Category: Long Distance Trails

Start: 854.6

Stop: 880.7

Today’s miles: 26.1

Total PCT miles: 1068.4

Croc Miles: 179

Today is Margot and my last day together.. cue the tears. I finally fell asleep last night after the two guys that showed up around 9 turned out their headlamps. They had their bright lights on until after 10.. I almost yelled down to them to ask them to turn it off or switch it to the red light, but when I was finally fed up enough to do so, they turned them out on their own, thank goodness.

I slept pretty good, I think. Right now I can’t really remember, all I can think about is my feet hurting.. sooooo close to getting my new shoes! Anyway, I was on trail by 6:40, which isn’t bad considering I didn’t get up until 6:15. If anything, I’m consistent. Margot was mostly packed behind me. When we were out of our tents, we realized those two guys that showed up last night have the exact same make and colored tents as we do! How funny!

I was pretty slow moving the first half of the day. My feet were aching from the start, and the day started with a mild climb, but still a climb either way. The terrain of the trail changed from the kind dirt path we’ve had for days to loose rocky exposed mountainside. The views were stunning, coming up out of the tree cover and back into open cliff slides and peaks upon peaks to see in every direction. It had to be stunning, because I would have lost my mind if it was anything but-since it was damn sure hurting my feet!

One of the mountains in the close distance is named Mount McLoughlin, and seeing its name from the Peak Finder app made me think of a friend, Josie. I really need to send her a text and check in, I miss her. She’s got a toddler now and one on the way. So much big life changing things happening to everyone while I’m out here walking in the woods in crocs. Crazy.

The trail went through some burn zones. We also had to carry water for 14 miles and then again the other 11 to camp. That was frustrating, but it didn’t matter, both times on arrival to fresh water, I still had plenty in my bottles. The idea of toting it is irritating, it’s heavy!

The morning felt very up and down, trail wise, with lots of rocks. It took me forever. My feet never stopped hurting. The holes in the socks grew, and I could feel every little pebble or twig or thing.. I was close to just sitting down and refusing to continue hiking. But what good would that have done? I pushed on, going less than 2 miles an hour at times. When I finally sat down for lunch, my feet were praising my decision.

A couple passed me while I was eating and told me Margot was behind a little bit, since she got service she was knocking out a few things she needed to. I decided not to wait for her there, since the bugs were starting to attack me. I kept moving forward, the terrain easing up a bit. She caught up to me maybe 15 minutes after I left, we walked together some, but then she stopped to eat her lunch and I kept going. I knew I was real close to quitting the day.. stopping again so soon wouldn’t have been good for my morale.

I was also messaging people on my Garmin today.. to attempt to figure out a ride to Seiad Valley tomorrow. BigMama thought she’d be back from her trip before tomorrow, but she’s still too far away to make it to get me. So. I’m sort of stuck. She sent me numbers for people, one didn’t respond, one said he doesn’t do rides, and the last, Mark, the one who helped me out of the snow, was willing to put my request on Facebook for me, since I don’t have service to do it myself.

Now, my plan is to get to Fish Lake Resort early in the morning, eat breakfast there and check the post.. see if any offers have been made. If so, done deal. If not, I’ll ask the ladies working if they or anyone they know are going to Medford, get a ride that way, or hitchhike to Medford.. and then figure it out from there. I wish I had realized how difficult it would be to get back to Seiad Valley before deciding to jump there back in June. But, what can I do?

Back to the day-I spent a good bit of time navigating those messages, praying for service-and not having that prayer answered, and walking on tender feet. I stopped for water at that 14 mile spot.. Christi Spring, and the couple was there, HipBone and MountainGoat. We chatted and talked to the fat chipmunk that apparently aggressively tries to steal food. We’ve decided the chipmunk is definitely Christi and this is her spring and campsite. Margot appeared and we all stayed and rested for a good 45 minutes, laughing and scaring off Christi as best we could.

At 3pm, we carried on again. Margot passed me, then sometime around 5ish, I passed her. I started cruising pretty fast because the trail was downhill and mostly cushioned pine flooring. Occasional rocks would throw a wrench in my speed, but I’d get back at it once they were crossed. At 6:49 I was in deep woods, it almost felt like dusk because of the shadows of the trees. I walked up on a black bear. I did the “Whoa bear!” And the “hey bear!” Yells.

He. Did. Not. Care. He moseyed on, continuing to scratch at fallen tree bark, looking for insects maybe? He’d eye me, then continue on.. I was scared because he was close to the trail. I recorded him some, tried to slowly pass.. he seemed like he was going to come to me-so I yelled again, clanking my poles together. He ran off like 5 feet! That’s IT! I yelled Margot’s name as loud as I could. He startled a little then, and moved away from me. Back up trail towards where she’ll be coming from. Crap.

