August 31

Awoke the next morning to vicious stomach pains, nausea, and fatigue. What was supposed to be a fast visit to a general store turned into a trip back to Portland where I laid in bed listening to radio reports of disaster in New Orleans and fell into slept for 13 hours and was cared for by friend Mike Rogers, who visited the bedroom with bowls of soup and read aloud to me.

Itching to get back on the trail, to feel strong again. Very difficult to admit that I wasnt well enough to travel, hard to let myself be sick.

Depth and immensity. World of huckleberry and salmon, doug fir and glacier. The onset of autumn and arrival of harsh weather. A frigid mammal on a wind torn mountain, returned to the body, a chattering skeleton.