More Oregon!

Back to the trail I was on August 6, and this was possibly my most emotional day on the PCT. After making my way back to Crater Lake, only to have the Rim Trail closed due to a fire closure, I rejoined the trail just north of the park and got very overwhelmed. I only did 10 miles this day, but trudged on despite the urge to run back to the road and go home. I set up camp at Thielsen Creek, and was comforted by the other tents around me. This day was my initiation to solo thru hiking, and little did I know it would only get better and better and I'm glad I didn't run back to the road :) 

The next morning I was in better spirits, and feeling strong and motivated. This particular day I met two hikers that eventually became part of my new trail family until the very end, Sour Rip and Swag. We were leap frogging all day, and after speaking with them at a water source they convinced me to take an alternate trail, the Oregon Skyline Trail, so that we could all go to Shelter Cove the next day. I wound up camping with them this night, and already did my longest day yet, as upping my miles was one of my goals getting back on trail. Oh, I also passed the highest point of the PCT in Oregon and Washington this particular day, and it was truly the most anti-climactic moment of the trail as you'll see from the pathetic sign in the photo below haha! But alas, the highest point of Oregon and Washington was tackled..!

The next morning found me and Sour Rip hiking the 17 miles to Shelter Cove together, and it was great to have a friend to hike with. We got to the resort and I was so glad I tagged along, despite not needing to resupply here, because it was beautiful! This place even had gluten free pizza, and so naturally I indulged in that for lunch! We hung out for the better part of the afternoon eating, playing cards, doing laundry and chatting with hikers before ultimately dragging ourselves away. Unfortunately, as we hiked out, an intense pain settled in to my left foot and the miles back to trail were not so great. Despite my oncoming injury, we set up camp and had a nice dinner of chips and drinks before calling it a night.

The next day on trail was another weird low, as it was the most pain I'd experienced on trail to date (don't worry I experience more later on). Prior, I was annoyingly one of those hikers that you never wanted to ask how they were doing, as I never had any aches or pains for months, my feet never had blisters, and everything was seemingly fine, but that all changed this day. I am convinced my body started shutting down because it missed Casey, but despite my physical manifestations of missing my pal, I was hell bent on carrying on. There was also some walking through a burned area this day, and that always looks so post-apocalyptic to me and leaves me feeling like I really am in the Hunger Games, which I was still listening to on audiobook. I made it to Brahma Lake this particular evening, and truly had my first night camping totally alone with no other tents around. Nothing the little bottle of wine I packed out from Shelter Cove couldn't help me get through though ;-)

Slowly dragging myself out of bed the following morning, I was comforted by a hiker I'd met at Shelter Cove taking the time to stop and check up on me as he passed by my tent. The trail really started showing it's true colors to me in this way, when you see the connections that all of the solo hikers make out here and how they truly become a family. So after Blue Moon checked up on me, I got packed up and headed out and was equally as comforted by the two blue herons I saw swimming at the lake shortly after taking off, these are such pretty birds. Today was a slow solo day filled with Radio Lab episodes and beautiful views of Mt. Bachelor gracing my presence. I also slept at the beautiful Sisters Mirror Lake this evening; the lakes of Oregon really were impressive and plentiful!

The next morning I was willing away my foot pain, and had a great morning passing a group of what appeared to be boy scouts out on a trip. One of the kids said "Hi Mrs. Thru Hiker" and that made me smile and helped to set the tone for a good day. Similarly, the views of the volcano kept becoming more impressive, and that also helped kept spirits up! I also entered the Obsidian Limited Entry Area this afternoon, and that was incredibly beautiful. This is an area where you're not allowed to camp to protect the obsidian, and it was definitely worthy of protecting because it was so incredible! After lunch it got terribly hot, and I was climbing up rocky lava fields, something I didn't expect for my afternoon, but the views were insane despite the unforgiving terrain. 

The following day I was finally in Bend for two zeros! This meant a whole lot of doing nothing, eating, and relaxing, which is always good for the soul. It was a Friday when we got to Bend, and when we ventured out for a bit we noticed that someone had bubbled the fountain there and that was super amusing to me because these were the types of shenanigans I would have gotten up to as a teenager as well. On Saturday we eventually decided to head back to the trail after indulging in pizza and sitting by the river for hours. But when we got back to the trail we were greeted with trail magic, so no hiking took place. Stew had set up trail magic at the trail head, and we indulged in more food and stories for the evening!

The next morning Stew was back and making us all breakfast, which was greatly appreciated! Starting a morning off with eggs is infinitely better then another day of oatmeal! Filled with protein, I was off towards Big Lake Youth Camp, another place I didn't need to stop at and resupply, but I went for it anyways with the prospect of more food and the potential to swim. After getting a free sack lunch, Goldfish and I then began relentlessly pestering the staff to let me and the other hikers get on the blob. Hands down one of the best moments on the trail was weaseling our way into 15 minutes on this blob, those massive flotation things on lakes where one person sits as the other jumps on and launches them crazy high in the air before they crash. There are photos and videos of this on other people's cameras, and if/when I get my hands on those I'll be sure to share! After finally pulling myself away from this camp, we walked not even a mile before being greeted by more trail magic! Some ladies from Bend had come out to the trail with drinks and snacks and we had a great time chatting and coloring with them! And then to top off this day, once we finally got walking we passed the 2,000 mile marker! What a feeling this was! Needless to say, today was a great day on trail! 

