By the time I got up this morning there were fresh muffins and danish that someone in the household had purchased and brought back from Evelyn's bakery. Yum.
After a leisure morning Eric, Ashley, Daniel, Bonnie and I loaded up in the car and stopped by Quiznos for a quick lunch. From there I was dropped off at the zoo/park again for my day hike. They were on their way to Lake Oswego to visit some retirement centers related to Eric and Bonnie's work.
The foot felt much better at the start of the hike and I stretched well to try and prevent shin splints. The initial pace was warmup pace but soon I was cruising down the trail. At the 57 minute mark I reached the Pittock Mansion, hiked to the viewpoint to check out the city below and Mt. Hood in the distance, then kept moving. At the three hour mark I had hiked 12 miles. Eric called to see if I was ready to be picked up, but I hiked off the map I had with me and needed to backtrack off the Wildwood trail onto a side trail down into the city.
Reaching the Aspen trail, I began a descent into a neighborhood. Not sure where to go once hitting pavement, I asked some folks who were also walking down the sidewalk how to get to Thurman. They too were trying to find it and gave me some general direction. I took off ahead of them and soon reached a street intersection that was poorly marked.
I chose a direction and walked two or three blocks when the cell phone rang...and it was my friend Hip back in Maryland. While we were talking I kept walking. As I came around a curve in the road a man with his two daughters was walking toward me on the street. He had a full backpack on as well as trekking poles. Odd, surely he must be in training for a hike. After he passed me I turned around and followed him, wanting to ask him the way to the city. I was still on the phone with Hip and in mid sentence when the man stopped and squared off with me. He had figured out I was following and that I wanted to have a conversation, and I'm sure he was feeling the need to protect his kids from this bearded stranger who was closely behind.
So I interrupted Hip for a minute and asked the man how to get to the city. He confirmed I had been walking the wrong direction. Then I asked if he was getting ready for a long hike. He said he was headed for California in two weeks to hike around the Mt. Lassen area...on the PCT! Funny how the world works, I may very well see him again on the trail in a couple weeks, and just when I needed some direction he appeared. Urban trail angel? Hmmm.
I made it down to the city and hiked a couple miles to 23rd street where I began my quest to stop for a brew at a local microbrewery. I stopped at Lompoc and went inside...it was dark and the bar was full of Sunday afternoon party people. But I wanted to sit outside and there was no sidewalk service. So I hiked several blocks down the crowded street taking in the scene. Eric called and was just a few blocks away so I got a ride instead back to the homestead.
Total mileage on the hike was about 15 miles. The foot held up well with only a little swelling and tenderness that was tolerable. Once back at Eric's, we all loaded up and went to Thailand restaurant for Thai food. From there it was back to the house for late evening conversation with Bonnie and Daniel.
It appears I should be ready to return to the trail sometime later in the week, assuming the foot looks and feels fine tomorrow after a good test today. We'll see!
