Miles Hiked 69.7
PCT Mile 575.3
Elevation feet 3,255
Miles Hiked Today 19.5
Yeah, there is a story behind the title “The Forest Does Not Belong to Everyone.” I’ll get to it and a minute.
I woke up this morning 1/10 of a mile from Timberline Lodge. The urge to go back there and have breakfast was great, but I decided to get going and hike as far as I could today.
So, I got off at 6:15 a.m. . The trail went down and then up in the first couple of miles. Then it flattened out and for the rest of the day, there was no more than maybe a four or five hundred foot elevation gain. Most of the trail was flat or descending. A big change from the last several days.
Given the trail conditions, I decided to try for a campsite about 20 miles away. It was highly spoken of in Far Out. The campsite was by Timothy Lake, which is a big area for day hikers and campers.
Nothing of note happened during the day other than I ran into a nice lady who was doing trail magic. I picked up a couple pieces of candy and some water and talked with her for a while before continuing on.
I easily did the mileage necessary to get to my campsite. As a matter of fact, I was averaging close to 3 miles per hour, which for me was phenomenally fast. When I got to Timothy Lake, I filled out a self-permit, which allows me to camp in dispersed camping areas.
When I reached the campsite where I wanted to set up my tent, I noticed several other tents already set up there. There was a lady sitting by one of the tents and it was obvious she was some kind of a guide. She was talking with others of the group by radio and keeping an eye on the tents and their equipment. I walked around the campsite. It was pretty obvious that I was looking for a tentsite. The guide said nothing to me. I found a spot a distance behind the guide and told her I would like to set up my tent here if that’s okay. She said nothing. So I set up my tent.
Then the rest of the group returned and apparently the one who was in overall charge returned with them. She came over to my tent and told me I had to get out. I told her I wasn’t going anywhere and if she had a problem with that she should call the Forest Ranger and have him kick me out. Of course that was never going to happen.
It didn’t make any difference. They harassed me for a half hour. I was just lying in my tent. It was all closed up no one could see and me and nobody could hear me. It didn’t make a difference. They wanted me gone. Finally, I realized it was more trouble than it’s worth and I moved.
This sort of thing has happened to me before, but at least I got harassed and had to leave before I set up my tent. I was just so angry that they did that – waiting for me to set up everything before telling me to get out.
Just remember. The Forest Does Not Belong to Everyone. Or in this case it belongs to a group of middle aged women who have issues with men in general.
