"You're going to do what with that toothpaste?"

Monday, August 16, 2010

I heard the thunder in the distance and was up and preparing to break camp around 6 a.m. I let everyone sleep until 7 a.m. before rousing them to help with the process. We ate a breakfast of gorp, energy bars, and pinole and were on the trail for home by 8 a.m. The going was slowed by the recent thunderstorm, which tended to make the trail a muddy quagmire and the rocks and roots normally used for walking, slippery as ice.

The trail out loses over 1,000 feet of elevation, so it makes life a little easier…that and the fact that I’ve got about 10 pounds less food in my pack. Still, I broke a good sweat and would need a good cleansing at the conclusion. As we neared the end of the hike, Marie and I stopped to gorge ourselves on the blackberries which were out in abundance. The bears were busy eating camping food so I suppose its okay to eat theirs. Frankly, I was surprised how many they’d left.

We completed the hike in two and a half hours and it felt great to drop the pack and head for the water. We ate the food we left in the cooler before getting on the road knowing that we were headed for my Uncle’s house and an opportunity to shower and eat burgers and drink milkshakes. I was about to close the bear canister when Don asked me if the toothpaste was in there.

“We’re going to eat when we get to my uncle’s place so why bother brushing your teeth now?”

“I’m not going to brush with it…I’m going to put it in my armpits so I smell better,” he said. The girls and I began to laugh because I was pretty sure he was kidding, but to my amazement, he put some on his fingers and reached under his shirt and applied.

“If I’d known you would go this far, I’d have let you bring your deodorant…or do you use that on your teeth?” I grabbed my camera to capture the moment because I’m thinking some folks aren’t going to believe me.

We arrived in Potsdam at my uncle’s place 90 minutes later only to find that they weren’t at home and when my aunt called me, she wondered why I would ever make arrangements with Uncle Bill.

“He said you were coming on Wednesday and staying overnight,” she said.

“Umm…nope. I told him Monday and that we’d only be there for a visit since I had to get Heidi back for work and that we’d have company with us. It was 9 in the morning when I called him, so I don’t think he was drinking,” I kidded.

She reminded me that he was much older than her and that I should call her when I came back in September. We managed to meet up with my cousin Donnie though, and he was able to regal Don with stories of bears coming into his camp sites on Cranberry Lake and stealing food.

“I was sitting on the picnic table bench with my back to it when I heard something behind me. When I turned around, there was a black bear with his nose on the table and in my pepper jar…which he didn’t like. When I stood up, so did he,” Donnie said while using his hand and holding it over his head to indicate how tall the bear was…and he’s 6’4”. The bear grabbed a butter dish and headed for the woods to feast. Later, when Donnie reported the incident to the ranger, he was informed that the bear was a regular they’d trapped and moved once before and weighed in at over 400 pounds…very large for a black bear.

We climbed back in the van and were on the road for home, which would take another 8 hours. I was wondering how my hip would be when I tried to run the next day…it had been a little sore during the climbs. I’d find out in 24 hours.

Hike duration: 2.5 hours.
Training Heart Rate: 90.
Calories burned during workout: 1500.