Month: August 2023

Start: 597.7

Stop: 620.7

Today’s miles: 23

Total PCT miles: 808.4

Today was another great day, even if I didn’t sleep all that great. The two nice girls loudly talked until after 9:30pm.. annoying but it didn’t phase me-I was still awake, reading a little. I had a Colleen Hover book come in on my Libby app, that I had requested forever ago and decided to try to read it at night before bed so I wouldn’t have to lapse the hold again.

This morning, one of the two was at it again. Both Stache and a guy next to me packed and left without me hearing them-this girl literally dragged every item she owns out of her tent, laid out on her sleeping pad-including her food.. and then rummaged through each bag, item, thing out in the open.

Put it this way, she woke me up at 6:05.. I was supposed to be getting up already but I was irritated, so I rolled over. At 6:18 I admitted defeat hearing her and started packing myself. I was packed, tent included, spoke to Margot, filtered my water and was putting my pack on when she finally walked out of camp. Camping in crowds really isn’t fun.

Anyway, not long after brushing my teeth and crossing a dirt road, I ran into Marquis! He wasn’t far from us at all! I was so happy to see him, I hugged him! We walked and talked and ate blueberries and huckleberries for a couple hours on our walk into Ollallie Lake. He kept my pace and chatted and it was so nice to catch up with him.. like it had been so very long lol, still.

As we got closer to Ollallie, maybe the last 2.5 miles, he took off like a rocket and I slowed down for some reason. We were walking through a burn zone and this one was a little triggering for me. The wood was still charred black and the smell of it took me back to my worst childhood memories. Every time I blinked I saw my house engulfed in flames.. it was strange and frustrating to not be able to shake it and “cut it out” but the memories were swirling and I couldn’t make them go away.

Thankfully, once I got to Ollallie Lake Resort another thought took possession of my brain: food. I immediately got a Gatorade, a Mountain Dew, a beer, and 3 donuts. I sat outside and ate and drank with Marquis as we waiting for Margot. While sitting there a lady tells me I look familiar.. she was a hiker too, but had a sun hat on so I couldn’t quite place her.. IT WAS LILO!! I had hiked with Lilo and Sweeps on the AT! She had messed her back up pretty significantly and they had to end their hike in Sterling, Maine (we were at the Sterling Inn together the day they left!).

We caught up and hugged and Sweeps came over too! It was so good to see them! They were able to finish the AT last year, and have been hiking the PCT this year! Such a small world, and man do I love seeing old hiking buddies! Ah. I was elated the rest of the day over seeing those two!

After we said our goodbyes, because they were hiking out, I went back inside and resupplied for the next couple days and then got more food for now.. chips and salsa. Why? Who knows? But it hit the spot, that’s for sure. What I really wanted was a hotdog with mustard, but they don’t have a grill so tough. Haha. The three of us hung out and laid around staring at this gorgeous lake that we aren’t allowed to swim in..

And then we started hiking again. They took off and I chased them for what felt like hours, and then we met up at a creek to get water. Then we had a huge climb to manage. Marquis hiked behind me (going slow for him certainly) and played music out loud on his phone because naturally, like all things I have, my headphone connector broke so my headphones don’t work. He did this so I could hear music for the climb to keep me motivated. It totally worked!

We booked it up that mountain, going from burn zone to wooded, to rocky, to exposed summit. It was gorgeous up there, besides the heartbreak of the burn itself.. it was a massive fire, trees burnt to crisps for entire mountains. At the top, or close to it, there was two patches of snow, both we could walk around, although the first one we didn’t realize that until after we crossed it. At the top, Margot got to us after 20 minutes.

It was freezing and windy, so we put on jackets. We only rested a little while before we had to start moving again. We came down the other side of the climb and got perfect views of Mount Jefferson. Towards the bottom the trail was surrounded by wildflowers.. I think the neon pink and orange Indian paintbrushes are my favorite. You just cannot be in a bad mood when they’re around.

We made it to camp around 8:30 and someone else is already set up, inside, and quiet. We quickly put our tents up too and then ate inside them because the mosquitoes found me.. bastards. Besides the burn zone business, I really enjoyed today. I’m also very grateful that on a day when certain smells make me emotional, I’m surrounded by friends that distract me and make me laugh and help get myself out of my head. I truly am lucky to have these two.

That’s enough sap. I think I’ll run out to pee and then get some sleep. Goodnight y’all!

