Day 71: The Thrush is back...the Thrush are back...Thrushes are back...dang it anyway...more than one Thrush is back, and they are all puffed up to maximize the amount of air trapped by their feathers, the better to insulate them against the cold. While the principle seems sound, I keep thinking about the reason Pacfic Northwest backpackers choose synthetic-filled sleeping bags: down is worthless if it gets wet, and right now the Thrush is (are) soaked through and through with freezing rain. Watching them run out from the protection of the shrubs to grab seed, only to dart straight back in again sends the train of my thoughts along tracks cut through the Olympics, the Mt. Margaret backcountry north of Mt. St. Helens, and the Northern Loop in Mount Rainier National Park. Oh, how miserable I was, wet to the bone despite good raingear! I can sympathize with the Thrush who only leaves the safety of his natural "tent" for the most urgent of reasons, if rather different from those which compelled me into the storm on those occasions. At least I could take my meals inside.
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