Category: PCT

As we were packing up this morning, Yote, 2.Toe, and Bamboo emerged from a side trail–they’d stayed at an established campground nearby that was slightly off trail. Bamboo stopped to chat–we haven’t seen him since our flip. He has had one of the craziest transformations on trail–his hair is now fairly long and sticks almost straight up in all directions and he has a big beard and is quite skinny. It was good to see him and chat briefly before he set off. We likely won’t see him again as he is getting off trail for a work conference for a few days.

We had a big climb up this morning for nearly 10 miles, but it turned out to not be so bad, as it usually turns out. Midway through the climb I caught up to Yote, 2.Toe, and another hiker I hadn’t met yet taking a break. In talking to the other hiker, I discovered that we had just missed trail magic yesterday! She spoke in detail about the Mexican feast people had brought to the trail, with fajitas with fresh veggies, chips and salsa, and even margaritas. I couldn’t help but be a bit saddened to have missed it–they must have packed up before we got there. Oh well.

Finally we got to the top of the hill and the hiking got easier. We even crossed a trailhead by a dirt road that had an outhouse so I got to go pee in a real toilet! Quite the treat. I was sort of dragging so I threw in my earbuds and started listening to an audiobook I had just downloaded–The Girl on the Train. I’d heard good things and that it was a NYT bestseller. I listened to about 40 minutes before I gave up, frustrated by how petty and self-centered the narrator was. Maybe it gets better, but I could not get through it. I switched to my Harry Potter audiobook and was much happier.

We kept leapfrogging with a bunch of hikers today. It seems we are in a bit of a bubble (many hikers in the same section), which I don’t really like. I hate having to pass people and then I take a break and they pass me, then I hike and have to pass them again. It’s really a minor annoyance, but I prefer more solitude if I have the option.

Wolf Bird and I stopped for lunch about 18 miles into our day at Sheep Lake, which was in reality more of a marshy pond. We had to get water here though, as this was somewhat of a dry section. We had a nice leisurely lunch and discussed baking and what baked goods we would want to bake for much of it. Not surprising we were talking about food WHILE eating.

 

After lunch, we set out again. I was kind of excited because we’d discussed doing a bit of a shorter day. The water sources were spaced far apart–our last source for a while was only 8 miles from where we had lunch. After that it was 10 miles after that (which, if we went that far would be an insanely long day). We prefer camping at water so we don’t have to carry water and dry-camp (carrying water is pretty heavy). So if we camped at that last water source, it would be a 26 mile day, which is shorter than we’ve been doing. It also would mean we’d get to camp with at least an hour or two of daylight to spare, which would be a nice change to getting to camp as the sun is setting as we have been lately.

We arrived at the lake that was the last water source around 5:30PM. It was pretty buggy so we quickly filled up on water. We had a brief discussion and it seemed Wolf Bird was leaning toward hiking on since the day was still early and it was mostly downhill from here. I gave up on my desire for a short day and we set off, carrying a heavy load of water since we would now be dry camping.

This next section was mostly downhill and pretty easy walking, although made slightly tougher with my ~4 liters of water I was carrying (8lbs worth!). We planned to camp at a dirt road/trailhead and when we arrived we discovered a group sitting in a makeshift campground in a parking lot eating dinner. Bamboo was there! Along with Turk and Pretzel and a section hiker. We ate and chatted with them and Turk, Pretzel, and Bamboo decided to hike on a bit more while Wolf Bird and I and the section hiker set up camp. Wolf Bird and I got into our classic argument about where to set up the tent and where it was least slopey and went to bed mad about that. Besides that it was a good day with lots of miles completed.

 

Today began at water and ended at water. Sherpa and I woke next to the sun rising over the pond we camped beside and packed our things. We started the day with a steep climb and as we looked over our left shoulders we could see a power plant on the edge of the Columbia river. Sherpa and I were wondering if it was a power plant when we approached our campsite after leaving Stevenson the day before, but could only see the lights from it, as we got to camp at dusk.

