Sassy Gets Her Dental

Sassy got her teeth taken care of today.  13 were pulled!  Yowie!

Sassy is the last of the nine Albany business cats to go in.  All 9 suffered from severe mouth problems most likely due to their poor circumstance prior to rescue.   At last, all have now had initial dental care.  Rogue and Cougie will need no more, because they have no more teeth.

Cats have 14 molars and premolars.  These are the most problematic when cats suffer from the allergy to their own teeth, like the Albany business cats.   Cats also have four canines and 12 little incisors between their canines.  Those little teeth, if bad, often just fall out on their own.

I left at 4:30 a.m. and traveled to the coast and the affordable clinic, dropping off Sassy the moment they opened, at 8:00 a.m.  Off I went then to Seaside, to walk on the beach.

Rain came down lightly off and on.

Fog drifted through.

A gull walks through mounds of dead Velella or purple jellyfish, that have been blown up on Oregon beaches then die in mass. They are at the mercy of the winds.  The gulls were trying to eat them.

I then drove down to Ecola State Park.  The road winds through a Sitka spruce forest and is quite narrow.  Watch out for middle of the road hogs and corner cutters!   You eventually get to the park and choose to go to Ecola Point Viewpoint or to Indian Beach.  I drove to the latter and then decided to hike the 2.5 mile Cascade Loop trail.

Ha!  I'd already walked a few miles on the beach and had only six hours of sleep last night.  I thought, 'Ah, 2.5 miles, big deal.'

The first half was up, up, and more up.  But very beautiful, as you can see!  The east half of the loop, going up, was very well maintained packed hard gravel and a steady grind up.  I thought I must be there, go around a corner, and more up for more hundreds of feet.  I'd stop to take a rest and take some photos of the gorgeous forest, dripping from rain, shrouded in fog.

Chopped out log bench!

Nice trail!

I heard voices finally behind me.  Before, for all the hike, I'd been alone with the forest.  Here came two young women, early twenties, with backpacks.  I told them I'd only stopped to tie my shoe!  Ha!  They caught on.  Behind them, two older women, and by older I mean older than the twenty somethings by a dozen years or so, but still way younger than me.  They were puffing some.  All were from Canada, although they were not together.  The younger two were making apologies for my difficulties with the climb by telling me it's over 800 meters altitude gain.  That's what clued me in initially they were not Americans.   The older Canadians were very friendly too and I ran into both pairs several more times.

I got to the top shortly after and to the Hikers Camp which was my goal.  I wanted to see it.  Now I want to camp there.  It's awesome.  I threw my pack down on one bunk in one of the cabins and took a nice nap.  I would have taken a longer one but, darn it, I had to get back down, to go pick up Sassy and also, I'd not bought gas and my car was scraping empty.

I had not known gas prices were getting high again.  I've barely bought gas the last month or so, to save money.  It's like $3.15 per gallon over on the coast.  So I'd not brought enough money.   Then I considered whether to buy lunch or pay the $5 parking fee at the state park to go on the hike, and finally figured I could eat when I got home so I paid the fee, but that did not leave me enough to fully fill my tank since gas has gone up.  I had water to drink at least.

It was worth it, paying to park there at the state park, for that delightful beautiful hike.  The Hikers Camp was so wonderful.  I cannot wait to go up there with a sleeping bag and spend the night.

There are three cabins at the Hikers Camp, each with four bunks, but space also for tents to be pitched.  There is a fire circle and covered picnic table and a bathroom, too.  However, because Ecola State Park is day use only, there is no overnight parking there.  To access the camp for overnight camping, one would need to hike in via the Pacific Coast Trail, to have a place to park, if you have no one to drop you at Ecola, the nearest access point being four miles from the camp near Seaside.   

The trail down the west side of the loop was not as well maintained.   Often it was rutted and muddy, with switchbacks and rocks and roots and even downed trees across it, and slippery.  I met more folks coming up it, and they inquired as to how much farther and the condition of the trail and I had to tell them they were only a third of the way up.  They decided to turn around.

The first part of it was absolutely mystical, with heavy fog and a deep forest.  I just stood in awe for a long time at one point.

A better part of the trail down

Terrible Tilly Light House  (Tillamook Rock Light: 1887 to 1957).  It got its nickname because the rock and area are so treacherous. After it was decommissioned a company bought it and made it the Eternity at Sea Columbarium, where people could have the ashes of their deceased loved ones placed in urns.  However, they lost their license due to many infractions.  It's just a rock again, with a dead light house on it, but if you look closely, you can see the sea lions call it home.  There is a viewpoint to see the light house just a few hundred feet down off the Hikers Camp, but also viewpoints along the west branch of the Cascade Loop trail which is also the Pacific Coast Trail.

Indian Beach rocks

Indian Beach again

Last but not least and the reason for the trip---Sassy, now minus 13 teeth.  I hope she feels better very soon.  Thank you so much to everyone who helped with donations so Sassy could get that done.  It's a huge milestone to reach, for all of the Business Nine, to have had vet dental care now.

Makes me Happy!