I considered just going, because I was in the clear now.. but the fact that this bear didn’t seem scared of me at all, had me real worried about Margot. I didn’t want her to come around the corner and be face to face with it, what if that’s what set it off to attack? I slowly and cautiously walked back north on trail, staying behind the bear and keeping my distance. It carried on, crossed the trail a few times, literally caring none that I was there.

He was up to my left in the brush and fallen trees when I spotted the swing of Margot’s trekking poles coming down trail. Then I saw her come to a fast halt. She saw him. I yelled to her, so she’d know I was close. I was also worried the bear would get startled by her and run back towards me. Yikes. He seemed farther from her than he was from me originally, so I talked to her while she slowly edged her way towards me down trail, never taking her eyes off of the bear. She did the “hey bear” business too, but he never ran off.

She made it to me and full of adrenaline, we both started hiking pretty fast, frequently checking behind us that the bear didn’t decide to follow. We were all excited nerves the whole mile and a half to camp. How could you not be? He wasn’t a huge bear, but he was definitely way bigger than me! We told a few northbound hikers about him, so they wouldn’t be as surprised as we were.

At the river crossing, I washed my legs off and Margot got water. Then we found our campsite, set up, and ate dinner. I can hear the water rushing nearby. I’m praying we don’t have any other noises during the night. It’s slipped away from me fast. Already pitch black at 9:30. Sheesh. Ok, time to try to sleep some. Tomorrow will be a chaotic day for me. I hate not having logistics already worked out. I know it’ll be fine, but it’s still frustrating.
Goodnight y’all.

Start: 833.3

Stop: 854.6

Today’s miles: 21.3

Total PCT miles: 1042.3

Croc Miles: 152.9

We got up early today, knowing it would be a hot and long walk without much water out of Mazama Village. The fact that I drank some wine last night with dinner and stayed up chatting and then writing until after 10pm-I’m shocked I didn’t feel bad this morning!

I hugged Marquis and Keith bye, but then Marquis came with Margot and I. We went by the village store and got some breakfast and drinks, hung out a minute to eat, before starting down the road. Marquis took my sucky shoes from me to mail back to Mom, so she can take them into REI to get me my $180 back. Normally I don’t return stuff to them, if I can help it-but that’s a lot of money for shoes that hardly helped me get only 35 miles of usage. He’s also going to mail in my Darn Tough socks to exchange. Sweet man.

We all three hugged again and said our byes at the road, Margot and I hiked up the road to the trail and Marquis stayed to hitch to the Rim lodge to get better WiFi so he can have a remote appointment with a physical therapist. We were so sad to go on without him, but hopefully they’ll be able to help him get that leg back in good shape! I hate the idea of hiking on without him.

The trail wasn’t much different than before getting to Crater Lake. Blow downs to step over and lose a croc on here and there, burn zones, and long water carries. We had to go 20 miles without a water source, so, that really sucked. I realized my newest pair of socks, the ones I just put on at Shelter Cove a few days ago already have MASSIVE holes where the pads of my feet are. Which is so awesome, because, not only do tiny rocks, pine needles, sticks get wedged in my shoes, now those lovely things also get stuck between my socks and my actual skin. Cool.

We ate lunch early, in a burn zone, but in the only shade we could find. We also had to lay out our tents to let them dry out from all the condensation at the campground. Once we started hiking again, I started an audiobook, “The House Across The Lake,” (excellent) and it helped distract me from the heat and my feet hurting in my crocs. We leapfrogged with a couple section hiking, MountainGoat and HipBone, and then CEO and Bluebs passed us. We never saw Keith though.

Several hikers that passed me going NOBO would ask about campsites and water coming up for them, close to 6pm I started doing the same to them. Apparently the water we were planning to camp at already had several tents set up. I got to the spring before that one, and then found us a place to camp that seemed much better than our original plan.. flatter and no people! Win-win!

The sun is setting through the trees giving off this perfect orange glow. It is gorgeous. We already ate dinner and are all tucked in ready for some shut eye. I can see two guys that just came through and are camping down the hill near us. They’re quiet but their headlamps are blinding. Hopefully they cut them off here soon. Either way, my earplugs are going in and I’m going to sleep! Sweet dreams!

Start: 815

Stop: 833.3

Today’s miles: 18.3

Total PCT miles: 1021

Croc Miles: 131.6

I woke up at 9:30pm last night and had to pee. It was so dark out but I could see a few more tents than there were before falling asleep at 6:30. I tried to sneak out quietly, but I doubt I actually was. I fell back to sleep pretty fast, and didn’t wake again until I had to get up for our sunrise hike.

