At CRMS we try very hard to acknowledge and honor each other’s birthdays. The problem with Josh’s birthday is that it comes so early in the school year that we often don’t have anything planned until the last minute. Beginning of the school year brain is a stressed brain. This year though, we didn’t let Josh down. Mostly because he planned his own shindig. We hopped in the Subaru, stopped in Welches for provisions, and spent a lovely late afternoon on the Salmon River with our feet in the water. We even saw a huge salmon. It was a fabulous day. Evidence of its glory is the picture of the birthday boy above. Because I had such a brilliant Friday for Josh’s birthday, when Sunday rolled around I wanted to hike the trail.

My sister was working, of course, so I called my friend Ryan Goldberg. We hit the trail at the first parking lot so that we could get the whole trail. If you struggle with hiking it has a lot of entrances and you could easily shorten the hike. It’s also mostly flat. I injured my knee pretty bad in August. I was really scared I had torn my meniscus again. In fact I was convinced I had torn it again and avoided even going to the doctor for awhile. Flat sounded good for “old swollen joe” which is what I call my knee when it’s acting up. After I finally did visit my doctor, she told me it just has some inflammation. I have to do stretches and ice it. In summary, I’m getting old. Lame. I refuse.

The Old Salmon River Trail is 5 miles round trip. It stays mostly on the river and has some truly lovely bridges (features) built into it. My sister and brother in law placed some of my aunt’s ashes on the trail last time we were there, so it will always be sentimental for me. Especially since yesterday would have been her birthday, she’s on my mind.

The trail was Grimm mossy, much dryer than last time I ventured down it’s winding path, and mostly uneventful until we got close to the end. Some people were camping just off the trail and using the actual trail as their bathroom. Super classy. I wanted to yell at them, but I didn’t want any of the creepy old men to try to fight Ryan. People who use a trail as a bathroom probably aren’t to be reasoned with.

On the way back to the car, we stopped at the same place where we had spent Josh’s birthday. Ryan had carried, unbeknownst to me, beers for both of us in his backpack. We enjoyed them, and I put my feet in the river, again. We also saw a salmon again. It was a really good day.

For information about Salmon River click here.