Robert Francisco

Destination: Lowden’s Cabin Site
Starting Location: Seiad Valley
Today’s Miles: 20.40
Trip Miles: 1683.60
Seiad Valley (1662.1, 1371) to Lowdens Cabin Site (1682.5, 6007) ascent (6821) descent (2349)

Dad asked when we needed to leave & I casually said “if we leave by noon we can easily make our 20 miles”. We are hiking machines & to think about that first difficult 20 into Lake Morena is a distant memory.
Had a scare as we realized my maps & personal items had been left in a box labeled “hiker box”. I am really particular about my stuff & being organized on the trail. Not having my maps concerned me greatly & I worried about it during the night. Dad worried more however and at 5:30 a.m. he said “let’s go find your stuff”. Fortunately, the box had not been put into view and we retrieved everything before the hiker trash woke up. My folks were sure no one would take my stuff, but unfortunately I have seen some behavior that convinced me otherwise”. The good news was my friends were there and they recognized the stuff as mine & kept it aside. I felt bad for dad because he felt really bad about putting the stuff in the wrong box. After it was retrieved however, we were able to enjoy a cup of coffee & talk about motorcycles. Mom had fallen back asleep by the time we got back. We woke her with coffee & we all enjoyed her brownies for a pre-breakfast.
That climb was a doozy at over 6800 + feet in 20 miles. Fortunately we had cool temperatures along with thunder showers. When I stopped I actually got really cold as I was soaked from pushing through the overgrown trail with wet leaves. At Lookout Spring Sunny was explaining the speed of light/speed of sound calculations and corrected me that it takes 5, not 1, seconds for the sound of thunder to travel 1 mile. Then we were blinded with a brilliant flash and an instantaneous & deafening explosion. Sunny does not curse but he sure did after that one. We quickly called out for Tadpole the hippo & Rolling Thunder as they had just left the protection of the trees & were above on the exposed ridge. No one was struck & we could not see any evidence of a strike but that bolt of lightning was literally right on top of us.
As I write this the sky continues to flash & rumble as a few drops of rain touch the tent’s protective wall.

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