Flagstone and those crazy Hummingbirds
While celebrating our successful arrival at Flagstone almost two weeks ago we took bets on how many vehicles will be driving by the rv (parked on the edgy shoulder of a forest road) Mareli’s 3 cars a day made my 3 a week seem very conservative but as it turned out none came by during the first week of our forest sojourn. A beautiful spot indeed, with the satellite internet just barely lining up over the trees and enough sunshine for the solar panels to keep things running. We managed to fill our water tanks from the snow melt stream and enjoyed a daily climbing session in very pleasant weather.
Flagstone rock itself is a short half mile walk down the road and one wouldn’t know it is there except for the narrow path cutting into dense foliage at the side of the road. The path zigzags up between huge bearded pines and one feels like Indiana Jones by the time the moss covered rock opens up in front of you. After Smith Rock we found it interesting to adjust to the Flagstone friction slab climbing. Most of the routes are pretty long, requiring either a walk off or a two rope rappel. Luckily I have a canyoneering rope that we could use for this purpose but we also ended up doing several multi pitch routes.
During our first day on the rock we were buzzed by several hummingbirds which seemed attracted to the red webbing we use for anchors. They just flew straight at us hovering inches away from our harnesses. A quick search on the internet confirmed their affinity for all things red and I rigged a feeder with the red webbing. We hung it from the RV awning and filled it with nectar (¼ cup sugar per cup of warm water). It didn’t take long for our friends to start visiting and by the second day they were literally sucking our feeder dry.
We stayed a full 10 days before attempting the treacherous retreat from Forest Road 2618. The 1 mile backup maneuver went smoothly and we didn’t add to our tally of 2 punctured tires (on the way in). The helpful auto shop down the road filled our two half deflated tires and we were on our way to the coast where we are now relaxing at Cape Lookout. This morning we hiked the 5 mile Cape Lookout trail in beautiful misty conditions and tomorrow we are heading for Portland.
