When: July 2012
Where: Miller River, near Skykomish, by Stevens Pass
With: Hannah, Nina and her boyfriend
What: dispersed camping
Accompaniment: Ambulances by Ladytron
I was already a little irritated as I drove out Highway 2 towards Stevens Pass. I’d been told we were doing a ladies camping weekend, so I’d left my partner at home, but a friend’s boyfriend was coming along.
Three or four guys on loud motorbikes pulled up behind me, aggro. After riding my ass for a while, popping wheelies, they passed me illegally shortly before my turn-off… which they also took. They disappeared up the Forest Service road in a haze of dust while we pulled off to consult our notes about the dispersed site we were aiming for.
It wasn’t far up the road. And who should be there, beating us to the site by five minutes, but our friends from the highway.
The guys were about our age. Recognizing our cars, they immediately turned sheepish for the way they’d been driving. We could have the campsite — they weren’t staying there. They were rock climbers, planning to brush crash to a bouldering spot in the woods (probably one of these?). Forest boulderers, they called themselves.
They pulled bouldering pads out of their supply van, shrugged the straps over their shoulders and hiked off into the lush forest. If they hadn’t been such jerks driving, we probably all would have gotten along well.
The boyfriend had just bought a camp hammock, so he wandered off to find two trees the perfect distance apart to hang it. Missing my partner, I set up my big tent on a soft tent pad between the trees.
We wandered down to the river and hung out on the boulders along the water’s edge. Hannah hammed it up for the camera, taking pictures of me while I took pictures of her. Finally, I could let it go and enjoy myself.
Anyone else have trouble letting these little annoyances go?
Bonus Music
I made a (somewhat eclectic) playlist inspired by this trip to the river on July 31, 2012. It seems appropriate to share here 🙂
