Wednesday, June 11th

...This was the day we also reached snow. For no clear reason, when the flagging led us to Road 5710, it followed the road for almost a mile. The orange blaze dangled from the brush on the side of the road, which cuts into the steep slopes of the Oak Grove Butte. We had reached 3700 ft. and the wet air was considerably cooler. As we followed the road, it was a relief to walk uninhibited, however exhaustion was already consuming me from our climb. We eventually walked up on a group of trucks, people busy quartering firewood from the forest. I was not sure this was a legal permitted area and we were high up away from the main road. I told the others I was not planning to share our intention to avoid any conflict. But then as we approached a smiling woman, leaning out of the first truck, I felt a hint of pride taking over. "You're about to hit snow just up the road," she announced, amicably. It apparently did not seem to strike her as odd that four backpackers would be walking off-trail in one of the most heavily logged part of the forest. "Where you coming from?" I stood up a little straighter and while readjusting my back so I'd look unencumbered by the weight announced we had walked from Fish Creek and were headed across to McCubbins Gulch on the other side of the national forest. She laughed at this and wished us luck. This was the moment I knew we'd pull this whole thing off...