Category: PCT Thru Hike

At mile 2228.9. Hiked 15.4 miles today.

Here is Mosquito Creek. In my opinion  there are many lakes and creeks and campsites that should be named after this swarming blood thirsty pest.

Here is one of the few open spots along today’s trail. The next section will be much different having  great views.

Here is a view of Mt Baker from the outskirts of Trout Lake. It was easy hitching into town. My ride, Bill even drove me past all the main stops in town and explained where everything was located. Thanks Bill!

I’m in Trout Lake for a true zero. New darn tough socks and Altra Olympus shoes had just arrived from Amazon. These worn out Altras went to the dumpster. I’m convinced that some of my leg pain and toe numbness was due to these worn out shoes. I was ready to replace 100 miles ago, but I needed lead time to have them shipped. Next time I will order new shoes before the old ones are worn out. I’m now on my 3rd pair of shoes.

Day 95

At mile 2213.5. Hiked 25 miles today.

Today I began seeing a lot of SOBO’s on the trail including a group of about a dozen calling themselves the train.

Here is Mt Hood with the outlines of Columbia River gorge visible.

View of Mt St Helens. Trees blocked most of the views.

View of Mt Adams.

This is Blue Lake where Toothbrush and I saw horses. These people were out for several nights. Previously I had only seen riders that were out for the day.

I wanted to swim in Blue Lake, but the mosquitoes were too bad. We ate lunch at Blue Lake while battling mosquitoes. 

This is Bear Lake which isn’t last water for 11 miles. I stopped here and cooled off by swimming across the lake and back. Once out of the water I quickly covered up and headed out before many mosquitoes landed all over my wet body.

People:

Toothbrush

At mile 2188.5. Hiked 22.4 miles today.

My leg felt better, but as a precaution I decided n’ont to push it too hard and to take more breaks. It was also very hot again in the middle of the day so I took a 3 plus hour break at lunch at Wind River with 2 river swims. When the sun dipped behind the trees I began a long climb until I reached a camping spot  sometime between 8 and 9 pm.

There has been a variety of ferns. I liked this type because it’s leaf pattern is so different than other ferns.

Here is the trail. It dropped to low elevation and passed through some private land and over a couple of rivers bef a big climb at the end of the day.

With this view of Mt Hood I could see the outlines of the Columbia River gorge.

My cowboy campsite at the edge of a cliff with view of Mt Hood and a nearly full moon.

Sunset view from my campsite.

At mile 2166.2. Hiked 19.5 miles today. 

I counted 17 PCT’r tents at Cascade Locks Marine Park Camp. Others stayed at the hotels. This is the I’ve seen in town since Warner Springs around mile 100.

Some of the tents.

My tent at Marine Park.

Hiking out of town I saw this wind surfer made from driftwood. I was soon over Bridge if the Gods and in the state of Washington.

With a late start, the hot day seemed even hotter. The trail passed through beautiful fern growth that at least gave the appearance of coolness.

The outside of my lower left leg began to hurt quite painfully for the last 3 miles. I needed to make those 3 miles in order to camp at water (Rock Creek). I tried to block out thought of the pain and kept walking.

With my leg in pain, I stepped on the edge of the trail. The ground crumbled beneath my foot and spilled down the hill. In a moment my right leg was dangling in space over the edge and I was seated firmly on the trail having come down on my left knee. In this awkward position, pack on my back, I could not pull myself up. Weirdly, there was a snake on the edge of the trail not 20 inches from where I sat. Even with my disturbance the snake remained.

Here is a different snake, the first of two snakes I saw today.

I could care less about the snake. I was thinking about the pain and whether I had done any real damage to myself. I leaned forward to push myself up, but the backpack held me down. Swinging my leg back up on the trail, I was able to twist and pull myself up. The snake quickly slithered away. Since I am counting, this was snake number 17.

Still in pain and moving slowly I came up to a lady who told me to go around because she was feeling ill and had no water. I gave her a bottle of water and asked whether she would like some electrolytes. She said no thanks and told me that her friends hadn’t gone on to water and were bringing it back for her. Rock creek was less than a mile away, so I moved on. I found a water bottle with filter on the side of the trail and picked it up.

Reaching Rock Creek, I came across her two female hiking companions. The first had lost her water bottle/filter so I gave it to her. Neither lady had made a move to bring their friend water. One was set up in campsite far away from the other. These two had been fighting and did not want to camp near each other. Eventually the 3rd lady made it to Rock Creek and began asking why the others had not hiked toward her with water as they promised. Argument ensued and soon the lady that was the first to arrive at Rock creek began screaming at the other two . I tried to ignore it and headed across the creek to find a quieter campsite well away from these three ladies. It was hard to believe these three would complete their 150 mile hike when they were acting this way after only progressing 20 miles in 2 days. I later reflected on how stressful a hike could be and how important it was for hiking  companions to get along with each other.

My quiet campsite. It turned out that Einstein wasn’t camped out in the creek bed where he had not heard any of the yelling.