Waptus Lake layover, page 22

 

Waptus Lake camp

Day 11, 5:15 PM
Tuesday, September 17, 1991

We are still at Waptus Lake.  All day long, a mix of high clouds moved over. A north wind seemed to be holding the weather fair, but now the wind has stopped and low clouds have crept in from the southwest. The lake is glassy calm and a deep green color, instead of the bluish green so prevalent these last four days.

Could mean rain. If so, my campsite will turn into a mud-hole. It'll be real fun, rolling that tent up.  Oh, well … except for a couple of days, the weather for this trip has been idyllic.

My leg is still sore; the layover hasn't helped as much as I'd hoped, but at least the rest of me feels better. This morning, after a night of fitful dozing, I was awakened at 4 AM by stabbing pains down the back of my leg. It felt as though the sciatic nerve was spasming… Is that even possible?

I took two aspirin and a painkiller and found myself happily drifting off the La-La land.  I think I’ll take the same combination before I go to bed tonight to see if I get some uninterrupted sleep. Boy, I can see where people get hooked on prescription drugs. I've never eaten pills like this before. I suppose I'd better go to see Dr. Linda after I get out, just to make sure it isn't anything serious. I'm beginning to be fearful that it might be a disk after all.

But, tomorrow Mica and I are going to pack up and head down the Waptus river. Looking at the map again this afternoon, I realized I'm going to walk a mile or so on the spur road to where the one lane bridge crosses the Cle Elum River. I don't much care for the thought of road walking, but the intersection by the bridge will be a perfect spot to wait for C. All I have to do is make myself visible.

Mica has just rudely derailed my train of thought by shrilly announcing that someone has taken up residence in the camp just up the bank from us. This is our first human interaction since we saw the horseman several days ago.

A timid young man came down and introduced himself to Eiger so she would stop barking. He had a fishing pole with him, so I invited him to fish off the peninsula, which he is currently doing. I hope he and his friend will be orderly neighbors.

Anyhow, where was I? Oh, yeah … even though we’ll have to walk on the road and get out early enough to be sure not to miss C., we’re still taking the river trail out

Tomorrow night at this time, we should be somewhere along the Waptus River.

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