Days 65-75

Day 75, August 4, To mile 1925, ~25-30mi
Ed, Dreamcatcher, and I woke up at the Whitefish Horse Campground. I think we all slept poorly with horses being somewhat active sorta near us I kept waking up to animal noises which were the horses. We had coffee from the wonderful trail angels RV Keurig machine. What a treat. It was a chilly morning and I wore most of my clothes even when I started hiking. The 10mi trail to Shelter cove was easy walking. Largely flat. The last 3 or 4 mi paralleled a nice creek and it felt like the Oregon I expected, wet, green, mossy, and foresty. Previous Oregon was forested but still pretty dry. At shelter cove I had pancakes and a bagel then a couple hours later went back for a veggie burger. I only needed to pick up a couple bags of chips for resupply since I had lots of leftovers from Crater Lake. We chatted with a SOBO and got some beta on the upcoming trail then we went for a swim. We didn’t leave until around 2pm and we took a cool alternate out. The alternate consisted of a 0.7mi train tunnel with safety alcoves. Luckily no trains came. Then we bushwhacked for 10min to a dirt road and followed that to a trail to reconnect. Between these two alternates, we hadn’t hiked about 40mi of trail since we got off. Kinda funny. It was smokey and it’s burning my nostrils and I can feel it in the back of my throat. No views. Camping at Charlton Lake tonight hopefully some smoke clears up.

Day 74, August 3 miles 1849.9 (?) to unk, ~38mi
Today started out strong. On the trail by 6am. Spent the morning in my head. I had great views of Mt. Thielsen above me. A very cool rocky peak. Around 8am I washed some socks and my cold soak container in the very cold runoff of the crew below Thielsen. Very cold! An hour or so later I crossed the highest point of the PCT for OR and WA, 7,500ft. Not too significant compared to the Sierras! Not long after I passed a marker for 3,000km. Big landmarks! Smoke rolled in around midday and seemed to get worse as the day progressed. I took an alternate route off Windigo Pass that cuts off a few miles and stays low. I’m camping tonight at a horse campground where some awesome trail angels are campground hosts. They gave us some soda, let us charged our devices, and gave us beta on the upcoming section.

Day 73, August 2 miles 1820.9- 1849.9, 29.1mi
We woke up at the hiker CG in Mazama Village. We slept in a bit, much appreciated. I had to pick up my box of food from the store when they opened at 8am. Legend, the trail angel, was at the CG making pancakes, what a treat!! We had some pancakes and instant coffee. Yum. There were some other hikers, a couple of bikers doing a long trip, and two travelers with Legend that had a very cute dog. After pancakes I meandered to the store, picked up my box with WAY too much food, and stuffed most of it in my pack. Too much food plus some leftover food from the last stretch meant a heavy load of food. I’m opting to carry most of it to save some cash at the next resupply, a lake resort. Dwight, the genuinely nice guy from the restaurant last night, gave us a ride back to where the trail crosses the road. Very friendly, asked a lot of Qs, and was interested in our stories. We hiked up to the rim overlook and cafe and joined the hordes of tourists looking at Crater Lake. We stopped into the cafe and I bought a cheese and egg sandwich. We then hiked the rim alternate instead of the PCT to maintain views of the lake. What a cool view and pretty lake. Much larger than I had expected it to be and wizard island is awesome! The trail was steeper than expected and dry. After the last views of the lake we hiked what seemed relatively flat or downhill but somewhat monotonous. We saw more hikers, SOBOs and a few slack packers. At the water cache met a cool couple traveling in an RV for a year+. They, upon learning what we were up to, offered us grilled cheeses and beer- YES PLEASE! We hiked the rest of the afternoon listening to books/music and chatting a bit. Also ran into the slack packers at the next cache who were interesting to talk with. Although the PCT mileage is ~29mi, I think we did about 25 trail miles because the alternate was a tad shorter. Not bad after a 40 and a slow start but at least 30 would have been nicer.

Day 72, Aug 1. Miles 1781.4 -1820.9, 39.5miles (plus ~0.75mi of road walk into Mazama)
Good day. Woke up early and was on trail by 5:30. The goal was a 40 before the restaurant in Mazama closes. We made it. The day passed rather uneventfully even with all the miles we did. We had a 20mi water carry and before that carried for about 14mi. At two different but nearby stream crossings we saw more frogs than I have ever seen before. They were super little and all over. It was awesome. I did my best not to step on any. Good views of Union Peak through the day, cool granitic spire rising out of the green rolling hills. Also met my first SOBO PCT hiker, he said a few SOBOs were ahead of him. Walked through a long burn area maybe 6 or 7 years old. Kind of pretty with the trees and shrubs coming back. Also had a cool ridgewalk for a few miles high up, bouncing between east and west sides of the ridge. It was nice to get out of the trees for that bit then later in the burn area. Had a beyond burger for dinner and met Dwight, an employee who would bend over backwards to help PCT hikers. Just a genuinely nice man who wants to help. Tonight we are camping in Mazama Village, at Crater Lake NP. Cool they have a hiker CG for us tucked into the woods.

