Day 5

I'm so handsome!

Mama took these pictures of the scenery:

Wow, today was awesome! We got a nice early start because we planned a LOOOOOOONG walk! The weather forecast was 80% chance of rain. It had really poured all night. And it was raining as we drove to the trailheads. Mama keeps a rain poncho in her backpack and wears her rain hat. Keeps her dry and comfy.

Rained off and on all day, the sun would peek out periodically. Mamas feet were soaked in her boots. See, she should go barefoot (or puppy foot) like me! My paws were wet, but not soggy!
We wanted to do the Jessie Wright segment, but it is closed for construction. So we had to take an alternate route, UUUUPPPPPP the mountain, and up some more, then up some more! It was very tiring (for Mama, not for me!) and we were on some very steep cliff edges. When we got to the top it was sooooo pretty! Like a meadow with trees. Saw a deer bouncing away. Then DOOOOOWN to the bottom, across a bridge and back onto the North Umpqua Trail. We thought we were on the Marsten segment at that point… not. We had to go another mile to get there (and “miles” in the wilderness are mighty long!!). We did 6 miles in that segment.
Then we finally got to the Marsten trail… but had to walk along the Marsten Bridge to get to the actual trail connection. The Marsten Bridge is the highway… with no shoulder. Luckily there was very little traffic, no cars crossing either way as we quickly walked across. A bit scary and potentially dangerous!

Many of the trail heads are on the opposite side of the river from the highway. So there are nice big bridges to drive across to park at many of the trailheads. As we neared the end of the Marsten segment, Mama looked ahead and saw the bridge for the Calf segment! YEAH!! Then there was one for the Panther segment. Gets pretty exciting seeing those in the distance.
It is so pretty going along the river on these trails. The Marsten segment is 4 miles long. There are many high, sharp cliff edges. I was getting all excited about the traffic on the highway across the river valley… wanted to chase/race the vehicles (esp semis!). Mama just about has a heart attack so she makes me walk behind her for awhile. Sheesh, I just want to have some fun!!
Calf Segment was the next 4 miles. This segment has been closed since severe fire damage in 2003. Just reopened this March. Still some slide areas, but they have put in nice trails and all the deadfall is cut away along the actual trail.

The last segment was Panther. It was five miles. About an hour from the end, Mama was getting a bit tired and ready to be finished. (Me too, but I could never admit that!). Finally saw the final bridge then there was the car! I ran right up to it, I was ready to go back to the cabin!

We ran into many ticks (YUCK) and lots of poison oak (double yuck) today, so when we got back to the cabin I needed a bath. No room in the cabin, so Mama took me to the lake, had me fetch the ball, then rubbed on some shampoo and tossed the ball some more! That makes bath time pretty fun.
So we hiked for nine hours and did 19 miles! That puts our total to 86 miles in five days! We rock! Tomorrow we do a 16 mile hike which puts us at 100 miles a day early! Mama says we may stay at the camp on Saturday and play at the lake, maybe go for a boat ride! I want to play lots of fetch! Hope the weather is nice.
Time to go back to bed. A tuckered pup once again!

Your tired puppy pal, Karoo