Press on or turn back?

Put yourself in my shoes. Its easy, I'm not using them. They're in my backpack. The sore spots created yesterday are too tender to wear my Chacos at all, even with my cushy socks on. Still wanting to press forward, I check my GPS and glance up at the mountain looming into the sky. Observation mountain seems aptly named. I figure if the trail is as it has mostly been up to this point, dusty and we'll trodden dirt or swampy wetland, there's a chance I can make it barefoot. 

I decide to give it a tentative go, knowing that every mile I walk away from the trailhead is a mile I have to walk again to return. I start out sticking to the river flats...they've been the kindest on the feet so far. They quickly turn rocky at I make the jaunt across an old inlet over to the base of the mountain. This starts to really slow me down and occasionally test the feet. If I got a nice poke in the sole of my foot, or some other more significant injury it would make the return trip all the more trying. Pushing my luck a bit, I make it to the wooded climb, but keep losing trail.

To call it trail is a bit of an overstatement. Even the ranger made a clear distinction that the optional hike up the mountain follows a "route" and not a trail. I find myself in a barefoot bushwack. I give this maybe a half mile, just to see if its a momentary thing , and a more trodden path will return, but no. I then decide to turn back. Its not an easy call for me to make, but it is likely the right call.

Walking and wading the flats almost the entire return trip, as a kindness to my feet, I see a multitude of  bear prints. Eventually I'm forced onto the bank and back into the trees as I get a within 5 miles of the trail head. The trail is mostly dirt to begin with as I join it but it grows steadily rockier. Knowing I'll have to don my shoes for the two big river crossings, I stop for a snack and pull out my ace in the hole. I didn't have enough leuko-tape to reinforce all the spots needed, but i do have just enough gorilla tape. By keeping my socks on over the tape, I manage to preserve the tape placement for about three miles. Its just enough to get back to the van. Bullion creek is quite a bit more serious of a crossing this time. I'm only about an hour later in the day than my initial cross, but it has been a much sunnier day and there is much more snowmelt feeding it. In the last third of the crossing I'm nearly knocked off balance, with risk of being swept downstream. I hurriedly and quite non-gracefully make the last few moves to jump out onto the bank. Whew! 

In retrospect, there likely was little outright danger to my self, but more my gear. Dunking my phone and camera being the worst of it. I've never had to outright swim with a full pack though, and the rangers caution loosening straps in prep for ditching packs on these crossings. 

Heading out, I miss the station closure by minutes once again. I'm supposed to check in to let them know I've made it out to keep from them sending in search and rescue. Now I just hope I'll find service in AK so I can call 'em tomorrow to call off the dogs.

Driving, I see a very large and beautifully colored fox. I'm forced to buy some pricey gas in beaver Creek and push on into the Alaskan interior. Approaching the border I notice the beauty seems to increase as road quality decreases. I make it nearly to Tok before pulling off. I take a much needed trail shower, and cook up some chicken curry. Some for now and leftovers for later. Somewhat surprisingly, I'm not very tired. My body was braced for another back country day, I guess. I'll have to find more... And bring proper shoes, I guess.