woodland wanderings: West Royce via Laughing Lion

I intended on hiking the East Royce trail to hit both East and West Royce summits. However, the universe and I don’t always move in sync and I parked at the Laughing Lion trailhead. I quickly realized my mistake but decided not to turn back.

The start of the trail is dark, narrow, not much more than a deer trail, with missing or faded blazes. I stood staring at the woods a few times wondering where the heck the trail went. The ERD stared at me and took off in the opposite direction. He turned around to give me a, “What’s your problem?” look. One of his many such looks during this hike. The Laughing Lion trail is unrelenting in its steep ascent but was mostly dry so I didn’t have to worry about slipping to my death. At least not until I got to the Royce Trail. This is a wet, slippery, eroded trail. My feet kept getting stuck in the exposed roots, my mind was numbed by the endless, viewless, tricky ascent.

I finally got to the top and there were people!? Nice, friendly, enjoyable people, one with a dog that the ERD was happy to socialize with, but people just the same. The ERD nosed around in the hiker’s backpacks looking for unattended food. I sat for an hour reluctant to leave before the people left. I had nowhere else to go and needed to have some quiet time after a steep hike. After we said our goodbyes, I stayed for a time, then started down the wet, slippery, root infested, ‘bad-word spewing’ descent.

When I finally got down, thankfully alive, I went to check out the parking area for the Rattle River trailhead. Not as nestled away as I like, but it would work fine for a nice car camp.

I went to dinner at the Town and Country Inn and Resort. The food was good but the service was horrible. Maybe it had something to do with the fact I looked like a disheveled homeless person. After dinner I went back to the parking area and noticed an older couple looking in the bushes. They were a couple of motorcycle-riding 78 and 82 year olds! So Awesome! They were fellow Geocachers. I had found the cache earlier and went over to tell them where to look. We had a great talk. They told me they have been driving across the country finding cool locations they would never have found if it wasn’t for caching. They said caching and traveling on their motorcycle keeps them young. It must be working because I would never have been able to guess their ages!

The weather forecast isn’t good for my hike tomorrow. Cloud cover all day with chances of rain and a potential thunderstorm. I’m looking forward to it anyway.

47 down 5 to go.