Day 73: 17 miles hiked. We were soaked when we woke up since none of our stuff had dried from the previous day’s storms. We built a fire in the hopes of drying some gear out and to also try to lift our spirits… the rain/hail/snow/freezing temps/lightning combo from yesterday had zapped our energy and our smiles, and we were hoping not have to put on soaked and frozen clothes as well. As we huddled around our tiny fire, who should show up, but our leapfrogging buddies, Oreo, Sunshine, and Bookworm! Lots of exuberant f-bombs were dropped when they saw that we had a fire, as they too were freezing, soaked, and mentally drained from the lovely weather. We sat and chatted for awhile, while rotating our clothes around so that they didn’t melt. After awhile, they got back to hiking, and the three of us (Savior, Beast, and I) agreed to try to meet them 23 miles ahead where they were planning on camping for the night (spoiler alert, that didn’t happen). There was a fresh layer of snow everywhere, and as we packed up to go, I was grateful that these three went on up ahead so that we’d have some sort of trail to follow. It was very cloudy and rainy out for much of the day. Oregon presented some really low days, and this was definitely one of them! The scenery around Sisters is supposed to be some of the best in the state, but we could see none of it because of the clouds. After many miles of hiking on snow, including doing my first glissade down a hillside(!), the trail conditions switched to hiking on lava fields. I’m not sure which I hate more, snow or lava. With snow, you’re constantly sliding around, getting wet, and breaking through so you end up in snow up to your knees (postholing). With lava, your feet are constantly aching because of the roughness of it and you also need to be hyper vigilant about not breaking an ankle which can be easily done if not careful because it’s so uneven and unyielding! As we hiked towards lunch, we saw snow stream after snow stream, many springs, and several ponds. There was water everywhere! We got to our lunch spot on a lake, and proceeded to put all of our wet gear out to dry in the first sunshine we had seen all day. Within minutes it started to pour so we made a hasty retreat and crammed under Beast’s tarp to eat lunch while we complained about the weather. By the time we were done eating, we were all freezing (it was at this point that I stopped being able to feel my hands), and decided to quickly get a move on in the hopes of warming up. The snow dissipated, and we were able to walk on some actual, regular dirt for awhile, which was great! This eventually morphed into another lava field, and it remained that way for the rest of the day. About 4 miles after lunch, we came upon a paved road where we decided to stop and take a break. It was at this point that we realized that we were actually in the middle of a 14 mile water carry. In our haste to leave our lunch spot and with the overabundance of water in the morning, none of us checked to see when we could find water again, which meant that each of us had about 0.5 liters for the remaining 10 miles!!! (For reference, I don’t drink a lot of water, and my rate is about 1 liter/6 miles… Beast and Savior are closer to 1 L/ 3-4 miles!) We had hoped to camp soon, as the weather was wearing on us, but we couldn’t cook dinner without water, so we knew that we didn’t really have a choice about continuing on until we got some water. As we got up to start walking, we met a day hiker and asked if he had any water we could have. He gave us the extra liter he had in his car, which meant that we were closer to camping, but not quite. As we moved on from the road, the weather kicked it up a notch, and began to snow/sleet on us, in a sideways and biting fashion. It had been a couple hours since I last could feel my fingers, and I wondered at what point should I start to become concerned. Did you know that at a certain point, your fingers can get so cold that your touchscreen on your phone no longer recognizes that you’re touching it??? Cuz I learned that on this day! I tried to take a video of how miserable out it was, but my fingers were too cold to register on my screen, and so alas, you’ll just have to use your imagination! (Imagine this: Snow that melts as soon as it touches something, mixed with hard pebble like snow. Then throw in some 30-40 mph wind that hurts when it whips your face, to the point that you aren’t sure what’s hurting you: is it the hardness of the snow? or just the wind itself because everything is wet and therefore very cold with the wind? Imagine ice/snow crystals on your eyelashes so you can’t see… now imagine walking through this for 3+ hours, and doing this after walking through rain/snow/lighting/hail storms for the past 2 days and you might have a sense of how I was feeling) After several hours of this sideways wet snow, we came upon a campsite where we saw several pitched tents. Savior walked over and discovered our friends Oreo, Sunshine, and Bookworm, who had pulled the plug on getting further because of the weather. They had some extra water for us, which was enough for us to make dinner! I was sooooo happy to get off trail. I had yet to regain feeling in my hands (going on about 6-7 hours at this point), so I was grateful that Beast was determined to make a fire. It took me about an hour to set up my tent because fine motor skills are not a thing when your fingers are numb. I kept having to go back and forth from the fire to my tent. I’d put a stake in, and my hands would go numb, and I’d have to go back and warm them up over the fire for a few minutes, then go and put another stake in, only to have them go numb again… Suffice it to say, I was ready eat dinner and go to bed in my warm and dry sleeping bag at the end of this day. On the plus side, after about a week of trying, we finally got to camp and hang out with Oreo, Sunshine, and Bookworm!