On the way up, at some point I got ahead of Sherpa and I found myself about 20 yards from a herd of elk that were grazing in the valley and opposite slope of where I was. I must have gotten ahead a bit because I stood there filming for a while and hoping that Sherpa would join me so she could see them too. Unfortunately I tried to get a closer look and started to move in the direction of the elk and for every one step that I toward the elk, they took twenty steps away. Eventually the heard dispersed and were out of sight so begrudgingly I began walking again. I was really hoping to show them to Sherpa but, as always, breathtaking moments are fleeting. At some point along the way, Sherpa and I met up at a trail junction and continued to finish our climb.

Soon after we reached the apex of our ascent, we crossed a barren stretch of logged land with a forest service road running down the middle of it. Off in the distance we could see the snow-covered Mt. Saint Helen’s or Louwala-Clough.

I was really impressed and excited by how green Washington is and we spent much of our day crossing beautiful streams and bridges and most of the trail felt kind to our feet. We had lunch at Snag creek and then continued on hoping to camp at Wind River. We crossed some more streams and bridges including Trout Creek.

The camping at Wind River seemed hot and muggy so we decided to continue to Panther Creek. Also there was a possibility of trail magic because it was next to a campground. Furthermore, I was excited because I figured there would be a privy.

As we approached Panther Creek we were hiking on a flat section and we happened upon Hollywood, another PCT hiker. He rejoined the trail at kind of an awkward moment because he was stopped on the trail and just about to get on as we were passing. He looked like he was going to be a fast hiker so Sherpa let him go ahead of us.

We talked with him for a while and it was soon apparent that he hikes at a much more leisurely pace than the two of us do. Occasionally Sherpa and I exchanged glances and it was starting to get comical. I entertain myself when she gets in these predicaments because instead of saying something she often attempts to communicate telepathically that we need to get by.

Eventually though she did speak up and we were on our way again, though we only had a short distance to go and before long we arrived at the trail junction to the southern part of the campground. I split off from Sherpa to see if I could find a trash can to ditch my trash and use the privy. I found myself entering a really trashy camping situation and they told me there wasn’t a privy.

I was disappointed but wanted to get away from the campsite in complete disarray. It looked really run down and the campers staying there left camping gear, food, and trash all over their site.

I met Sherpa at the trail and we continued on to the site just before Panther Creek just a short distance away. We expected to find lots of available camping but discovered that we had entered a bubble of sorts and all the obvious sites were occupied.

We continued on about 100 yards until we arrived at the creek itself and a nice bridge. There was about 3 or 4 hikers there sitting and smoking and I asked if they planned on staying there, to which they replied that they were heading on a short distance. I quickly claimed the flattest spot only a few yards from the bridge and at a trail junction. There were lots of people around coming and going but I knew they would eventually clear out and we could be in peace and it would be a nice spot.

At some point we saw Yote and 2.Toe slip by us and we greeted them. They went on to find camping down the junction trail, where I discovered earlier that there was some really nice primitive, pay camping only a few hundred yards away.

Sherpa began setting up the tent and I went down to the stream to collect water. There I found a very shocking site. A woman was passed out leaning against a drunk man on the side of the stream and the man was attempting to lift her. She was nearly unresponsive and he kept trying to pick her up. I asked if they needed help and I was really at a loss as to what to do. The two of them were really drunk and I had no way of telling if the woman was safe.

The man said they were fine and that she just had too much to drink. I considered asking Sherpa to push the SOS button on her GPS unit. In retrospect I probably should have done so but I didn’t want to raise an alarm unless there was one. The situation took me off guard and I think it will take research for me to know what the right thing to do in this predicament would be. That being said, I kept my eye on them and there were lots of other day hikers who seemed less than concerned observing the situation. So at least my complacence was not singular.

Sherpa and I talked about what we should do and at some point it became obvious that both the man and the woman wanted to get back to their tent but the woman could not walk because of how drunk she was. The man kept picking her up and dropping her and I could see that soon she was going to be injured. Sherpa and I walked over and nearly demanded that we help get her away from the water’s edge and back to her tent.

With Sherpa watching our path, I lifted the woman up and the man and I started to walk her back to the tent. The tent was about 40 yards from the water’s edge and soon I found myself supporting both the woman and the man as we walked to the tent. We set her down as gently as we could and then I tried to make it as clear as possible to the woman and the man, that if they should need help or anything to come get me or call out.

