15 August 2016, Monday
We are up at 6, showered and at the restaurant by 6:30. The contractors are gone already. Steve is waiting to cook our breakfast. He says our timing is perfect. While we are eating he snaps our picture. He and Thiti, his wife, are hoping to post pictures of people who visit to hike the trail to the falls. We chat for awhile and, inevitably, the subject of the US election comes up. O asks Steve if he is amused by events or worried. He replies that he is more con-fused. His theory is that Donald is doing this for a lark and now that he is the candidate, he is trying to ensure he doesn’t get elected, because he never wanted the job in the first place. As we finish our breakfast he makes sure we exchange phone numbers and reminds me to text him when we are out of the woods.
By 8:30 O and I are on the trail. Although the temperature is in the low to mid 20’s (Celsius) it feels warmer due to the humidity. The trail rises and falls, sometimes steeply, along the riverbank. We are frequently waving our hands about our necks and ears to ward off mosquitoes, but the permethrin works fine on shirts and pants. We break for lunch around 12:30 on a high bank along the trail overlooking the river below. There are blessedly few mosquitoes here. In fact, the mosquito population falls off dramatically from this point on.
Shortly after 2 pm we arrive at a rocky point where the river turns sharply to the right. We can just see the top of the rapids leading to the falls. To the other side of our point the water is wide and calm and spreads out to make a wide T above the turn. The campsite is not the cleanest we’ve seen. There are burned aluminum cans, candy wrappers, a half eaten banana and an old watermelon rind. I can’t understand why people can’t clean up after themselves. We set up tent and tarp away from the trash-cluttered fire ring. I filter extra water to replenish our supply. We sit on a rock ledge and watch a loon call from across the river. Soon there are two loons and then three. We spy a large dark-colored raptor flying from the trees across the way and listen to the clatter of dragonfly wings, grateful for their appetite for mosquitoes.
After we clean up from our supper of salmon loaf, chutney and whole grain pasta, topped off by a brownie dessert, we walk down along the rapids. We do not make it all the way to the falls. That will have to wait until tomorrow. It is a beautiful and peaceful evening. We drift off to sleep to the call of distant loons.