Start: 620.7

Stop: 645.1

Today’s miles: 24.4

Total PCT miles: 832.8

Hi. It’s me. The one that continues to “oversleep.” I didn’t hear my alarm. I also had a nightmare that jolted me awake at 2:30.. but the moon was so bright I could immediately see Marquis in his tent and it made me realize where I was. I fell back to sleep, after realizing my quilt and tent were damp from the condensation. I really don’t like camping by water anymore, pretty as it is.

When I did finally wake up, Marquis was packed already and walking out of camp, Margot wasn’t far behind. I did leave by 7:15.. but it felt way later. I caught up with Margot when she waited at a river crossing for me. Wet feet first thing in the morning, how exciting. We carried on from there, through a burn zone and then through another water crossing.

At some point we had a 5 mile climb that sounds way more difficult than it felt. It was smooth going, hikers coming our direction yielded to us appropriately.. it was honestly great. We ate lunch at a small pond at the top of the climb and there were no bugs! Phenomenal! A guy we’ve been leapfrogging, Keith, ate lunch with us and it was so relaxing to sit there chatting, toes drying in the sun.

The rest of the day was up and down and over mountains, no real gain or loss elevation wise, but the views were amazing. Even through the burn zones I was stunned with the vastness of it all. The wildflowers were everywhere, the breeze was blowing. It would be hot in the sun and then each time I’d walk into a stretch of tree cover it felt like walking into a hotel room with the AC on after being at the beach all day. It was glorious.

In the afternoon we hit the dreaded “miles of blowdowns” everyone had been warning us of and complaining about. The first chunk of them were all dead, smooth trees in a burn zone-the ground was soft on either side, the terrain was easy, no steep switchbacks or anything.. it was honestly a piece of cake. Somewhere in the middle, the trail was cleared for a mile or so-obviously a trail maintenance crew very recently came though.. thank the good lord for that and them!

There were no more blowdowns all the way to where we wanted to eat dinner, at a little pond. Well, we realized after we ate that this wasn’t actually the correct pond-but that didn’t matter. I got water from there, then dumped it because it was a weird yellow color. The blowdowns started back up just before the real pond, where we got good water, and carried on.

As the sun was setting and turning the sky spectacular shades of purples and pinks, we walked our last 2 miles to camp. There were several more blowdowns-annoying but seriously no where near as bad as these people have been making it out to be. I can’t wait to see what they say about that 13 mile stretch of straight up and down hell we hiked through.. blowdowns that if you slip you’re falling a reallllllly long way down..

When we got to camp, Keith was there, Marquis had pushed father, and three other people were setting up their tents. Margot and I walked around to find places, attempting to stay off the vegetation, but everything left is super sloped. So, I’m so sorry Mother Nature.. I’m sleeping on top of your tiny bits of grass trying to pop up. Please forgive me. I can’t do a night sliding on my pad tonight, especially with it being so chilly.

Our sites are beautiful though, besides the burned trees from a previous fire. There’s a gorgeous view of Mount Jefferson and we watched the sun set all the way down. I’m a bit cold and know it’ll be hard to wake up tomorrow because of that.. but! We get into Bend tomorrow morning and plan to have some fun there.. so, maybe that’ll motivate me to get a move on! Haha. Time to bury myself in my quilt. Sweet dreams, y’all.

Start: 645.1

Stop: 653.3

Today’s miles: 8.2

Total PCT miles: 841

It was a cold night, but I was bundled up nice and warm in my quilt. I love that thing. I did however have a couple nightmares that kept waking me suddenly throughout the night-causing me to kick everything off, wake up, realize I was fine-and cold-and then cover back up. Repeat x2. These charred burn zones mess with my head a little bit. I also realized during one of those startling wake ups that my quilt had condensation on it, and so did my tent. That’s what I get for setting up on the grass, sorry again Mother Nature.

When I got up around 6:30 ish, Margot was packing and so was everyone else. I like when I don’t have to try to be quiet, because I feel like there’s no real quiet way to shove a quilt into a plastic bag without it making racket. Margot left about 5 minutes before me, and we were both on a mission to get to Santiam Pass so we could hitch hike into Bend, Oregon. Her parents paid for us a hotel for the night and it’s MY TURN for a bed to myself! I’m elated!

Anywho-the morning started with a few blowdowns to conquer, then as I climbed the only ascent of the day, which was quite short, a gorgeous view of Three Fingered Jack Mountain appeared, glowing in the morning sunlight. I was awestruck by it.. and definitely wasn’t expecting it. I caught up to Margot on the switchbacks here, only because she stopped and stared awhile, too. It was something special after miles of burn zones and blowdowns and deep forests.