Sherpa and I returned to the tent stunned and talked about what we had done. Had we just helped this man abduct this woman? I very much doubt that she was in real danger except from being dropped all over the place by a drunk fool, but if I ever encounter this type of situation, I will get help from professionals if they are available. It was scary.

Our episode was over, and so was our day. We were glad to avoid tragedy and serious drama. Sherpa and I got into our tents and were soon fast asleep like little hiker babies.

 

We spent a good deal of time lounging around town today.  I grabbed some mochas for us and a breakfast burrito at a little coffee shop near the hotel.  We hung out in the hotel until checkout at 11:00AM. I needed a gas canister for my stove and was worried I wouldn’t be able to find one in town, as there is no outdoor store here. I tried texting Yote and 2.Toe (who are across the river on the Oregon side, in Cascade Locks) to see if they could find any gas canisters there, but my phone was not sending/receiving texts. I checked out the hardware store near our hotel on a whim and was excited to discover they sold gas canisters! Unfortunately they only had the large size (I usually get the small ones), which will add quite a bit of extra weight, but perhaps it will last me until the end of the trail.

Tofu was more efficient than Wolf Bird and I and she set off to Walking Man Brewery to hang out and wait for us to finish up our chores. Wolf Bird and I stopped by the library to catch up on some blogging. He then went to meet Tofu at the brewery while I headed to the grocery store as I hadn’t resupplied yet. I got the food I’d need for this next section and also sneakily bought a couple things for Wolf Bird’s birthday (coming up on 9/4), as I didn’t think I’d encounter another fully stocked grocery store before his birthday.

Finally I headed to the brewery myself and discovered Wolf Bird and Tofu hanging out on the patio with huge flights in front of each of them! This brewery has the largest size taster glasses I’ve ever seen! When you order a flight, you get to sample 9 beers and each glass is like a mini pint. The two of them had already put in some good work on their flights. I of course had to join and ordered my own and then we all ordered some food as well. We planned to hang out here for a bit then get a hitch back to the trail mid to late afternoon and put in maybe 10ish miles before dark.

While we were hanging out, my phone (which was still acting weird and only receiving/sending every third text) shut off all of a sudden and wouldn’t turn on. Finally I got it to start up, but it got frozen on the start-up page that shows the white Apple logo. No matter what I did I couldn’t get my phone to move past that start-up screen. Ugh! Not what I wanted right before we were to head out. I could definitely get by hiking without a phone, especially since I could rely on Wolf Bird and Tofu, who both have working phones. However, I really wanted a working phone to be able to take photos of Washington, a section I’d heard is incredibly beautiful and have been looking forward to the entire trail. Also, I love having music or podcasts to listen to while hiking. Wolf Bird generously offered to basically give me his phone for the remainder of the trail but I just wanted my own phone to work.

I decided I wanted to try to get my phone working before heading out, while Tofu opted to head back to the trail as originally planned. Wolf Bird accompanied me back to the library where we tried to find a way to reset my phone. Unfortunately the library only had Chromebooks available which don’t have iTunes–and you need iTunes to reset an iPhone. I asked the librarian and the nearest phone repair place was about 30 miles away, and I also looked up the nearest Apple store, which was over an hour away in Portland, OR. Both of these would require a long hitch. Ugh!

We decided to go back to the hotel we stayed at last night, as they had a computer in the lobby. I was pretty frustrated and upset at this point, as I didn’t want to spend my time in town dealing with such a trivial problem, but also wanted a working phone. The hotel computer didn’t have iTunes on it either, and when I tried to download it, it asked for the computer’s master password. Ugh! I asked the woman at the front desk, who it turned out co-owned the hotel with her husband, and she said she’d get her husband to come out and type in the password. I was nearly in tears out of frustration and she was so incredibly kind and said it was not a big deal at all for us to basically take over their computer for hours and for us to download iTunes. Fast forward an hour or so (including Wolf Bird having to mad dash around town to find me a new charging cord) and my phone was back in business! It turned out that a software update fixed the issue. Wow, was I relieved… as well as so grateful for these kind hotel owners. They were having their own tough day–their housekeeper had a breakdown and hadn’t cleaned any of the rooms, and now they had to tell all the guests coming to check in on a Friday evening that their rooms weren’t ready yet. Yet they still helped me out and for that I am so amazed and thankful.

