Day 8 - Mile 1639 14.25 miles

I left Seiad Valley at 7:30 ish with the goal of getting the 6.5 road walk done before it got hot. It was a pretty nice walk, all things considered. There were wild sweet peas,

and the road crossed the mighty Klamath River by bridge. 

I finally got off the highway and turned onto a road that parallels the river on the other side. There were homes, with barking dogs who tried to intimidate me with their racket. Fortunately they weren’t aggressive towards me. 

I got to Grinder Campground and finally found the trailhead. Immediately I was taken with the terribly overgrown pathway. There were grasses and flowering bushes, sometimes way over my head.  

Then the poison oak started. Big time. There was no way for me to avoid it but I hope I was able to keep it on my shoes and pants only. After two hours of this I stopped near a creek crossing and had lunch. I started to freak out because I am so allergic to the stuff. How will I avoid getting it on my skin? What can I do to protect myself? Should I head back to town so I can wash my clothes and shoes? Should I bail on this section because of the oak and my fears? What to do...

I finally realized if I did bail I would never finish the PCT because this section will always have PO. So the best thing I can do is to work on keeping my bare skin away from my pants. When I rolled into camp tonight I got my pitifully small packet of Technu (poison oak soap) out and washed my arms and legs off then put on my sleeping clothes. That’s the best I can do. My doc said I could call him if I needed a second course of steroids (having just had a bad outbreak a few weeks ago). So we will see how it goes. 

Eventually I made it to a very nice campsite with a nearby creek. It took some doing though because I spent the entire day climbing, only gaining about 2,000’ in the process. But other than the poison oak the area is beautiful. I followed Grinder Creek up and was very fortunate that the bridges, which my maps say were burned up in a fire, have been replaced with steel bridges. That made me happy since there is a bit of power behind the water in Grinder Creek. 

Two of the three bridges for today. 

I am settled in my hammock and will probably sleep well tonight...I’m tuckered out. Here’s the hammock with the extra under quilt. If nothing else, I’ll be cozy warm.