Day 74: 9 miles hiked. I was pleasantly surprised to see the sun when I woke up! Oreo, et al. had left early in the morning, while Beast, Savior, and I slept in and refused to leave the warmth of our sleeping bags. We took our time leaving today, as we didn’t have many miles to hike before getting to the road where Beast’s friends were going to pick us up at the end of their workday. We hung up a line, and put all our wet clothes on it, in the hopes of not having to carry anymore wet (re:heavy) gear. While we were waiting, I climbed up some of the lava flows that surrounded us, in the hopes of getting a view of what was around me. With the crappy weather the days before, I had no idea what anything looked like! We had walked past North Sister, but never got to see her until I climbed up the lava! I also got my first views of Mount Washington, and we had unknowingly slept at its base. After successfully drying out a bit, we finally got to walking. The PCT Association asked for volunteers to help document the size and location of any trees that were blown down across the trail in this section, and I happily obliged to take notes as I hiked along. It was actually pretty fun to document, and it gave my mind something to do. We began to see a new plant (I eventually learned this was bear grass), and at certain points I found myself surrounded, as far as the eye could see! Between the flowers and the documenting, I found it difficult to make progress! We walked around the side of Mt Washington and made our way into Big Lake Youth Camp. This camp has a special building that PCT hikers can hang out in, and they also allow us to eat unlimited meals in their cafeteria! It was tough, but I somehow managed to restrain myself to eating only three giant ricekrispie bars. We sat inside our clubhouse and enjoyed the break that came with sitting in actual chairs. I found a jigsaw puzzle, and decided to see how far I could get in the 1.5 hours we planned to hang out there. It was so peaceful and relaxing! We managed to break free and continue on towards our meet up point. Beast’s friends, Sam and Firefly, picked us up before dinner, and we were off to go back into Bend to do some chores and hang out at their place for the night.
Day 75: 3 miles hiked. We spent most of the day doing chores in Bend, and thankfully Firefly loaned us her car so we were able to drive around town pretty easily. We finally got back on trail in the late afternoon, and decided to hike until we found a good spot for the sunset. I again found myself struggling to hike, because the bear grass was epic. We got our first glimpses of Three Fingered Jack, our next mountain we were going to skirt around. We eventually found a spot that offered great views and set up camp for the night!