Finally Wolf Bird and I started hitching back to the trail. It was late in the day, around 6:00 or so. So much for making miles today. We got a hitch with a couple of friends who were maybe in their late 20s and were on some type of road trip? They were a little sketchy seeming, but they were actually nervous to pick us up since they’d never picked up hitchhikers before.

We arrived back at the trail and devoured some amazing blackberries growing alongside the road before setting off to hike about 3 miles before dark. The sun was setting and it was pretty warm out. This section was almost jungle-like with a lot of lush green undergrowth. Before long, we encountered HUGE swarms of tiny little gnats flying through the air. The air was almost thick with them and it was impossible to dodge the thousands of tiny bugs. I started walking as fast as I could with my head down to block them from getting in my eyes and nose and mouth. Ick! It was pretty miserable being all hot and sweaty and dodging gnats and walking uphill. Luckily we only had 3 miles to walk and it passed quickly and the gnats eventually died down as we approached our intended campsite.

There were a bunch of people already camped here (it was about 8:30PM and nearly totally dark now), but Wolf Bird found us a sweet secluded camp spot near a little pond. It looked like a retaining pond and we later found out that Tofu had swam in this pond that she described as super refreshing–and we thought was sort of gross! Ha! It’s all in the perspective I suppose.

Today marked the much awaited event of this section of trail: the Timberline Lodge breakfast buffet! Some call this the best breakfast of the entire trail, and I have to say, it did not disappoint. We woke up around 7 and packed up our tent quickly so we could get to the lodge right when the buffet opened at 7:30AM. We were not the only ones with this idea–there must have been at least 40 other hikers here for the breakfast too! We by far outnumbered the ‘normal’ guests. It was comical looking at the long line of packs leaning against the wall outside of the resort.

We all lined up outside the dining room and they started letting us smelly people in group by group. Tofu, Wolf Bird, Gentleman, and I sat together and proceeded to pig out for an hour and a half (disappointing, I know.. I thought we would last the entire three hours that the buffet was open).  I could write in great detail about every food we ate but I will simply write a quick overview as I imagine most people don’t care as much about food as we do… Anyway, there were eggs, potatoes, bacon, sausage, french toast, a belgian waffle bar, fresh fruit, smoothies, many different types of pastries, yogurt and toppings, as well as unlimited coffee. It was quite tasty and we were all pretty full by the end.

We proceeded to spend the next couple hours sitting around in the lodge digesting and looking at our phones, since we haven’t had phone service in many days now. Timberline Lodge is a really interesting and beautiful place and felt so welcoming and homey. I would love to come back here sometime–I feel like any time of year would be amazing… it is cozy in the summer and I imagine even cozier in the winter with warm fires going amidst the cold snows outside.

Tofu set out a couple hours before Wolf Bird and I. We eventually mustered up our strength and headed out at quarter of 1. We planned to do about 21 miles so we had to walk for about 7 hours straight in order to get to camp before dark. We succeeded in doing so and were helped by the fact there was a long downhill that helped us go faster. Oh, I forgot to mention! We saw White Spot and No Steps at breakfast! We somehow got ahead of them with all of the fire closures and didn’t even know it. They are the two German guys who also started our day (May 2nd) and have been way ahead for a while. It was great to chat with them and we even hiked with them briefly today.

Not much else to report about the actual hiking today, except that it was beautiful walking with a view of Mt Hood for much of the day. We had to camp 0.2 miles before the water source we had wanted to stop at… I guess there was a huge group of boy scouts taking up all the spots at the spring so us PCTers were left to camp without water. I offered to set up the tent while Wolf Bird walked up the trail 0.2 miles to get water at the spring and then walked 0.2 back to where we were camped. We chit chatted with Tofu and a sobo hiker for a bit before bed then hit the hay.

Eclipse Day today!! We woke up and it felt almost like Christmas morning with everyone abuzz in anticipation for the eclipse. Totality was to happen at 10:18AM but the eclipse would start about an hour before. We got up and hung out for a bit before boarding our little wooden rowboat that we’d reserved for the big day!

