Doing What Crows Like Best

Day 90: Today, I told myself I could do whatever I darn well wanted to do, and to that end, I stuffed the tripod, macro filters, jacket and a small bottle of Gatorade in my daypack and headed down to Pack Forest with the idea that I'd find the end of the 1400 Rd. Ah yes, I've done this before, and it's one of the reasons I never file a crowflight plan with friends. The closer I got to Pack, the less interesting the end of the 1400 became, and the Plan started undergoing revision. What if I went up the Hugo Peak trail to connect with 1400? That'd give me a nice view. And what if it doesn't look like there's going to be much snow on Hugo? Well, I could go all the way to the top, and then if I wanted to, I could explore the 1400 on the way back down. As it turned out, my only contact with the 1400 Rd. was pacing off its eight-foot width where the Hugo trail crosses it. I wound up on top of Hugo.

Ah, but the Plan was still under revision! From the top of Hugo, I normally walk back on the road, a hunter-gatherer's transit. Today, however, there was no possibility of Chanterelles to tempt me. As I walked toward the five-way intersection at Kirkland Pass, I said to myself, "Hmmm...maybe I should go out the Reservoir Trail," a variation which would add approximately another mile to the trip. Down the Reservoir Trail I went, and when I reached the junction with the Wildlife Trail, I took that instead of connecting directly to the road.

For somebody who was going to do a quick couple of miles up the 1400, I managed to rack up about seven in the end. It was a great way to celebrate the day before New Year's, a day when I ought to be allowed to do anything I darn well want to do.