Rainy Day Trestling Wrestling

It was a rainy Sunday morning. It started with me sitting in my kitchen, looking out the window, and wondering what might begin to fill my day, and pondering my many pot of honey in the cabinet. Then, I saw my friends Jeannie and Carl from Corvallis pull in my driveway. Unexpected, delightful, I rushed out to greet them. Carl and I had a hike while Jeannie had some yoga. The hike started on the railroad tracks.

Plenty of steel and timber to mark the trail as we slowly made out way up to wrestle the trestle for which Carl yearns to beholden.

Small blue tail yellow stripe creature friend playing around on the tracks.

Carl exits the first of two tunnels. This one was easy since you could see from one end to the other and it was reasonably lit the whole way through. The covering had preserved Carl's footprints from all the times he has run up here. And also the footprints of his running companions, the cougars.

To those about to rock... we salute you. Carl and I moments before entering the second tunnel. Which was not as easy as the first. You couldn't see out the other side, and there was a solid chunk of time where it was totally pitch black, It seems Carl and I have a trend of impromptu meetings involving hikes in the rain and walking into poorly lit places. I can't wait for the next one...

If you know where you are you'll know what you're looking at. The point in the tunnel transit where I'm sure there were twenty hungry cougars sharpening their steak knives, it's a good thing that Carl has been doing his crazy training regime for ultra-marathon running so his lean and muscular frame did not entice the cougars enough to pounce. I myself was thinking our doom might be in the hands of a crazy minded tunnel troll ready to ambush us.

Enter cliche here.

One amazing trestle span, 200 feet above the ground and complete with metal grate walkway for your vertigo pleasure.

Carl prostrating in respect to the awe, power, and excitement the trestle inspires.

Anybody have a 200 foot static line? This would be a great rappel.

Looking east from the trestle.

The view to the other "scenic" side of the trestle.

There are many details to observe in this picture, consider the following: Carl's body language as he stands rain-soaked and cold in the median of I-5, the fact that an hour before this picture Carl was calm and serene prostrating on the Trestle, the front end of a large semi on the left edge of the picture. Many of my adventures in Ashland seem to involve some sort of crazy migration on or across I-5 and not in a vehicle. Immediately after crossing safely Carl saw the camera in my hand, the first words were, "Jeannie is never to see that picture". Jeannie is Carl's wife, and yes, he changed his mind about showing the picture.

The last leg of our loop. It is amazing to think the number of times I have ridden my bike down this stretch, yet this was the first time I ever walked it. A cool perspective form the feet.

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