Outward Bound Journal - Day 2
Woke up at 5:30. Broke camp. Filled water bottles at a pump - last clean water for two weeks (it tastes like dirt and rusted iron anyway.) Loaded canoes onto a trailer, went in a van, ate dry oatmeal for breakfast.
The van ride was a bit over two hours, away from the home base and north towards Canada, the idea being that we would work our way back towards the origin over the two weeks to follow. Our guides assured us that this was the noble way to do things - so that, as we backpack and canoe, we are working towards an essential and necessary end (making our flights home!), rather than just making excursions, but always being near to base.
Upon arriving at our destination (a nondescript dead-end dirt road a few hundred meters from a pond), we unloaded the canoes and hid them in a field near the pond, and then drove another 15 minutes or so to a second nondescript, dead-end dirt road (a common by-product of the ever-expanding logging industry, I am told.) There, the driver left us on our own. We hefted our ~50 pound packs, and began the main phase of the journey.
We began along a dirt path, for about two hours. Around lunchtime, we found a rocky spot around the path, sat down on our packs, and divided up tortillas, salsa, and slices of cheese. (The cheese, out of necessity, had to be comsumed for one of the first meals.)
After lunch, we resumed travel, but this time, cross-country, away from the road. We arrived at the base of Sally Mountain, and began our laborous ascent. At the top - around 2100 feet, by our guides' estimate - we picked wild blueberries, and took pictures from the site of an old fire watchtower. There was a path down the other side, and at the bottom we swam in a warm lake and set up camp. Sleep came slowly in an overcrowded 4-person tent.
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