At the Jamboree I entered a duck int he first annual Duckie Race to raise money for next year's jamboree... a little karma investment I guess. Well they let me take my duckie (A LOSER I might add) back out on the trail with me. Here he is drowning his sorrows in some pale ale after the big race. I added the flames and everything but he still didn't win a single dollar. Oh well. I named the little bastard Bigfoot the Happy Camp Racing Duck.


Back at the sweet Seiad Valley RV Park I was packing up my stuff getting ready to go when I stuck my hand down into a water bottle pocket to clear out some pine needles. Something was amiss so I too a closer look and this is what I found.


Zoom in on this photo and you'll see the little red hourglass. Yep, a fricking Black Widow in my water bottle holder. And folks, I sleep out unprotected under the stars almost EVERY night that it's not raining (which it just about never does) or when the mosquitoes aren't too bad (which now that it's fall, they never are) so who knows what other creepy crawlies are scurrying across my neck while I sleep? Yeesh!


Here's the Devil's Peak fire lookout tower (the speck on the cliffside) that we lunched at on the climb out of Seiad Valley. Everyone seems to be getting their panties in a twist over this climb. Sure it was long and steady but with the temps not too high, it was quite the pleasant hike. The visit to this lookout tower brought the count up to four for me I believe.


A spring that I placed by a spring. Well, umm, I mean there was this bed spring that I found and so I carried it until the next water-type spring and stuck it there so that everyone who comes later will know where the - ahem - spring is.