Month: August 2017

We decided to take an unplanned zero today and it ended up being a nice break from the trail. We are staying at condos at White Pass Ski Area that they rent out in the summer season. It is very remote here–it is literally just these condos and the gas station/store that are located where we are. Luckily, Tofu and her dad were heading into Packwood today and let us tag along. Before we headed out, we got breakfast at the Kracker Barrel Store at the gas station. Basically just bananas and muffins and OJ. While we were eating one of the woman at the store made an announcement to all the hikers hanging out at the store that she just got a call from the Forest Service and they opened up the section of trail that had been closed yesterday due to forest fire! Yes! There was still at 25 mile section that was closed, but they also opened a section, so now we had to skip fewer miles. We were really happy to hear this!

We did laundry at the Kracker Barrel Store at the gas station and checked out of our room at the condos. Tofu and her dad are letting us crash in their room since it has beds for us–so kind of them!!

We then hopped in the car with Tofu and her dad and headed to the town of Packwood. There is a flea market there this weekend so it was pretty hopping! We got burgers and ate until we couldn’t eat anymore. Then Tofu went to look at the flea market and I decided I could stand to eat some ice cream as this didn’t really count as eating more. We found out that Yote and 2.Toe were in town so we met up with them at a bar and Tofu’s dad bought us a round of drinks. It was so great to hang out as a big group once again, likely our last time before the end of the trail. Yote and 2.Toe are hiking with family the next few days, so they’ll be doing shorter miles and likely won’t catch us before the end. We were all very glad to reminisce and spend time together before parting.

We stopped by the grocery store before leaving town and I secretly bought a couple of mini cakes for Wolf Bird and Tofu’s dad. Her dad’s birthday is tomorrow and Wolf Bird’s is coming up on 9/4. We then headed back to White Pass. We hung out at the condos for a while and then had some dinner and surprised the birthday boys with their cakes! They enjoyed it and we all devoured them easily.

We went to bed excited to get back on the (open) trail tomorrow!

We started the morning as we ended the previous evening, immersed in breathtaking views. We could see Mt. Rainier in the distance and we spent the morning hiking in beautiful meadows and around unusual rock features. We encountered a bit of snow as we approached a famous feature of the PCT called the Knife’s Edge.

Before we reached the Knife’s Edge we had to cross several icy traverses that, to me, felt like some of the most dangerous sections of trail we experienced on the PCT. Sherpa disagrees. I usually feel pretty confident on wintry conditions but we were on a very steep slope without our microspikes and without an ice axe and I had no tread on my shoes.

We made it across alive and onto the Knife’s Edge. Sherpa started to feel some really bad pain behind her knees and so we had to stop for a few minutes to give the ibuprofen time to sink in. After a short while her condition improved immensely and we continued our walk along the narrow path. We were very lucky to hit this section on such a clear day. We found out later that many hikers had walked this section the day before completely in smoke and today, the views were astounding.

I was very eager to get to town and eat but the views kept us at a slow pace. When we reached the last major ridge of the day I saw Steven, or Alpaca, running towards us. We all hugged and then sat down a few yards away for some beer trail magic that he brought us.

It was so good to see him. The last time we all were together he was visiting Sherpa and I with his sister Chicory in Maine. They were about to do their thru-hike of the PCT.

We talked for a while considering town was so close by. We only had a relatively quick descent to get to White Pass. I had chanted the Chicken Tender mantra in my head all day, but now that we had a beer and were all relaxing, it didn’t seem as urgent.

After a while Jackpot and Storm showed up and we chatted with them then all took off to White Pass. The entire descent Sherpa, Alpaca and I chatted and we were at the trail head in no time. At the trailhead there was more trail magic. Sparkling lemonade and beer! The woman told us to take a few because she was packing up so I threw a couple into my bag then we headed for the road.

At the road, the 3 of us piled into Alpaca’s car and stopped at White Pass. Once there we bought some snacks at the general store and I ran up to get a room while Alpaca generously waited on us. Once there we saw that there were lots of our friends wandering around and Tofu was there with her dad Mike. I invited Tofu and Mike to have dinner with us and after much running around and back and forth we settled on driving to Naches for food. That way Steven could join us before hitting the road and wouldn’t have to drive out of his way.