Day 71, July 31. Miles 1750.4 -1781.5, 31.1
Today felt monotonous but still had some highlights. Last night around midnight I moved from cowboy camping under the stars to sleeping under the bathroom awning at the car camping place we slept at when a light sprinkle woke me up. A couple other folks did the same. Sleeping on concrete was actually nice, level, flat, and cool on a warm night. In the morning we found some huckleberry bushes and gorged on them. Eating enough to make me feel a little ill. We walked around brown mountain traversing lava beds. Easy grade but not easy steps as lots of loose rock was present. From 230- 5ish we had a late lunch at fish lake resort. Delicious veggie burger (no pattie, just veg!), curly fries, a soda, and ice cream and I packed out a veg breakfast burrito. That was dinner, yum! The monotony peaked a bit before Fish Lake and I think we all felt it. After Fish Lake, Dreamcatcher and I chatted most of the way to camp. That helped pass the time. Bugs are back, and we are in a meadow. It’s not too bad but definitely present. Today felt a lot harder than 31 miles. We are trying to push a 40 AND get into Crater Lake/Mazama Village before the store/restaurant closes. I’m picking up a box there but will have too much food going in.

Day 70, July 30 miles 1718.7 to 1750.4, 31.7mi
Woke up early, had some food I bought at the market yesterday, packed up and ready to hitch around 7. We tried to hitch out on one road, no luck. Then took the bus to the on-ramp and waited there for maybe half an hour. Dreamcatcher doing the work to catch a ride. Caught an interesting ride out of town with a young farrier who raced horses very long distances. We hiked up the highway and joined the trail. Right away I spoke with a wildflower ID group. They showed me a small purple flower, very pretty. Saw a number of other hikers at the first water source. Things seem to be drying up and water is semi-scarce. Still not as tough as the desert. I listened to a new audiobook about water and the west interesting enough. We hiked near Pilot Rock and I was tempted to detour to climb it. We took a shortcut in the afternoon opting to walk on a dirt road over single track. It’s nice to chat with people alongside them, not speak to their butts. We are camping at Klum Landing which has bathrooms, outlets, picnic tables, and supposedly unlimited time showers. I was just on town so I skipped a shower.

Day 69, July 29. 0 miles
Spent the day in Ashland watching TV, enjoying the AC, eating food, and swimming at the hotel pool. Very nice day. We decided to zero around noon after breakfast while swimming. It was a good call that I think we all enjoyed.

Day 68, July 28. Miles 1698.3-1718.1, 19.8mi
Pretty mellow morning. Slept in a bit then started walking around 630am. The trail was largely downhill and about 10 miles outside of town there was sodas in a cooler. I cruised the 10 miles into town and overshot the turnoff to get to Callahan’s Lodge and where to hitch from. Had to do some bushwhacking and route finding to backtrack. I came down a steep hill right when Ed and Dreamcatcher were there, perfect timing! Easy hitch into town on the second car. Spent most of the afternoon eating in Ashland, at Ruby’s, then ice cream, then a salad, then pizza.

Day 67 July 27. Miles 1662.8-1698.3, 35.5
Did about 35 miles today. We got rained on this morning and really enjoyed the cool air! The first bit finished the climb from last night then the trail meandered along ridges high up. I’ve been really enjoying this high ridge walking. We stopped at a cabin and I had a wonderful poop with an open view. Then we crossed into Oregon in the evening 5 minutes after entering Oregon, there was trail magic. We took a number of breaks today and seemed to be pretty relaxed hikers but still got 35mi. I setup my tarp tonight for the 4th time this trip, more as practice than for need.

Day 66 July 26, miles 1632.4-1662.8, 30.4mi
Saw an owl last night over camp. In the morning the trail meandered along a ridge for awhile through forest and meadows before beginning to descend. As the descent began the trail was overgrown and had lots of downed trees. It got worse the further into the valley we got. Eventually the overgrown trail ended and I found myself at a campground with a 5mi road walk into Seiad Valley. The Road walk was long and hot and I chatted with Ed and Dreamcatcher enroute. There were blackberries on the side of the road most of the way in so it was tough to stay disciplined and keep hiking and not just pick berries. In Seiad Valley, we hung out in the shade eating ice cream and veg burgers from the cafe. There was another large group of hikers there that seemed to dominate the small space. Around 6pm it cooled off enough that we took off for the climb out of town. It was still hot and the steep climb began right away. There was more bushwhacking and blowdowns to navigate. We had an excellent sunset from a high ridge and camped in some protected trees.

Day 65 July 25 miles 1599.7- 1732.4, 32.8mi
Caught a 7am ride out of town with Sole saver. We fit 10 hikers into her car, it was packed but everyone fit! At the top I set off with Ed and dreamcatcher, a couple I hung with in town a little bit. We ended up going all day. The trail was nice, contouring along or just under the ridge and lots of great views. We swam around 1 which was a great cool off though it got hot once we started hiking again. Nice to chat with some other folks and great scenery today. Camping with them tonight. I am going into town, again, tomorrow. Fun! I didn’t buy enough food to make it to Ashland so it’s good I can resupply tomorrow.