Day 4 50-Miler

Day 4 8.68 miles, 3:46 hiking time, The day of circumnavigating downed trees and scenic waterfalls!

Waking up on day 4 and we had no rain overnight!  I was very surprised given we were camped in such a lush, green area.  It also seemed like people were starting to settle into the routine of the 50-miler day; getting packed up for the day, getting breakfast, working to get on the trail.

Heading west out of camp, the trail climbed quickly, parallel to Quartz Creek.  The steep trail leveled out but then we started coming across more downed trees across the trail than we had ever encountered thus far on our journey.

On some of the tree maneuvers, we had to go back and forth on multiple logs to get through the debris, it was almost like navigating through a video game!  There were numerous downed trees we had to climb over, under or around.

Another big challenge on day 4 was crossing a couple of rushing creeks.  The first creek was the location of our only casualty of the trip.  We had to cross one creek on a narrow log with the barked stripped off that was wet from the splashing creek, it was very slick.  One or two scouts got across with the help of hiking sticks but Elisha slipped and fell in the creek backwards, soaking himself and his pack.  He probably added 10 pounds to his load with that little swim and it was still early in the day!  We devised a plan to use three people in stable locations to support each person as they crossed and everyone else got across safely.

After the mishap, we came to a more ominous looking task, crossing Straight Creek.  We found a narrow 12″ log across that would get us to the other side.  We would then have to scale a steep cliff to get up to the trail.  We were planning on shimmying across on our bottoms with the first person across taking a guide rope.  The scary thing was the roaring waterfall just 20 feet downstream that would have engulfed anyone who fell off the log.  While we were preparing for the crossing and contemplating, I decided I would just put on my water shoes and wade across.  Just then, my son Justin showed up on the opposite side of the rushing creek!

He had found this log jam, leftover from much higher water upstream a little ways.  We all made sure we had a hiking staff for stabilization and we got across the scary waterway without any mishaps!

We journeyed on, as we got further west, the creek crossings got easier and the downed logs got fewer.

We arrived at road 90, a paved road through the forest.  One of our support team had to hitchhike back to his pickup truck which was left along the road near the Summit Meadow trailhead from day 3.  The support team hiked up the hill and down the super steep descent and stayed the night with us and then hiked to road 90.  A quick prayer was said to elicit the Lord’s help in catching a safe ride and, within a minute that ride came along and made the connection!

Once we got to road 90, the pace picked up quite a bit.  The trail began to parallel the Lewis River, a rushing waterway that provided some spectacular sights along the way.

The waterfalls along the Lewis River were awesome!  With the late snowmelt filling the river, the mist floated off the falls and gave us a cool breeze!

This was one of the Lewis River tributaries we crossed.  Fortunately there were bridges across all the significant creeks.  It was about in this area that we spotted our first glimpse of civilization in 4 days.  It was awesome being in such a remote area, only interacting with the other people in our group.

All total, we passed 4 significant waterfalls on the Lewis River.

We came across the Lower Falls Recreation Area with a paved campground and stinky composting outhouse.  We paused to refresh and gather all the group together.  A short ways further and we found a bridge on road 90 crossing the river.  This was Crab Creek Trailhead and there was a beautiful campground right along the Lewis River where we setup camp for the night.

The scouts took a minute to inspect socks, blisters and boots.

We got our fire going and cooked dinner.

I took the opportunity to take another splash bath and me and the scoutmaster, Brian Kreitzer even dove into the frigid waters for some refreshment.  We gathered around for the campfire program and did three skits, including the infamous “invisible bench” skit that should be familiar to most long-time scouters!