Category: PCT Thru Hike

At mile 1995.1. Hiked 11.4 miles today.

Breweries are a big deal in Bend, OR.. I stayed at the Bunk and Brew Hostel with first beer included. At Safeway I was offered a beer sample while shopping. I checked out barber shops and the first two I pulled up included beer with a haircut. Here I am in the barber chair with my 7 AM IPA. 

Had to cross lava flows. Looking back were great views of Sisters.

Here is the trail going through lava that made hiking difficult.

A view of Mt Washington and trail through Lava. I rounded the mountain on the left(south) side and between lava and forest burns I was exposed to sun and heat during much of the afternoon. Having come from Bend. I did t start hung until half past noon.

Tonight I was treated to dinner at Big Lake Youth Camp and hung out in a new building with laundry, showers, kitchen, etc dedicated for PCT hikers. Amaneta, a hiker that I first met in SOCAL showed up at Big Lake. It was great catching up with him and we know or have met many of the same hikers. He started his hike the day before me and he went straight through the Sierras in May. One of the INTENSE hikers. 

Later another of the INTENSE  hikers, Farley of New Hampshire  showed up at the camp. He looked a little drained and was wearing a plastic blanket fashioned as a skirt to keep mosquitoes off his legs. He really didn’t like the mosquitoes so had started walking all day and through the night and didn’t stop until reaching the Youth Caml 38 hours and 118 miles later. I don’t know whether 118 miles without sleep is a record. But it may be. 

Here is Farley after a 118 mile day. Farley finished the long 118 mile day with 4 miles of brutal walking on lava rock.

At mile 1972. Hiked 21.8 miles today.

I hiked through woods wearing raincoat and headnet against mosquitoes until I couldn’t stand the heat. After a climb I came out in this mosquito-free paradise. Time for photos and a rest break. This is South Sister, the 2nd highest mountain in Oregon.

Here are a sampling of the flowers I saw.

I had not seen this flower before. The petals have hairlike growth.

More flowers.

And this Indian Paintbrush just feet from my tent.

Here is South Sister.

This is a nice meadow enclosed by a lava flow on one side.

Here is the pond I swam in today. I had covered so much distance by 12:30 that I needed to take a long break so I wouldn’t be in camp too early. I set up my tent as a refuge from mosquitoes, took a short swim, ate lunch, and rested inside my tent safe from mosquitoes.

I entered the Obsidian Limited Entry Area and began seeing even more people than I had been seeing all day. A limited number of permits are issued for this popular area. 

Huge obsidian chunks and slabs all over and small pieces like this One littering the ground.

I camped here just above Obsidian Falls.

At mile 1950.2. Hiked 25.1 miles today. 

I found this sign with an old trail emblem that I hadn’t never seen before. Unlike the Appalachian Trail, the PCT does not have a white blaze painted on trees. The PCT has a variety of signs including signs for trail 2000 which is the officially designated trail number for this National Scenic Trail. Maybe this is an original sign from when the PCT was built in the 60’s.

This morning the tent was wet and I was sleepy and lazy. I slept late and stayed in camp long enough for the tent to dry out.

Although I passed many lakes, it wasn’t until late that I found South Lake which was suitable for swimming. In other words, where you wouldn’t get eaten alive by mosquitoes. There was a couple camped there who had just finished a swim themselves. The water felt so good. The top 12 inches was a comfortable temperature and the water beneath was much colder. I swam around some and floated on my back for a while. What a way to get a break from the afternoon heat!

Here is one of the many lakes and ponds I passed.

My campsite tonight has a stream next to it which is a rarity in this area.  Unfortunately, this campsite had the most mosquitoes I’ve seen anywhere on the PCT. Luckily I had cooked and eaten dinner at mosquito free Dumbell Lake 3 miles back.  As soon as I arrived at Camp Mosquito, I threw down my backpack and pulled on my windbreaker. Then I sprayed legs and hands with more Deet. I spread out my Tyvek and emptied pack contents onto the sheet until I could reached the tent. I had the tent pitched in minutes, unzipped the door, threw in pack and other gear and jumped in myself. Zipping the door shut, I looked around to find at least 100 mosquitoes trapped in the tent with me. The door had only been open for less than 10 seconds. Next, I began mosquito eradication by slapping my  hands together with mosquito in-between.

At mile 1925.1. Hiked 18.5 miles today. 