The drive to Naches felt longer than expected but it was totally worth it. We stopped at a brewery that had really delicious appetizers, pizza, and beer. After dinner we said goodbye to Steven and returned to White Pass with Tofu and Mike in Mike’s rental car. Which, by the way, was amazing. It had radar cruise control so that you didn’t have to adjust your settings when cars in front of you slowed down.

When we got back to the lodge Sherpa an I went to our room where we watched TV, our favorite hotel activity, for a little before settling in to bed. Our room was pleasant and we fell asleep easily and slept like little hiker babies.

Apparently, we are the slackers of the group we camped with last night, as everyone was already packed up and gone when we got up at 6:00AM. In the end it evens out, as we take fewer breaks then others so we end up catching and passing those that got up earlier.

We had beautiful views of Mt. Adams for the beginning of the day today. The air was fairly smoky due to forest fires in the area, which leads the sun to look like an orange orb in the sky. It was pretty surreal. We had to plan our day around water sources, or at least be cognizant of where the nearest water was all day, as this part of Washington is fairly dry–they have had almost 90 days without rain here which is very unusual.

We leapfrogged with Jackpot and Storm, Fresh, and Nimbles throughout the day. For some reason my leg behind my knee started to hurt today–sort of where the top of my calf muscle is located. I tried to do some stretches to help it. We took lunch after about 19 miles and then set out to do the final miles of the day.

It was pretty hot out so about 4 miles from where we intended to camp tonight, we took a short side trail to Sheep Lake. It was quite beautiful and clear with a nice sandy bottom. Wolf Bird and I went in, which is a big deal for me as I always think going in a lake sounds refreshing until I get there and feel how cold the water is. The same thing happened today, but Wolf Bird persuaded me to go in. I haven’t showered in a while so I felt extra dirty and decided it was probably smart to go in to rinse off. I went in with my clothes on and did my best to ring out the dirt. As hard as it was to force myself to go under (I took probably 10 minutes of slowly lowering myself into the water centimeter by centimeter), I felt much cleaner and much more refreshed afterward. However, I was also cold! The sun was starting to set and it wasn’t as warm as earlier in the day.

We got back to hiking and it took me a while to warm back up walking in wet clothes. It was an amazingly beautiful section. We are now in Goat Rocks Wilderness which is one of the notoriously beautiful sections of trail and it did not disappoint. Unfortunately that means that many weekenders (even though it wasn’t the weekend, mostly this is a term for people just out for a night or two) were around too. We got up to the top of Cispus Pass and could see all around us and were shocked to see maybe 30+ people camped below!! Ugh, it was growing dark and this meant we’d likely have to hike on a bit further to find a camping spot. Oh well, luckily it was beautiful . We walked past some amazing waterfalls and eventually ran into Fresh, Nimbles, Jackpot and Storm. They were setting up camp and told us of a flat spot they’d seen nearby. We set up our tent and had dinner as it became dark. I was excited for tomorrow as we’d be going over the Knife’s Edge, which was a narrow section of trail with amazing views… and we were meeting up with Steven, Chicory’s (our friend from the AT) brother.

Today was a great adventure because we got to see some amazing mountains and we ate delicious town food. The morning started out a little rough because we argued the night before and hadn’t really resolved it but soon we figured it out and were starting to think about the possibility of town food. The hiking was very wooded and downhill in the morning and we were going to pass Forest Service Road 23 that supposedly you could get a hitch to Trout Lake. It was a little hard to believe that we could get a ride on a remote Forest Road. Originally Sherpa and I planned on skipping Trout Lake and had plenty of supplies. I was for going in to Trout Lake but Sherpa had talked me out of it.

Now that we were approaching the Forest Service Road however, Sherpa was getting a serious case of hiker hunger and now it was clear that we needed some good luck so that we could get in to Trout Lake and back out so that we could get a full day of hiking in. This was one of the worst case of hiker hunger I witnessed on the trail. I tried to play it cool but I knew mama needed burgers and fast. We arrived at the road just before noon and there was a trash can where a local monastery leaves trail magic. The trash can was empty and we were slightly dejected. Comments in Gut Hook said that people had waited hours for a ride and so we tried our best not to get to excited about our prospects.