Tofu, Wolf Bird, Gentleman, and I piled in the small rowboat (I was very nervous we would capsize it as it was tiny) and figured out how to row. Well, more like we watched Gentleman figure out how to row… then Wolf Bird took one oar and Gentleman took the other and Tofu and I relaxed while the two of them paddled us around the lake. Many people were set up along the shore of the lake, but a few others also rented rowboats for the occasion. Tofu and I eventually took our turn rowing around. I was notably the worst at this out of the four of us, which luckily meant I was quickly relieved of my duties.

We didn’t pay for an anchor (well actually I don’t think we were aware this was an option when we reserved the boat) so we had to constantly row around so we wouldn’t be blown by the wind toward shore and shallow waters. We all had eclipse glasses and started around 9:15 or 9:30 could see the beginning of the shadow covering the sun. Wolf Bird’s eclipse glasses blew out of his hand while Tofu and I were paddling. Unfortunately I was not talented enough at paddling to be able to paddle us close to the glasses laying in the water… so they sank before we could reach them. We each took turns lending Wolf Bird our glasses so he could take peaks at the shadow over the sun too.

It was crazy how the conditions started changing the closer it got to 10:18. The light grew dimmer, our shadows grew longer, and it got colder out! Finally at 10:18 the shadow completely covered the sun and all that was visible was a small circle of light around the dark shadow. It was absolutely amazing. It looked like dusk all around us, with a dark sky with pinks and oranges near the horizon. We were near the center of the path of totality which meant we had a full 2 minutes and one second of this darkness. Words can’t do justice to how special an experience this was. As quickly as it started though, it was over, and the sun came back out and it got lighter and lighter and warmer as time passed. What a special experience–I still cannot believe how well the timing worked out for us to have walked so far and arrive right in the middle of the path of totality on the day of the eclipse!

After all that excitement the rest of the day was a bit of a blur.  Wolf Bird rowed us back to shore and we packed up pretty quickly and headed out around 11:30AM. The days always pass quickly when we are leaving town and today was no different. We hiked about 22 miles to a couple spots just beyond a dirt road and powerline. Gentleman fell behind so it was just Wolf Bird, Tofu and I camped together. We luckily arrived at camp before dark and got to bed at a reasonable hour.

What a great day that I know we will all remember for a very long time.

1We woke up this morning with a breakfast buffet on our minds. Wildfires have closed nearly all of the PCT for the next 90ish miles beginning at Elk Lake Resort, which is six miles from where we camped. So we have to get off trail at Elk Lake Resort and find a ride around the closures and conveniently it is a Saturday morning which is when the resort has breakfast buffets!

The six miles to the resort was extremely easy and flat walking. When we got to the side trail to the resort, pink tape with CLOSED signs blocked us from going any further on the PCT due to the fires. We headed down the side trail and arrived at the resort just in time for the 9am buffet. There were a bunch of other hikers there as well and we all pigged out on eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes, fruit, French toast, and pancakes. I of course also ordered an ice cream cone once I finished my multiple plates from the buffet. As we are, Wolf Bird, Tofu, Gentleman, and I discussed our plan for the upcoming section. We needed to get a ride around the fires and would reconnect at the northern end of the closure, at another resort called Olallie Lake Resort, which was about a four hour drive from where we were. We planned to try to get a ride to Bend first which is more populated and then hopefully find a way from there to the other resort. We were prepared for this to take a full day or two since it is a long way to hitch. We also were prepared for crazy traffic due to the upcoming eclipse. The Olallie resort is nearly right in the middle of the path of totality for the eclipse.

