Walks with Moss: Lower Skokomish with a Toothache and Sciatica in the Rain

My first hike in a month. I’ve been down with a sinus infection and a toothache. One or the other, or maybe both, I don’t know. Antibiotics were taking a long time to kick in and getting the tooth ground down for a crown did not ease the pain by very much. I also have sciatica down my left leg, it only hurts when I am gaining elevation, stepping down does not hurt.

I was not sure how far I was going to hike as I really had to force myself to get out on this dreary rainy day. It was the only day I had free. I’ve got to go back to having planned hiking days where I make no other appointments.

I parked at the Lebar trail head so I could avoid any hassles with my pass. I’ve learned that having a pass on display does not always prevent you from getting a ticket. Rangers look for the NW forest pass and are a bit blind to the Golden Access Pass.

I trudged up the trail, the only thing that kept me going was the thought of lunch and how many calories I had to burn before I could get away with eating a big lunch.

Two miles in I got out my sit pad and stopped for coffee, but I had no water so I just ate a banana instead. It’s not at all like me to want to sit after just two miles.

I needed to go about three miles in order to justify lunch, but when I got to that point there was no perfect place to have lunch. So I ended up going almost to camp comfort. I had lunch near the place where the trail washed out years ago. Getting over the log jam was a pain and as soon as I got down to the gravel bar it really started to rain.

I searched for a perfect lunch spot by the river but just in the woods. I needed a spot with a log to sit on and tree to hang my tarp from. I did not find such spot with trees perfectly aligned over a perfectly sized log log. Instead, I found a sort of bank to sit on. I ended up with a really nice tarp pitch. The rain drained just right and the tarp was high enough over my head.

When I went to sit, I discovered I had left my sit pad behind when I had a banana. So I put on my rain pants to give me some insulation from the ground. Lunch was noodles with dehydrated hamburger, powdered tomato and peanut butter, dried corn and hot sauce. Lunch was nice. I also had 1.5 cups of coffee. The second cup was upsetting my stomach so Sage got half of it.

For lunch Sage had Mayday emergency ration bars since I forgot to pack dog food, but I always have Mayday bars in my car. I’m really liking the Mayday bars, they save me from having to shop for lunch before a hike. I also am liking my huge cans of tomato power, dried bell peppers and peanut powder from Walmart. I have what was five pounds of fresh hamburger that I dehydrated down and keep in the freezer. I expect it to take a year for me to use up this hamburger on day hikes as I ration it out carefully.

After lunch I put my wet tarp away and hiked back in a better mood. I took Ibuprofen for my tooth/head pain and my sciatica hurt less on the hike down.

My left knee hurts in two different ways, one way is from sciatica and the other way is a mystery. I’ve seen a doctor for the knee one time and when they could not find arthritis they sent me away with no DX. That was about 5 years ago. I really should go back and find out the cause of my sciatica and the cause of my non-sciatic knee pain. I’m hoping to find a good general practitioner in Olympia since none of the doctors in my county fully accept my insurance, they are all out of network.

I ended up hiking nine miles and the next day I was not very sore at all. I saw a brush picker hiking back to a green van on the way out and that is the only person I saw all day.

9 miles with 1,000 feet elevation gain.