From there, we stuck together, hightailing it to the pass. Before we even realized it, we had hiked the rest of the 8 miles to the pass. I had service on the way, so I called Marquis to see where he was.. he had camped 4 miles closer, got to the pass, and had gotten a hitch halfway to Bend. He was sitting in a cafe in Sisters, Oregon having a coffee. We told him we’d let him know when we got our hitch so we could try to get to Bend around the same time.

We got our hitch in probably 2 minutes or less.. our pink shirts and Margot’s sign saying “PCT Hikers to Town” really work the magic for us. A sweet man named Bob in a nice pick up truck got us and drove us to Sisters, because he lives there and wasn’t going into Bend. I asked him if he’d drop us off at the McDonald’s, which he kindly obliged.

It was only 10:30, but Margot and I got lunch there.. I ordered and then went to the bathroom to wash my hands. Yall. I was a MESS. I had dirt and dust all over me, head to toe, face included. Someone actually backed away from me when they saw me in the bathroom.. haha. It was kind of nice, being given some space, lol-I know I had to smell as rough as I looked! When I came out, Margot had already gotten our food and we sat a table and ate. I actually ate two Big Macs.. TWO. Plus a large fries and drink.. and I was amazingly still somewhat hungry. Like, I wasn’t starving anymore, but if someone offered me anything else, I would have eaten it. Crazy, huh? The hunger is insane.

We finished up and headed outside to the road to start hitching again to get to Bend. We let Marquis know and he was doing the same. It took a bit longer, but it wasn’t bad. A woman actually stopped and we didn’t even realize she was stopped for us for an embarrassingly long time. Her name was Sara and she used to live in Reno! She said I seemed familiar to her and she wondered if I was the travel nurse she stopped and talked to for a long time while on a hike.. maybe it was me? I do tend to do that!

She took us into Bend and got us as close as she could to our hotel, but she was on her way to a doctors appointment and was probably going to be late, thanks to picking us up (she didn’t complain at all, I was the one that pointed the time out to her). She dropped us at an intersection and then turned away from where we were, so I knew she had been going out of her way already. She was so very sweet to us!

We walked to the motel and met Marquis there. From there, we got our dirty laundry out, left our packs with the lobby lady, and got an Uber to the post office. Andrea and Andres (I think that was his handwriting 😉 ) mailed me my shorts that I was praying would fit right and I could give Marquis back his shorts (which I’m now quite fond of). We walked to the laundromat from the post office, attempting to hitch there.. without the packs and the sign it’s not nearly as easy.

Marquis was able to snag us a ride with less than a half mile to go.. but a half mile is a half mile! We were happy! We did our laundry and sat around playing on phones and catching up with the world while our clothes washed. We got an Uber to REI.. where I lost my mind because they didn’t have a new watch for me. They had only WHITE bands in stock of the watch I wanted.. I did not want to pay HUNDREDS of dollars for a white watch. It send me so far over the edge I literally wanted to cry. What a psycho I am.

We got what we needed and Margot and I ate at a sushi restaurant across the street. It improved my mood for the time being, but I was still feeling crushed, which is completely ridiculous. Even still, I was feeling my feelings or whatever. The sushi was good and the wine was, too. Marquis didn’t want to eat because he was full from eating 12 pastries that morning waiting on us, haha. He did his own thing while we ate, then we ubered back to the motel.

We put our stuff up then walked down the street to the Safeway to resupply. I bought way too much food. Like how do I always do this? I wanted to get some travel sized shampoo and conditioner for our motel showers, but they only had big bottles. I wanted to get a new adapter for my headphones.. but they didn’t have that either. Jesus, does Bend have anything I need?!

I walked across the street to Walgreens while they finished shopping. ALSO didn’t have travel toiletries or a headphone adapter. You’re kidding me?! I was on the verge of a meltdown. I paid a stupid amount of money for new headphones with the cord that will work on my dumb iPhone, and a full sized bottle of conditioner. The motel has its cheap shampoo, so that would have to do.

We got back to the room and started our showers and organizing our stuff. I showered last and I scrubbed so long I thought my skin would come off. It didn’t. And neither did all the dirt. It’s kind of crazy actually, because I even used an exfoliating mitt and still couldn’t get all of the dirt off of my legs. I didn’t get most of it though, and then afterwards I was able to get even more with the roughness of the towel. Nasty, huh?

We hung out and watched Modern Family on TV for several hours before bed, munching on snacks and I shared a bottle of wine with Marquis. It was delightful and it completely fixed my rotten mood. Clean and in a bed to myself. Oh, sweet bliss. Marquis and I are also freezing Margot out. She’s cold natured and we have the air on.. she’s bundled up in her fleece and leggings and we have our legs kicked out of the covers. Hahaha, I’m about to sleep so good! Goodnight, y’all!