Trip 04, Day 05 (Day 32):
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 22, 2007: QUARRY CANYON
At the beginning of this trip, Joe and I had agreed we should use only one vehicle when we had to drive more than 30 miles to get to the walk, and use both vehicles once we were within 30 miles of base camp. We had now progressed to within 30 miles, so we took both cars today, leaving one at a rest stop at the day’s end and driving the other to the Highway 395 junction and parking it at the Riley gas station and archery shop (yes, really). On the way, we stopped at the 3-mile point and dropped off some items: a lawn chair, a book, and two bottles of water.
We both started at the same time – about 8:20 a.m. However, Joe wanted to run the first 3 miles. Why does he do that? Here’s why: He is a goal-oriented person. He set himself a goal at the beginning of the year that he would run 1600 miles during 2007. He was well on schedule to meet that goal, but wanted to get a little ahead while on this trip since it was pretty much unchanging in appearance (according to him) and not really as interesting as what he had in mind when he decided to primarily walk across the country rather than primarily run. He had felt somewhat cheated out of a lot of the wetter-climate scenery going down the west coast, and he did not want to miss that in this project.
Starting point: 43.54196 N, 119.50313 W – elevation 4242 feet
Ending point: 43.53245 N, 119.31988 W – elevation 4555 feet
As I started walking, the green pastures transitioned to a yellow field of grass with grazing cattle. After this ended, the desert returned to dominate the landscape. Visible miles to the south was the pointed cone of Iron Mountain. The road made a slight bend southward, ending the straight stretch from yesterday and starting a new one. I topped a rise and looked back. I could still see the outline of Glass Buttes on the far horizon, while the green pastures of the valley just traversed stretched out like a carpet at my feet.
At 3 miles, I came upon Joe sitting in the sagebrush in a lawn chair, sipping water and reading a book. From this point, we walked together for the remainder of the day.
The day’s end was at a rest area near milepost 114.
Walk rating: 5.2
Money found: Day: $.01 Trip: $0.28 Project: $12.74
Distance: Day: 9.4 miles Trip: 49.4 miles Project: 300.8 miles
Significance: Passed the 300-mile point for the project.
