May 31, 2016

Seiad Valley awaited us (more specifically, the pancake challenge at the Seiad Valley Cafe awaited me) and with 10 miles downhill into town we set off early. Our progress was slowed by a tremendous amount of deadfall along the upper sections but we began to pick up speed as we made it closer to the road.

We arrived at the cafe after a half mile road walk into town and sat down to order. As soon as I saw Rickets' and Loopy's omelettes arrive I regretted my decision to attempt the challenge - but there was no backing down at this point. I had seen pictures online of the intimidating stack: 5 pancakes, each at least an inch thick and roughly a foot in diameter. It purportedly weighed in at 5 lbs total but internet reports said this was actually more like 8.6 lbs. Oof.

I was feeling good though; two years beforehand I had set the pancake eating record in Damascus, VA while hiking the Appalachian Trail and I was confident I would be able to handle this one too. Just over halfway into the 2 hour challenge I called it quits though. I had made it through just over 3 of the 5 pancakes and was feeling miserable. I could've pushed for the last 50 minutes but I knew it wasn't worth it, especially if we hoped to put up any more miles that evening. It was some consolation, however, when the manager informed me that most hikers attempting the challenge didn't make it past 1.5 pancakes. It's the small victories in life.

I had been toying around with the idea of taking another few days off to attend my own commencement but hadn't really considered it as a real possibility. That changed when I was handed the cafe phone and who should be on the other end but my mother, having tracked down the cafe after receiving a picture of me starting the challenge. Not only that but she was covering breakfast - thank you mom!

I spoke with her for a while and tossed the commencement idea around a little bit more. She said she would ask MIT about the details while I began asking around about rides to the nearest airport. Two hours later it was final: I was going to walk at graduation.

The rest of the day was spent doing laundry and showering in preparation for the flight. Once I had taken care of that I headed back to the picnic bench the other two had been hanging out at for the previous 2 hours. While I was gone Ed, a local retiree, had pulled up with two six-packs and the three of them were chatting away about the trail. I joined them and before long Ed had offered for us to come over for dinner at his place and camp out there. With near zero odds of a hitch out of the valley this late in the afternoon we accepted.

Ed's neighbor, Kelli, was cooking and two of his other friends came down to join us. Ed brought out some local blackberry beer he had won and we hung out hearing all sorts stories about coming up in Seiad Valley. Ed's dog Fred was keen on fetch and belly rubs and who were we to let the little guy down?

Before long it was well past bedtime and we drifted off into the woods to set up camp. Ed had offered to give us the ride to Medford in the morning and with that squared away it was pretty easy to fall asleep.