At my camp at Charlton Lake I met Steve who is one of the early riders of the new Oregon Timber Trail. This trail open to mountain bike touring is around 600 miles long. Steve was about halfway through.

Steve was wearing a Go-Lite shirt which is the brand of my backpack. Go-Lite went out of business years ago. Steve told me he had a Go-Lite Gust backpack for hiking. I told him that I had the Gust also and showed him my pack. Steve told me that when Go-Lite was going out of business knowing they would no longer be available, he had bought 10 of the Gust backpacks. Go-Lite has its following even after all these years. They are appreciated for being simple lightweight and very sturdy. Both Steve and I have used our Go-Lite Gusts over thousands of miles of hiking without any failure.

Earlier in the day I passed a number of lakes today starting with the three Rosary lakes. The tough part of the day was a long climb near The Twins in the hot sun at 2 PM. The pack seemed to get heavier as the day went on. I finally hauled myself into camp exhausted and shy of my daily 20 miles.

I liked the morning light on this plant.

This is a view of Ormond Lake where I had stayed at Shelter cove.  There were a lot of boats out because there is a type of small salmon (10 – 12 inches) that can be caught in the morning. The big fish is Lake Trout which can be 3 feet long.

Here are the Rosary lakes. Lower, Middle, and Upper.

Lower

Middle

And Upper

This is Charlton Lake where I camped.

Middle Rosary Lake had these ducklings.

At mile 1906.6. Hiked 14.1 miles today. Also hiked off trail to Shelter Cove.

Plan: Resupply and camp at Shelter Cove. Hike Tuesday through Friday and go into Belt, OR. for resupply, shop at REI, and overnight at Brew Hostel (1 free craft beer at hostel, but more expensive hostel).

Mosquitoes: I haven’t enjoyed the mosquitoes, but I hike in short sleeve shirt and shorts and as longboard as I keep moving they don’t bother me much. They almost never bite my bare legs while I am moving, but will occasionally attack my arms while I’m moving. Deet helps some and has kept them off my arms for a while. I had a new appreciation for how lucky I am when I met a woman and older man hiking the other direction. Both these people were well covered but the gentleman didn’t not have a square inch of flesh exposed. As I stood there in shorts and short sleeves with head net pulled up, not one mosquito landed on me. Meanwhile the man’a long sleeve shirt and headnet gathered mosquitoes until he was well covered with mosquitoes. I looked over at his companion and she was mostly mosquitoe free. I remarked to the man thatbI wished he would hike with me because he draws away all of the mosquitoes. He asked whether I took vitamins and I told him that I use the Vitamin C drink packets. He told me that he believed that was why mosquitoes stayed away from me. Who knows? Maybe it is the coffee I drink or something else. In any event, I’ll count myself lucky and try not to complain about mosquitoes too much. Others have it worse. 

At Shelter Cove a number of PCT hikers were coming and going. I sat around the  PCT area with Bear just talking.

We got on the subject of how much of the time hiking was actually enjoyable. Funny that Bear has been thinking about that because I had been considering this question just today as I was hiking. My opinion that 10% was enjoyable and honestly that may be an overestimate. Much of the time you are tired or sore. You may be carrying a heavier than usual load of food and water. Even if you are feeling rested, you may be struggling up or down steep slopes. The trail could be rocky. It can be hot or cold or there could be high winds. You can be struggling through snow or just simply trying to navigate unreadable trails. The trail may be overgrown or populated with poison oak, poodle dog bush, or mosquitoes. Even when conditions or ideal, boredom can set in. Actual hiking is very different than a short stroll through a natural area. 

So what do we enjoy about it? Bear  who hiked 40 miles per day and has lost about 70 pounds since hiking the AT last year and PCT this year says that we enjoy it when we stop to take a break. The enjoyment is not the hiking, but when we stop hiking and get some relief. That is also true for me  some days, but it is a sign I need to slow down. The thing is … long distance hikers have this compulsion to move on. As T-Rex says, “if you aren’t moving you aren’t making progress, you can only walk so fast.” T-Rex is a 40 mile per day hiker that averages at least 3.5 miles per hour.

After walking through woods I came out in the open with a wide bowl of snow covered mountains above. THis photo captures only a sliver of the view.

There were patches of snow covering the trail and suddenly streams were abundant.

Looking back toward Thielson Peak. The pointy one 🙂

There were some ponds.