We went across the street and started eating our lunch half heartedly while we kept our eyes on the road for a hitching opportunity. Luckily we could hear when cars were coming and a few cars passed by, but in the wrong direction. A few minutes passed and Jackpot and Storm showed up and we asked them if they were planning on going in. They said they were going to wait on Yeti to see if he wanted to go in.

After a few minutes of snacking, putting off the main course of lunch. We saw a truck roll up with a couch in the back, loaded with hikers. Our luck held once again and we greeted Gary, a trail angel that does laps and takes people to and from Trout Lake. Sherpa and I piled in the back of the truck and Gary gave me a Gatorade and Sherpa took a lemonade.

It was so much fun going down the road, on a couch, in the back of a pickup, drinking ice-cold beverages, and seeing amazing views of Mt. Adams in the distance. It was about 15 minutes before we reached Trout Lake and we were pleasantly surprised by what we found there. Gary dropped us at the General Store and we walked about a block over to the restaurant slash, coffee shop slash, ice cream parlor.

They had great outdoor seating and even though it was terribly hot in the sun, the shade was very pleasant. We grabbed a large table and sat at the end and ordered drinks. Sherpa got huckleberry lemonade and I ordered a Pepsi, which I refilled many times till I started feeling shaky.
    

While we were having lunch another hiker joined us named Pretzel. We chatted with her for a while and then we went to try to get some ice cream. They didn’t have any chocolate ice cream so Sherpa decided not to get any. I ordered an iced mocha and then we decided it was probably time to start thinking about heading back to the trail. Reluctantly we decided to go to the General Store and then begin hitching. On our way back we learned that Gary was making another trip soon and sure enough we found him waiting at the General Store.

We asked him if we could join his trip up and he agreed, so Sherpa and I grabbed the couch seats again. Pretzel was still not there and apparently was getting some food. Gary started getting impatient and I offered to go round everyone up but he said they would come soon. It was very hot and he started to look annoyed and he jumped in the front of the truck and we drove to the restaurant .

Pretzel was there along with a hiker Adam. They got in the truck but said we needed to wait for Turk, who was waiting on food he had ordered. Sherpa and I exchanged glances. We felt bad for Gary who was starting to get annoyed by the hikers and we felt that he was being taken advantage of a little. Though I am sure that no one meant any harm. It was just absent-minded behavior that is common among long distance hikers. It is easy to take people’s generosity for granted when it is so abundant.

Eventually all were accounted for and we made our way up the steep, winding forest road. Along the way, Gary stopped so we could take pictures of Mount Adams. It was one of my favorite hitches thus far. We gave Gary a few dollars to help with his troubles and then piled out of the truck. I grabbed a Mountain Dew out of his cooler and a bunch of other, previously dejected, hikers piled in the truck for the ride down.

After we saddled up and began walking we soon approached the Mount Adams Wilderness and began a hot ascent to the base of Mount Adams. On the way we went through an exposed burned out section that was recovering. I believe that Gary indicated that it had burned several years ago.

When we were nearly at the top of our ascent, we passed a pair of weekend hikers. One of them was suffering from heat exhaustion and was sitting on the trail. We offered help and water and the two said they were fine and just needed to cool down. It was a hot spot to cool down but there was not much we could do to make the situation better so we continued on.

We continued on and reached the top of our climb and  walked over many volcanic rocks and pumice. Soon we arrived at Lewis River where we planned to camp and there we met Nimbles, Jackpot, and Storm. They were surprised to see us and a little sad that they didn’t try to go to Trout Lake. We tried our best not to brag and we felt bad because Sherpa had told them that we would bring them something and we had forgotten.

I needed to use the bathroom urgently and Sherpa offered to set up the tent while I was gone. I was so glad that I did because I stumbled across an amazing view of the surrounding area. The smoke created some amazing layers of color and light.

I returned to camp to find that Sherpa had set up the tent. I ate with her and we turned in. I vaguely remember the moon being really bright and being self-conscious about all the noise I was making when turning on my pad in the night. We were all camped so close together and poor Nimbles was cowboy camping right next to us. I hope I didn’t keep him up. Other than tossing and turning a few times during the night, we slept like little hiker babies.

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.