Feeder stream

The following is the second part of a report on the third day of a bushwhacking trip through the interior of the southern portion of the Pepperbox Wilderness. The majority of the trip follows along streams and beaver vlys with the exit from the area following a marked herd path from the wild interior of this wilderness area. Highlights along the trip included the Threemile Beaver Meadow, Bear Pond, Moshier Creek and Moshier Reservoir. The second part of the third day was a struggle to follow the feeder stream to the southeast as I continued to make my way toward Moshier Creek.

Date: September 2, 2010
Length: 0.71 miles (1.33 miles cumulative)
Difficulty: Moderate

Now that I reached the feeder stream I planned on following it for the remainder of the day all the way to a beaver pond upstream. So I headed south following along side the stream but off in the forest to avoid the inevitable wet feet I would have if I remained out in the soggy meadow bordering the stream.

The dense conifers made maintaining visual contact with the stream and its accompanying meadow difficult and soon I had no idea whether I was still parallel with the stream or just hopelessly lost (point #28B). As I struggled along the downed conifer trees kept catching on my Integral Designs Shortie gaiters strap until it finally broke requiring me to perform some extensive repairs (i.e. I tied the two dangling pieces together).

Pushing forward in the general direction of the stream soon rewarded me when I was reunited with the stream (point #29). Unfortunately, the reunion was short-lived and soon I found myself following what appeared to be the stream but it was headed in the wrong direction. At this point I retreated further back into the forest; leaving the cruel and punishing dense conifers behind for the relatively pleasant hardwoods.

After I checked the map my location was fairly obvious; I had followed a narrow band of shrubby meadow which circumvented a forested knoll to the east (point #30). On the other side of that knoll was where the stream (and apparently a beaver pond) I was supposed to be following was located. A series of beaver ponds were stretched out before me if I continued in the direction I had been heading. But once cleared of these ponds I could head due east through forest (hopefully open and stroll-worthy hardwoods) for a short duration and then once again reunite with my meandering guide of a feeder stream.

Trying to maintain a line of sight with the open wetland proved as difficult as following the original feeder stream. The open and easily traversed hardwoods continually pulled me away from the difficult coniferous tree-line meadow as if I were metal shavings to its magnet. As I continued moving southward I found myself encountering numerous wet areas which I suspect were just tendrils winding their way from the main wetland off into the surrounding forest.

As the sky began to fill with clouds once again I heard a barred owl hooting off in the distance to the west. Perhaps the overcast fooled the owl into thinking dusk was fast approaching. Scattered patches of blue sky could still be seen occasionally but they moved by quickly in the stiff breeze.

Soon I found myself following along the western shoreline of a moderately-sized beaver pond (point #31). As I continued southward the terrain became very steep so I retreated further west back into the forest away from the pond. Unfortunately, once moving around the steep section I found it difficult to climb back down to the pond’s shoreline, which had become very steep and packed with conifers. Using natural switchbacks, I was finally able to climb back down near the shoreline and find an open place to sit down and have lunch (point #32).

Meadow along feeder stream

Beaver pond

Before sitting down to lunch I went down to the water’s edge and found an adequate place to fill up my 3L Big Zip Platypus Reservoir for filtering while eating my lunch. The water was especially nasty looking so I treated it with Aquamira Water Treatment prior to running it through my Sawyer Inline Water Filter.

Once the water was filtering, I sat down and enjoyed the nice southern view of the beaver pond as I put together my tuna fish sandwich. A small flatbread with tuna and some soy mayo (that had not been refrigerated since I left three days ago) topped off with some home-made dehydrated spinach flakes made quite the tasty lunch.

View from lunch spot

Lunch time beaver pond

After the main course I went through a series of snacks, including a package of Kopali Organics Organic Dried Pineapple. While pulling out pieces and chewing on them thoughtlessly I accidentally bit down hard on my tongue. OUCH!! The salty taste of blood overpowered the half-consumed pineapple but I continued to gingerly chew the remains of my snack before finally swallowing it. My tongue continued to bleed for 15 to 20 agonizing minutes before it stopped.

Forest at lunch site

To add insult to injury, when I returned to snacking on my organic pineapple I noticed a rather odd looking piece near the bottom of the package. Upon fishing out this flimsy looking piece it dawned on me what it was. As a bonus the manufacturer had included a piece of rubber glove with my pineapple pieces. At least, I was hoping this piece of latex was from a rubber glove. I kept the piece as proof but upon returning home I must have accidentally discarded because the disturbing piece of latex was never seen again. Good riddance to bad rubbish, I say!

With lunch completed (and yes I was able to keep it all down despite the pineapple/rubber glove incident AND the smashed tongue) and my water supply replenished I could continue with the afternoon portion of the bushwhack.