Day 76: 16 miles hiked. I managed to roll out of bed to watch the sun come up, and I have to say that this was definitely one of the best sunrises I’ve ever witnessed. Beast had packed out bacon and eggs, and the three of us each ate a 4 egg breakfast burrito with cheese, spinach and bacon after the sun came up. After eating our fill, we packed up, and headed out towards our next adventure of Three Fingered Jack and Mount Jefferson. Jeff decided to hide out in a cloud for most of the day, but I’m thankful Jack was more cooperative, as it was definitely my favorite mountain in Oregon! We were in and out of snow as we walked along the western face of Jack. We met up with some southbound hikers that pointed out some mountain goats very far off in the distance. They were too far to get a clear picture of, but it was cool to see mountain goats for the first time ever! We came upon 4 GIANT cat paw prints, with each one being the size of my hand! This is the first and only time I’ve ever seen any trace of a mountain lion, and I was equally excited and terrified to see them! We continued on and eventually came around to the south-side of Three Fingered Jack. This mountain was absolutely stunning to see, with striations of different colored rocks going up and down the jagged ridges. We took a small break to enjoy the view before continuing our trudge through the snow. It was an absolutely beautiful day, with some clouds, but mostly clear skies that offered epic views. That being said, it was also one of the more difficult days I’ve had on trail. There was snow everywhere, and it was mostly on mountainsides. This made it really hard to traverse because slipping would have been really dangerous meaning each step had to be carefully planted. A lot of the snow was too dangerous to walk on, so we ended up going up/down and around the patches, which also meant a lot of bushwhacking and slipping on loose soil. I fell a lot, and due to all the effort I was exerting with the snow hiking, I was starting to experience hiker hunger for the first time since I started. The terrain was so difficult, that despite us giving 100% exertion, our pace slowed to less than a mile per hour. Towards the end of the day, I was starving, exhausted, and mentally drained. I was well behind the two guys, when I started crossing a snow patch that was only 3 feet long. I slipped and fell so that I ended up straddling a fallen log that was downhill from the trail, with my butt on the icy snow, and solid ground on either side of me. I tried to stand up, but my muscles were so fatigued that I couldn’t even lift my leg to get over the log and because of this, I couldn’t roll over or stand up. I tried and tried, but I could not get to my feet. Defeated, I sat, began to cry, and searched my pockets for something, really anything, to eat. I found a Snickers bar, and proceeded to inhale it, pausing only to scream out in frustration that I was so tired that I could no longer stand. After 10 minutes of sobbing, I had given my legs enough rest that I was able to get back on my feet to continue walking towards camp. The guys stopped at the next available campsite (which coincidentally the clouds had moved to show an amazing view of Jeff) and I eventually caught up to them. They were deciding if we should continue on or call it a day. I looked at them both, dropped my pack, and proclaimed that if they wanted to keep walking, they were welcome to do so, but I would be going no further that day. I quickly made dinner and, being too tired to sit, I laid down in my sleeping bag to eat and promptly fell asleep immediately after I was done with my meal.
Day 77: 20 miles hiked. I woke up still feeling exhausted, but ready to get the day over with. I knew that we were nearing the end of our snow travel in Oregon, and I was beyond ready to kick it to the curb and hike on some wondrous dirt. As we packed up, I discovered that my water bladder had become unscrewed while I was unpacking the night before. Everything that was left in my bag was completely drenched and unwearable. Thankfully all of my sleeping stuff was in the tent with me, so it had remained dry. I laid out all my stuff to try to dry it out and we ate breakfast eyeing Mt. Jefferson, which we knew we were going to go spend the day trying to go around. It looked…snowy. It was a formidable start to the day. I packed up my bag, leaving all of my wet stuff on the outside of my pack in the hopes that it would dry. As we headed out, I was determined to try and make the best of it. After a mile of glorious dirt, the snow began and after an hour of hiking, it began to sprinkle. I put all my damp stuff back in my pack and continued on. The sprinkles turned to full on rain. It was a pretty miserable day, with the rain on my head, a heavy pack on my back (wet gear weighs a lot more than dry gear) and the slushy snow under my feet for most of it. We tried to stop at a river for lunch, but an avalanche had gone through in the winter, blocking all of the water with boulders and trees leaving no river to sit by. Instead we sat in the middle of the trail to eat, knowing we wouldn’t be disturbed because only idiots would be out hiking on a day like today. The only thing driving me forward was knowing that it was going to be better tomorrow, when at least I wouldn’t have to hike on snow anymore. We hiked through several burn areas with posters everywhere saying that due to the burns, landslides were a threat during rain… great! We walked through another avalanche path, and this one was pretty crazy, with healthy forest on either side, and chaos and destruction in the middle. Trying to get out of the avalanche path and back on trail was an adventure, with 6 logs piled up that I needed to navigate around. It was after this that we started to see rhododendron everywhere, and the rainclouds finally lifted a bit. As we walked, I realized that we gone past Jeff at some point (we had limited visibility for most of the day), and we were finally seeing it again, but behind us. The only thing standing between us and camp was our last pass in snow. We climbed for what seemed like an eternity, with our feet sliding down in the snow with each step. The trail was nowhere to be found for much of it, and we eventually decided to just go straight up. After about 20 false summits, we finally made it to the top of our last snowy pass and saw Mount Hood for the first time! The trip down was much more enjoyable than the trip up. It was slushy snow all around, with nothing too scary at the bottom, so we slid and skate skied down for about 2 miles before returning to flat ground. The rain began again and by the time I got to camp, everything I was wearing soaked, which was frustrating, since all of my other clothes were also soaked from my mistake the night before. I again ate dinner in my sleeping bag, this time because of the mental fatigue from the day.
