colleen stinchcombe

July 12
We wake up early and are walking by 530. Low tide is at 9 am and the lake is 7 miles away. It doesn’t take long for me to realize I am tired, and then I realize I am also sad. Both of these make me unmotivated. I try to do a systems check: is something in particular bothering me? But really, it just seems like a combo of too much ice cream and days of hurried sleep and too much socialization and not enough down time. 
I step off trail and Energizer Bunny goes to join me but I ask her not to, so she takes off her jacket and asks me if I’m okay and keeps going. I lean against my pack and breathe and close my eyes for a little while. I open them and stare at the trees. And then I get up again and keep going. It is too early to try to explain that sometimes I (and I think everyone, really) get sad for no reason and the only way I know to deal with it is to treat it as kindly as possible. 
I come up the hill and Dexter and Energizer Bunny are waiting for me, Dexter asks if I’m okay and we continue. I put in some sad music and Energizer Bunny walks in front of me and Quiet passes me and we walk the beach and slowly the feeling lifts from my chest. 
We get to Sand Lake at 9:30 and the crossing is no problem, shin deep and not fast, although the sand sucks is in and surprises us so we have to move fast. 
We take a short break and snack and then keep beach walking. Just as I’m getting to Cape Kiwanda I sit down for another snack and two beachgoers chat with me about what we’re doing, where we’re headed. I ask if there’s a bookstore in town but they didn’t see one and the woman offers me the book she’s just finished, but it’s one I’ve already read. I offer her the book I’ve just finished. “Well, what’s it about?” So I tell her and she says she’d love to have it so I dig through my pack and give it to her. Which sort of made my day.
Cape Kiwanda’s neck is essentially a large dune, unlike the other forested capes we’ve crossed. It’s hard to climb but not too tall so we get to the top quickly. I see a little kid riding a snowboard type device down and wonder: can I glissade this? So I pull my Tyvek out and try. The answer is no. (There is a rather amusing video of my attempt on Instagram.)

From there we walk into town. I notice a thrift store and a library and make a mental note to see if I can find a book there. But for now: lunch. It’s Donor, Energizer Bunny, Dexter and me because Quiet and Trooper stopped earlier at a different restaurant. We eat and then it’s almost happy hour so we go inside and get dessert and charge our things. I find a book at the thrift store. 

The boys are taking a bus to Lincoln City because there’s a lot of road walking in the next section. Us girls are taking a bus back to the County Campground and figuring out what we want to do from there. Mostly, I tell them, I want to be able to sleep and not have to get up as early as possible to leave. 
At the campground the host gives us a bit of a deal and there are a bunch of baby rabbits running around the grounds. We set up camp and go to bed.