaps there was deception at the highest level. Perhaps Sassy was removed from our lives against her will. Perhaps I should not have watched “Platoon” on our last day off.
I did watch platoon, though, and I can’t help but draw parallels. Bear and Sassy were our trail parents much like Barnes and Elias were the parents to the young Chris Taylor just landed in Nam. Sassy was to us, as the gentle, caring Elias was to Taylor. Bear can only be described as Barnes, but instead of a scar on his face, he had scars all over his legs from his experiences on the trail. We were returning to the scene where Barnes had killed Elias and we both knew what Bear had done. It’s a good thing we won’t run into him this trip into Etna, because Bunny would surely frag him.
We were returned to the scene of the crime. I can picture Sassy running across the parking lot and falling to her knees throwing her arms into the air begging us to take her with us when we got back on trail. I turned to look into Bear’s eyes to see the cold look of hatred of fires staring back at me. He had stopped her from returning. I knew it. And he knew I knew it.
Other than that, nothing else of Etna has changed. We returned to Denny Bar so I could fill up on unlimited refills of iced tea, but this trip felt empty. Not because Barnes and Elias (oops, my bad, Bear and Sassy) weren’t there. But because we didn’t have to wait an hour and a half in the blazing sun to get a ride into town. We waited a mere 10 minutes in the shade this time. We weren’t parched and near starvation. We were a little hungry and thirsty. It’s hard to hold good planning against Barnes when our return trip was so smooth.
The rest of the day was routine. We know the town and the procedure. We had already done our shopping previously. We just picked up a few more items that we needed. The hotel did our laundry while we showered and rested. Supper at Dotty’s followed by a night of sleep in a bed. I just wish Elias didn’t have to die for us to have such a nice day.
EFG