Day 164 : Traffic

11th October 2013
Wenatchee to Forest Road 7320
Mileage : 30

Today was a harrowing day most of which was spent walking along the hard shoulder of heavily trafficed dual carriageway. For the most part the hard shoulder was about the width of a car, but the camber was such that it was actually quite hard to walk on without stressing my ankles repeatedly. The closer I was to the traffic, the more level the shoulder, so I walked as close as I dared keeping a close eye on each and every vehicle that zoomed towards me. If a large truck came close, I could step off to one side down the shoulder avoiding the worst of the buffeting that follows each truck, but then I would return back up close to the traffic where the going was easiest on my ankles. Every few miles or so the road would cross over the Wenatchee river, which is where things would get really hairy. The hard shoulder would be reduced to maybe a metre, with no pedestrian crossing resulting in me having to flatten myself against the barriers whenever a massive truck would come hurtling by, which happened more times than i cared to count. As well as the adrenaline inducing bridges spaced along the road, were stomach churning grotesquely contorted remains of deer that had met their end attempting to cross the road. It was a cruel and apt reminder of what would happen if i lost concentration on that rd for even a moment. I continued in this fashion for about 6 hours before I turned off the dual carriageway onto a single-laned road with a wide shoulder, less traffic, and fewer deer. Another 4 hours later and I was done for the day the junction of a forest road that would let me cut a few miles off the next day's hike, and also give me 10 miles of hiking along peaceful forest forest away from the noise and stress of the traffic. 2 days to go!