Coolest personal encounter

[Splintercat]

Welcome, Scout! You reminded me of a trip to Death Valley in March 1988, when we pulled into one of only a couple open camping spots left at Mesquite Springs (huge campground) in the middle of the night, and in the morning, found that we'd camped next to some neighbors from down the street. You meet the nicest people out on the trail..!

So, I'm still waiting for Don to elaborate on the severed arm...

Also to Scout - I got to know the Lowes a bit in the early 80s, when I was in college and working on a project related to the (then proposed) Salmon-Huck. They were just exceptionally nice, and invited me to their home for a long interview, and exchanged many letters over the course of a couple years. Don Lowe has whatever it is that Don Nelson has in his DNA - he's like a mountain goat. His photo studio was down a long stairwell from their kitchen, and he did this sort of gallop/slide on the bannister to get down there - maybe 1.5 seconds, as I trudged down the steps, one at a time..!

I kept all that stuff, and have been meaning to dig it out, and maybe contact them for a tribute web page. As Doug Lorain put it so perfectly in one of his books, they are the "Deans of Oregon Hiking".

Tom

[Don Nelsen]

Please tell me that second picture is from a mannequin

I don't know - I sure didn't want to touch it!

Was that for real?? Did you report it?

I was alone in a deep, dark forest of ancient old-growth cedars and hemlocks and saw a recent (as in a couple of weeks) ATV trail cut through the brush and small trees. This was deep in the Greenleaf Basin area between Table Mountain and Greenleaf Peak last summer. I followed the track with some aprehension (since I had discovered a marijuana grow operation the summer before that just a half mile away. I left it be, but when I returned two weeks later it was gone). I spotted the pole structure and slowed my approach. Getting closer, I saw the severed arm hanging from the tripod of sticks and thought about what might happen to an unlucky hiker who stumbled upon another grow operation! I stood silently and at a distance for awhile until I was fairly convinced the place was unoccupied then investigated more closely. The arm is a very convincing fake - but I had to get to a couple of feet away to make sure!

As far as reporting it goes - I'm not sure what one would report or what can be done about such things. At least one DNR guy has the link to my foto page so I'm sure they are aware of this place and I'm also sure that they have been in there to check out this spot since. It's sad that a few folks trash the forest.

I'd post a link to the rest of the pics from that trip but I can't figure out how to do it on the new site.

Don

[Splintercat]

That's a pretty good ending, Don... but I was expecting something more like...

"...as I retreated from the camp and crept away along the ATV track, I had a sense that something was following me... then I clearly heard a rustle in the leaves..! I spun around, and the SEVERED LIMB WAS DRAGGING ITS WAY DOWN THE PATH BEHIND ME!!!"

I think I just merged "The Hand" and "Reanimator".

-Tom

[Don Nelsen]

That's a pretty good ending, Don... but I was expecting something more like...

"...as I retreated from the camp and crept away along the ATV track, I had a sense that something was following me... then I clearly heard a rustle in the leaves..! I spun around, and the SEVERED LIMB WAS DRAGGING ITS WAY DOWN THE PATH BEHIND ME!!!"

I think I just merged "The Hand" and "Reanimator".

-Tom

Good one, Tom! - Now I'm really going to be careful when I go back up there.

Don

[meana39]

I don't know so much about "cool" as strange....

Years ago (probably 18-20) my sister and I were hiking the Eagle Creek trail. We'd started early 6am and had just crossed the upper bridge after hiking for a couple of hours. I don't remember the exact spot but over a grassy spot and a small hill-like cliff this man pops up with an old raggedy blanket wrapped around his shoulders. Unlike the other man mentioned he did have clothes on, but the disconcerting part is he looked exactly like Charles Manson, wild hair, beard, and a really wild look in his eyes. He didn't say a word to us, I think we had surprised him as much as he did us. It wasn't in a norman camping spot either.
We both got a little spooked and hiked as fast as our legs would carry us. The fastest trip to tunnel falls we've ever made. Never saw a sign of him on the way back either.

A few months ago I met a couple on the Starvation Ridge trail from Israel.....and awhile back when my youngest daughter and I were coming down from Soda Peaks Lake, we met a couple of men on their way up, cameras in hand. When we got to the trailhead, there sat the NWHiker car, that was fun since I've used the site so much.

[BCJ]

I met one of the men who spent a few summers in the late 50's and early 60's building the shelter at Camp Schurman on the north side of Mt. Rainier. He was hiking with his granddaughter and we met on top of Second Burroughs Mountain. He is now in his 80's but he was moving very well. It was early in the morning on a perfect day and he spent more than an hour telling me the stories of the summers spent building the shelter and about the climbing history of the mountian where he served as a guide with the Whittakers. It was really neat to be hearing those stories while standing on the best vantage point on the north side of Rainier looking right up at the Steamboat Prow where the shelter is. He was the smallest man in the group so one of his main jobs was retrieving the inner tubes full of concrete mix from crevasses after they were thrown from airplanes (better than lugging them up to 9500'). Here's a link to a short article written about the project: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/182 ... ary14.html

I took a couple of photos with him and he continued on to Third Burroughs.

[sarbar]

I met Scott Williamson in 2006 on the PCT. I was a couple miles from the end of a very hard trip.....I was so tired I didn't care who he was and all I thought was "who the heck starts hiking uphill at like 4 pm?". Anyhoo....nice guy though, everyone in my group behind me did stop and chat with him.

So you met him but did not talk to him That's right, you don't speak to people on the trail. (nwhikers)

A lot of people start hiking at different times. I'll be hitting the trail at 8:00 pm tonight. Weird, huh?

-trailhead-

I do talk to people sometimes. I was in severe pain when I passed Scott - I was within a mile or two of Snoqualmie Pass coming from Stevens Pass on the PCT. We hiked about 19 miles that day and by then my feet were two hot burning pieces of coal. It could have been Santa Claus handing out new backpacks and I would have been rude All I wanted was to put my feet up and eat - I was out of food as well.
Why it struck me as odd about his starting time was that he had on a tiny pack (less than day) and it was a weekday. I pack UL but not that UL Not many start for Kendall Katwalk, 7 1/2 miles in, that late.

[anna in boots]

sarbar,

Thank you, thank you for confessing to sore feet. I feel like a Grade A Doofus whenever I find I've overextended myself and the voices in my head keep assuring me that nobody on PortlandHikers or in the Mazamas would ever be so reckless and shortsighted.

Well, from one adventurer to the other, "Pass the Epson Salts!"

;-)

anna in boots

[sarbar]

Lol......blisters are my best friend. Next in line is old lady feet - you know the kind - you stand up and nearly fall over due to the inability to walk suddenly The friends start joining me around mile 12-13. They are always uninvited as well!