Just as we finished paying our checks at breakfast, another hiker asked if anyone needed a ride to Bend–she already had a ride secret but met someone willing to drive four hikers to Bend. Us four immediately claimed the ride and hopped in a car with Cindy, who was a hair stylist who had been working at a wedding at this resort. Cindy drove us the 30 miles to Bend and told us a lot about the area and the city. She dropped us off at a post office downtown, where I was hoping my package containing my contacts had arrived (I’ve been having issues with my eyes and contacts the past few days). Unfortunately this post office was the wrong one and closed, but nearly immediately after Cindy drove away a couple of guys asked if we needed a ride just upon seeing us. Unfortunately they were heading the opposite direction but we were amazed at their unprompted generosity. Then minutes later a couple asked if we were thru hikers and if we needed anything. We were shocked at this generosity once again! We told them about our need for a ride and they said they’d be happy to take us part of the way around the closure! They said they’d run home to get their truck and would meet us in a few minutes. What crazy luck! Before the couple (Katie and Tim) returned we also received an offer of a place to stay if our rides didn’t work out! Bend has got to be the town full of the nicest people yet along the trail–we were in town only 30 minutes and had three offers of help from complete strangers!

Katie and Tim soon arrived and drove us first to a different post office to check for my contacts (no success, I will have to have them forward it later) and then up to Sisters, OR. They were a really nice couple who have lived in Bend for about ten years. They have a cute dog named Jake who also rode with us. As we drove to Sisters we soon saw a huge cloud of smoke from the wildfire! It was insane to see how big the smoke cloud was and how close it was to the actual town of Sisters. Tim and Katie stopped at a grocery store so we could pick up a few things before dropping us off up the road a bit. They headed off to trail run in the area while we started to hitch again to find a ride to Ollalie Lake Resort.

We weren’t hitching long when a guy, Two Forks, stopped for us. He is from MA and hiked the AT and was in the area to hike and see the eclipse. He was sort of killing time today until the eclipse but still drove waaay out of his way and ended up taking us all the way to the resort! Mind you this involved about ten miles of dirt/gravel forest roads with huge potholes and bumps. He was driving a tiny sedan rental car that bottomed out a couple times but still drove us all the way to the resort. What kindness!!! We could not believe it–we arrived at the resort by 5pm… We were originally doubtful we’d even be able to get here before the eclipse. Thanks to the kindness of strangers though we got here super quickly.

Olallie Lake Resort is quite remote and right on a beautiful lake with Mount Jefferson looming behind and reflecting into the still water. There are cabins here but everything is super rustic–there are only pit toilets and no electricity except at the store where they run a generators one day a week. There are boats you can rent in the lake but you can’t swim in the lake due to it being a water source. They are letting us camp in the day use area. We plan to take tomorrow off and hang out here and then watch the eclipse the morning after from a boat in the lake! Because we had to skip about 90 miles of trail we are already almost done with Oregon! Only 100 miles to Washington. Pretty crazy that our trip is starting to wind down.

Today was an interesting day. We planned to stop by Shelter Cove Resort midday to eat some real food. We had 17 miles this morning to get there and they passed insanely quickly! I listened to some standup comedy this morning which was a nice change and probably helped the time fly by. Wolf Bird listened to his Harry Potter audiobook which is his new addiction.

We arrived at Shelter Cove by 1pm and it was super nice! They had a well stocked store and were located right next to a beautiful lake and best of all had tasty food. We of course immediately ordered food–to show just how obsessed with food we are: wolf bird was willing to wait 1.5 hours for a pizza. We spent several hours just eating and lounging and it was wonderful and relaxing. We ran into a couple hikers we knew and chatted with them as well.

Eventually we had to get hiking again and were on the trail by about 5. We planned to hike another 10 miles. Again the miles passed really quickly. We met a girl Long Legs and chatted with her for a bit. The trail was mostly flat which helped us make good time. We had to walk in the dark for the last half hour or so. We planned to camp at Bobby Lake, which is about .3 miles off trail.

When we finally reached the junction a little before 9pm, I looked at the sign and headed left, where the arrow pointed to Bobby Lake Trail. After a few minutes hiking Wolf Bird found out via his god that we were going the wrong way! We headed back to the junction. I was frustrated because I triple checked the sign and was sure it’s pointed left for Bobby lake! We arrived back at the junction to find Tofu and took another look at the sign. I wasn’t wrong– the sign did point left for Bobby Lake TRAIL. But apparently Bobby lake is not on Bobby lake trail. It is on Miller lake trail to the right… Makes sense. There was a second sign behind the first one that did say Bobby Lake and pointed right but I hadn’t seen it.

Oh well. We headed to the actual Bobby lake and found Uncle Jesse camped there. We all chatted as we set up camp and got to bed late once again.