The three of us packed quietly and were walking out of camp by 3:40am. Margot was in front, followed by me and then Marquis. Once we passed the camping junction, Margot and I put on our bright light and got to it. I turned once, saw the glow of Marquis’ red light and kept moving. The next time I turned around to look for him, I was deciding maybe he should go in front of me.. since he was hurting pretty bad, limping even. This way, if anything happened, he wouldn’t be behind us.

The problem? I didn’t see his light. I stopped and waited.. as I was waiting for him to catch up to me, I could see the glow of Margot’s headlamp disappearing ahead of me into the dark. Crap. I waited some, then kept going, trying to get her attention. When she turned to make sure I was there, realized I was back a good ways, I stopped. She stopped. Marquis didn’t appear, so I got to her and told her as much.

We waited a bit, and then she went back to look for him while I waited where we were-my feet weren’t feeling all that hot in my crocs this morning. I stood in the dark, after she went back and it dawned on me just how dark it actually is out there with no light pollution. I didn’t let my light wander too far, for fear of noticing eyes or something. No thank you. The less I know about what’s out there to potentially kill me, the better.

Then, I got nervous, standing there alone in the dark. I started walking back, too. We met, Margot and I, and 2 other guys, both not Marquis. She said she went all the way back to camp and didn’t see him anywhere. We both agreed that he probably went to the water cache to wait for sunrise to hitch to town. Undoubtedly, that foot is really hurting this morning.

We decided to keep moving, knowing he is smart and capable, and not in any danger since we would have crossed paths or heard him if that were the case. I was certain he just didn’t want us to miss the sunrise. As we hiked through the dark, cold morning, pretty quickly, I turned on my garmin thinking maybe he’d message me there.
As I did, I got a message from him. Margot also just got service and had a message, too. We were right. He was hurting too bad and only realized how bad after we started hiking. We got too far ahead of him for him to tell us he needed to turn back, so he sent the messages and did what he had to do. He would rest until sunrise and then meet us in Mazama Village.

This was heartbreaking, simply because the beauty of this morning was unbelievable, and my kind and thoughtful friend was hurting and missing it. I was hoping he wasn’t too stressed. There’s something about any injury or illness or any little thing really while hiking that immediately makes your brain go, “welp, this is it. You’ve ruined it. Your hike is over now. You failed.” And I did not want those thoughts to reach him, though I was sure they already were.

Margot and I got to the Crater at 5am and sat in a wind protected bush for awhile, to warm up. It was COLD. Yesterday we were swimming and this morning it was in the 40s. Sheesh, we’re definitely not in Georgia. Once we decided we were warm enough, we kept hiking to a better vantage point. The sun came up just after 6am. I FaceTimed Meredith and my mom, so they could see this beauty, too.

It was magical. Epic. Extraordinary. Spectacular.Unbelievable. You pick the adjective.. I’m sure if it’s a positive one, it would fit perfectly. It was EVERYTHING. I didn’t even think of doing this, so I am eternally grateful that this specific thing was on Margot’s bucketlist and I got to go along for the ride.

After the sun was up, we continued hiking. We went up the side trail to watchman’s tower for some more gorgeous views. Then back along the rim until we hit the Rim Village. I ate two awful sausage, egg, and cheese biscuits (the cheese wasn’t even melted. It wasn’t even hot at all actually), and had a soda-all for the low low price of $23. Since this wasn’t the breakfast we thought it would be, we kept pushing down trail to get to Mazama Village-where Marquis texted and said he successfully hitched to, although it took awhile that early in the morning.

I got there around 11am. We did some chores, charged things, did laundry and showered. We had lunch at an actual restaurant connected to a gift shop. It wasn’t fantastic, but it was a hell of a lot better than the place that served me my “breakfast” earlier this morning. Marquis and I ate the pulled pork sandwich and Margot got soup (she’s a self proclaimed ‘soup slut’ hahaha).

More and more hikers appeared throughout the day. Keith was there, CEO and Bluebs, and out of no where, someone goes, “is that PBS?!” I turn: ITS CRUISER!! From my first day on trail without Andrea, day 5, right before I hit that crazy snow! How awesome is this?! We caught up and laughed about the way this trail can be so unpredictable. She came in NOBO and will get to the rim trail tomorrow!

Everyone was in different states of chores, we all headed to the free PCT hiker camp and claimed our spots for the night. CEO and Bluebs talked us three and Keith into all going back to the restaurant for dinner. We did, and the 6 of us split pizzas and had a fantastic time sharing stories and cracking up with each other.

Afterwards, they all got ice cream and then we sat up at picnic tables by camp talking until after the sun had set. It has been a seriously perfect day. I’m pooped. I can’t believe I was awake at 3am and it’s already after 10pm and I’m still up-but not for long. My eyes are trying to shut on me while typing mid thought.. haha

Goodnight, y’all. Pray for marquis’ leg for me (and him, obviously). We need our guy back to feeling his best. Sweet dreams!