Day 78: 26 miles hiked. We woke up with two milestones ahead of us for the day. 1) We were 26 miles from our 1,000 mile point, and 2) we were 6 miles from Olallie Lake Resort, where southbounders had promised us the snow would stop for the rest of the state of Oregon!!!!! I was so tired as I tried to pack up from camp, but I was very excited for the end of today, knowing what was going to be accomplished. It continued to be wet and cloudy, but we were all very excited to reach these goals! We trudged up and down giant snow boulders for 6 long miles, when finally the snow just disappeared! We made it through the most difficult part of the state, and it was going to be smooth sailing from here until Washington, a mere 107 miles away! We stopped at the resort for a celebratory “no more snow” beer (it was about 9am) and while we were there we met a woman named Sam. Sam was an engineer who was living mere minutes from where I lived in Oakland. With so much in common, we spent much of the rest of the day chatting away. The day was wet, with not much to look at (being in a cloud and all), but we walked quickly now that there was sweet and glorious dirt under our feet. Sam eventually walked on up ahead, and I was left to my thoughts for the remainder of the day. As I approached 1,000 miles, I became overwhelmed with the thought of my accomplishment. When I started, I was worried I wouldn’t make 100 miles, and 1,000 miles seemed monumental. Yet here I was, with close to 1,000 miles under my feet. It was night by the time I got to camp, and we had to set up our tents so they were touching because one of the campsites had an insane widow maker (a whole half of a tree had blown over) above it. The three of us sat in our tents and cracked a warm beer to cheers each other for making it this far. Through our tent walls, we talked about how proud we were of each other and getting through what would likely be the toughest part of the trail for us. We were all tired, and feeling drained, but amazed at the hardships we had overcome. In particular, Savior and I were in awe that we had come so far (Beast hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2017ish and he started the PCT with 2,000+ miles… so he was decidedly less impressed than the two of us were).
Day 79: 22 miles hiked. We made our 1,000 mile sign first thing in the morning, this time out of the bright green old man’s beard. It started to rain again as we left camp, but I stopped caring at this point. We were heading into town by the end of the day, so it didn’t matter that everything I owned was drenched, and had been for the last 2 days. What’s another day in wet clothes at this point? I hiked on my own, and took most of my breaks by myself today, the exception being a group lunch at Timothy Lake. The sun came out for a whole hour, and I basked in its glory. I took a side trail to see Little Crater Lake, which was stunningly beautiful! I’m not usually a fan of bonus miles, but I was happy I tacked on an extra half mile to go and see this one. My pictures don’t do the turquoise justice… As I continued on, I started to see a bunch of cauliflower mushrooms, as well as giant slugs. I hadn’t seen much, in terms of scenery for much of the day, but as I approached my endpoint for the day, the clouds finally shifted, and I was able to see Mount Hood again, with rhododendrons surrounding me everywhere. It was a very pretty end to the day! We got to the road and hitchhiked into the town of Government Camp. The ladies that picked us up had us sit in the bed of their truck, with their two big adorable dogs. One of them decided to sit on my lap and lick my face for the 10 minute drive, which was a great pick me up. We got into town and got straight to work on our chores and eating. I think the bed this night was one of the most glorious of beds I’ve ever slept on, solely because it was warm and dry and indoors.
I'm happy when I'm hiking 