Walks with Moss: Big Creek 16 tons of cat food

Mount Warshington

Big Creek is close to home and on a paved road, so I’ve been going there a lot. This time I used dial-a-ride to get there. My morning pick up was at 6:15, when the bus arrived there was already one passenger on it, the bus went uptown and picked up another passenger and then dropped them both off at the Port of Shelton before taking me to Big Creek. I was unsure where the bus could drop me off with active logging at Big Creek, but the logging has stopped so I had the bus drop me off in front of the campground as usual. I got off the bus at about 7:20.

I could see no sign that the trail was closed inside the campground, but I went up the temporary trail anyway because I wanted to get high fast. Hot weather was predicted at sea level so I wanted to gain some elevation before the temperatures soared. It turns out that half of the trail is still closed and the open half is getting crowded.

I only stopped briefly at the lookout before I continued my climb up. I took my lunch at the big rock with 4 benches around it on the Lower Ellinor trail at about 3,200 feet. I spent an hour relaxing at lunch time and I felt good because I took that time.

Lunch spot

Lobaria linita on rock at my lunch spot

At about noon I started back down the trail to meet my bus at 3pm. I got down to the bottom early so I stopped under the Big Creek Bridge and soaked my feet while Patches had a nice swim. My pick up time was between 3 and 3:30 and the bus always picks me up closer to 3:30, but this time the bus surprised me by arriving right at three. I did not even have my trekking poles folded up yet and Patches was still pretty wet.

Lisa was my driver but she was training another driver also named Lisa. Lisa used to be the driver on the run that leaves Brinnon at 3:15. Lisa looked very official in her role as a trainer today.

The bus stopped at the hospital to pick up a cantankerous old glutton. I knew this woman and I don’t like her, she is very demanding and takes advantage of the fact that she has a mobility issue. One day at the food bank she insisted that I push her around in her wheel chair and then she crowded me out. I think Patches picked up on my discomfort her.

The woman alos had a "service" dog and a walker. But before the drivers could load the woman and her dog and her walker onto the bus they first had to load all kinds of cat food and a watermelon and a shopping cart onto the bus. What a sight that was. The woman was just being released from the hospital... Who the hell gets released from the hospital with tons of cat food and a load of groceries?

She had a full case of canned cat food and a 30 pound bag of dry cat food. The bus drivers really struggled to load all of her crap onto the bus, I felt sorry for them. Crap kept falling everywhere. I had to laugh as a watermelon began to roll down the sidewalk.

Poor Lisa and Lisa

WTF?

Patches was rather confused by the whole carry one and the woman was mean about it, but soon she switched her attention to cussing and bitching about the hospital and the bus drivers and on and on. So my PTSD was totally triggered.

Wow.. I was so relaxed and happy after my hike but the experience with that horrible woman on the bus set me on edge. If they try to load her onto the bus with me again I’ll just get off and walk home. I never want to see that horrible woman again.

My husband just lost his job so we are now officially below the poverty level for a family of 2, and we are a family of three. My husband is too sick to work anymore. It’s been a very stressful week and my PTSD is in over drive. I am manic and not the happy kind of manic, nope, the irritable as hell kind of manic.. My doctor says I should hike, she knows that hiking is good for me. But how shall I get to the trailhead with no money?

I may need to do a kick starter or take money out of my dwindling savings account if I want to through hike Oregon on the PCT this year.