On dad's birthday I was sad to not be home, as moments like these always remind you how far away you are from everyone. Being distant these 5 months from the people most important to me really got to me in some moments, and I am sorry I missed your birthday dad, and didn't get in a phone call, but you were naturally on my mind throughout this whole day. I actually had a really great day this particular day too, and even met my friend Wildflower that I wound up finishing the trail with. The most eventful part of this particular day was taking lunch at a lake that looked quite appealing to jump in and swim, but just as I was about to do so a snake started slithering out of the water and I decided against a lunch time bath. 

This next day Mount Hood came in to view, and I was so excited! Something about Mount Hood is so comforting and feels like home to me, so this carried me through the morning. That said, I walked with another new trail friend this day and we wound up getting lost off trail for an embarrassingly long amount of time, and that was super frustrating. We wound up finding our way back, however, and carried on and chalked up our extra miles to an adventure.. After getting lost I then met another new hiker, Clinic, who wound up feeding me all the way through Washington! So this day turned out pretty great in the end in that respect! Clinic is also gluten free, and had double resupply at all the stops and was eager to feed another celiac with his food, so that was really fortuitous to run in to him just before Washington when I had nothing figured out as far as food. 

The next day was my introduction to 28 mile days! The logic here was that the Timberline Lodge at Mount Hood has an infamous all you can eat breakfast that lures in many a hiker, and naturally I had to see what this was all about. So teaming up with Wildflower, we decided to set ourselves up 10 miles out of the lodge so that we could be there for breakfast on Thursday morning. Lots of hikers were playing leapfrog this day, which actually kept it entertaining to have someone to chat with. And then we had a gorgeous walk along a ridge with stunning views of Mount Hood to round out the day, so all in all it was another good trail day!

So the part that gets kind of ludicrous is that we had to set an alarm for 4:00 the next morning in order to make it to breakfast with enough time to eat at least 3 plates of food! 10 miles takes just about 3.5 hours, and we wanted to be there by 8:00 at the latest, so around 4:30 we headed down the trail with the guidance of our headlights. (This just goes to show you how real hiker hunger is because let's be honest, I would never wake up at 4:30 otherwise, but that's just how hungry we get) We eventually got to the lodge and I was so overwhelmed by fooooooood! We ate ourselves silly and then were in food comas! After scoring free showers at the lodge, resupplying on food, and generally just being lazy in the comfy lodge couches, we finally pulled ourselves away to hike another 10 miles out of Timberline. We had consistently good views of Hood as we climbed down and ultimately found ourselves at Ramona Falls for the evening, a gorgeous place to have put the tents! 

Waking up to Ramona Falls was an epic way to start the day, as you'll see from the photos below. We had a climb out of the falls, and then walked along the ridge most of the day and it was just so comforting knowing we were merely a day away from the Columbia River Gorge, one of my happy places. Today was a good day filled with great conversation at lunch and dinner, and Mount Saint Helens came in to view nicely today as well. The day ended with a crazy climb down the Eagle Creek trail, but totally worth the views that it provided. 

The next day was a gorgeous 10 mile walk to Cascade Locks! We were also lucky enough that our arrival to Cascade Locks timed out with essentially a massive PCT hiker party put on by the Pacific Crest Trail Association. So after walking past the incredibly beautiful Tunnel Falls, we eventually got to the road and hiked in to Cascade Locks! I was so excited to be in the gorge! Then the craziness of PCT Days ensued! It was essentially a big hiker reunion, filled with gear companies giving away stuff and food vendors trying to fill our hiker hunger. So we partook in the food and festivities and had a great day/night. They also let us all camp on Thunder Island, which was super cool! A good day indeed!

The next morning got going slowly, but eventually we found ourselves at Thunder Island Brewery for food and an attempt at playing cards. Then was a swim in the Columbia River to cool off, and lying in the grass to then dry off. BUT, the real highlight of this day was my amazing friends Mike and Doris coming out to visit me!!!!!! Mike and Doris drove out from Vancouver (WA) to see me and put me up in the absolutely amazing Bonneville Hot Springs for the night. We had such a great evening catching up and enjoying the garden and food at the resort before they eventually had to drive home. I had such a great night enjoying their company, the hot tub, sauna, and insanely comfortable bed!

The next morning was my massage that Mike and Doris had booked for me and I was in heavennnnn!!!!! I then got to go back to my room for breakfast on the balcony, and was so blissed out that I didn't want to leave! But alas, it was time to pull myself away and start Washington off with a rejuvenated spirit :-) With the resort technically being on the Washington side, Mike and Doris made sure I walked across the Bridge of the Gods the day before, and this was an absolutely amazing sensation to cross in to Washington! The final state, and the final 500 miles were ahead of me and I couldn't have been more excited to be in Washington! Thank you again to Mike and Doris for the immense generosity, I can't say enough how much I appreciated this incredibly kind gesture that truly did start the tone of the final leg of my hike in the best way possible. I was ready to hit the ground running in Washington, and that is surely what I did! The second half of Oregon taught me a lot, and I was so eager to see what the trail would provide to me in Washington, and needless to say it was amazing! I can't wait to share the final parts of my journey with you all soon. In the meantime, the lesson learned from this part of the trip was that solo backpacking isn't intimidating at all, but is rather quite lovely as you are so much more open to meeting other people, some of whom I know will be a part of my life forever. So thank you Oregon for continuing to impress me, and Washington, we'll get to you soon <3