Category: Long Distance Trails

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: 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: 569.8

Stop: 597.9

Today’s miles: 27.7

Total PCT miles: 785.4

I slept pretty dang good.. I mean, I still tossed and turned, but the in between sleep was solid. I didn’t want to get up, when I opened my eyes I peaked across at Margot, saw she was still sleeping, or at least pretending to sleep.. so I let myself fall back to sleep, too. We both didn’t get up and start packing until just after 7am.

We filtered some water and headed out, saying bye to Pamela and Henry, the only ones still in camp. We cruised along pretty quick, until I had to make a pit stop to dig a cat hole. By the time I saw Margot again, she was coming back from the little side trip to see “Little Crater Lake.” I still went down the side trail to see it for myself.

It was small and very very deep. Our app says it’s 45 feet deep and always 34 degrees cold.. I didn’t verify, but I can say that the water was extremely clear and you can see that it does go down for a LONG way.. whole fallen trees were in there.. I found it spooky, almost like waiting for a spirit to come floating up or something. Anywho, I said hi to Stache and his two friends that he was chatting with-his first time seeing them since they were all hiking in the desert.

I didn’t stay long, mainly because the “lake” freaked me out. I headed back to the main trail and coasted through the rest of the morning. It was mostly downhill or completely flat, all pine needles, soft dirt and duff. Everything felt good and easy and completely perfect. It wasn’t too hot or too cold.. there was a stunning huge lake that I walked around for several miles. It was simply a fantastic day.

Margot and I leap frogged again throughout the day.. and we ate both meals together. However, we never caught up to Marquis. That part is the only part keeping today from being perfect. We both missed him. I’m sure we’ll find him at Ollallie Lake Resort tomorrow. Or, we better! I think we’d both be pretty sad if we didn’t. Plus-I’m still wearing his shorts! Hahaha Andrea mailed me my other pair from her house and I’ll get them in Bend in a few more days. I hope they’re more comfortable than my other ones have been.. or I may have to pay Marquis off and keep his.

Anywho. We ate lunch sitting in the shade on my ground sheet. Afterwards, I hiked 7 miles with only a sip of water left-because I’m ridiculous and couldn’t stop myself from chugging it at last minute-when I knew there wouldn’t be any more for a while. After lunch, the only thing I thought about was getting to the river for more water. I moved pretty fast, passed 7 women on horses (several were trotting instead of walking, it was weird), and finally came to the river.

I tossed my bag down, got water to filter, and sat on a log next to two guys hiking NOBO, here doing the same thing. As we sat, filtering and then chugging, then filtering again, several more hikers appeared and then Margot did too. We were all chatting about nothing in particular, some people carried on.. then one of the original guys randomly asks me if I’m a nurse. I had said nothing about anything related to my career, so it was quite odd.. even Margot seemed shocked! He said he had been wanting to ask me since I showed up, because he had a feeling..

Once pressed, he said he knows a lot of nurses and my vibrant personality seemed to fit, but he also usually just has a knack for these things and with me he had a gut feeling. I almost asked him if he could see my aura and if so-what color it was.. lol.. seems strange, but the people that are intuitive like this always amaze me.. there’s really something “extra” they see or sense and honestly, I wish I had that ability, too. It was a pretty neat interaction. I might have a trail crush now-too bad he’s hiking the wrong way! Haha

From there, Margot and I climbed to the “top” of a mountain.. the only real ascent of the day and it was pretty easy going for the most part. At the top we ate dinner, then carried on downhill to the campsite we’re currently at. We passed through a big burn zone, then back into forest.. there were blueberries too. Yum.

We’re crammed into this site with 8 other tents besides our two. The two girls that are camped up front were super nice when I showed up, asking how big my tent was and saying if we needed to, I could set up closer to her to make room. We worked it out though and I actually do have some space. Stache is next to me, too.

The only thing I don’t like is that I can hear dead trees swaying a bit, and those two girls talking quite loud.. hopefully none of the trees fall tonight and the girls hush soon.. And with that, I think I’ll pop in my earplugs and get some sleep. Fingers crossed I don’t hear the sway once they’re in! Goodnight 🙂