PCT Trail Journal: Oregon
These journals were originally posted on my Instagram between July 24th and August 4th, 2019.
Day 76 | 14 miles | 1694 to 1718
On day 76 of the PCT, I hustled, and I mean fast, into Callahan’s Lodge near the town of Ashland. I did 24 miles before 2pm, which is way faster than I usually go. And I was heading into the lodge with the intention of buying new shoes, doing a quick resupply, and getting back on trail for the evening. But that plan got turned on its head after my old friends Grizzly, Coach, and Stretch caught up to me. They were amazingly at the end of a 62-mile day and got a room at the lodge, and when I found out that it had the comfiest beds of any hotel on trail on trail, recliner chairs, private balconies, and a jacuzzi tub, I couldn’t resist cutting my day short and staying the night.
I was pretty stoked about my new shoes. I did over 1300 miles on a single pair of Altra Lone Peaks, which I think might be some kind of world record. They still had no holes in the upper and I was tempted to keep going on them until they burst into flames, but the soles were dead and I could feel every pointy rock I stepped on.
I also bumped into a trail runner in the afternoon that told me he had run every single day, even if only for one mile, for the last 31 years. Pretty amazing.
Day 77 | 38 miles | 1718 to 1756
On day 77 of the PCT, I woke up early in my room at Callahan’s lodge and hit the trail. It was both a bit funny and sad to realize that, at this point, I sleep better in my tent on my little foam pad than I do on a hotel bed with clean sheets. I guess the inside of my tent is a familiar space.
When I got into the lodge yesterday, my original plan was to just resupply with a day and a half of food to get me to Fish Lake Resort. But I was hanging out with my friends Coach, Grizzly, and Hawkeye who had all shipped boxes to Callahan’s with way more food than they needed, and they were trying to give a bunch away. As much as I hate a heavy pack, I have trouble walking away from free food, especially when it’s good stuff like Clif bars. So I felt pretty overburdened today, and I’m not even really sure how far I can get on this resupply of donated stuff.
I walked past this neat rock feature called Pilot Rock in the morning, and then the rest of the day was a meander through private property, wildlife sanctuaries, and all sorts of places. It was a lot of dense forests and crossing dirt roads and it was kind of hard to orient myself.
As my daily mileage gets relatively high, I’m finding myself getting to camp at the end of the day not too tired physically or psychologically, but just out of daylight. I don’t really feel like hiking by headlamp in the dark, because it’s spooky and disorienting, but I’m getting to the point where I might have to if I want to do bigger days, especially as the daylight hours get shorter and shorter.
Day 78 | 40 miles | 1756 to 1796
Today, the Oregonian Mosquito Armageddon began. Things started peacefully and as usual in the morning, but as I made my way into denser forest in the afternoon, it got real bad. That’s why I was able to do 40 miles today, even though I snoozed my alarm for the better part of an hour. It’s because I was running from mosquitos for half the day.
Anyway, although it’s not fun and the mosquitos stress me out a bit, I expected them to be this bad and I know they won’t last forever. Even this evening, I got up onto an open ridge where there was enough wind to keep the bugs down, and I got to see a beautiful deep red sunset as I did my last mile into camp.
Day 79 | 40 miles | 1796 to 1839*
The day started off with some more walking through serious mosquito territory. But as I got into some recently burned areas with no water and a bit of wind, they went away. I know it’s a lot of death and destruction, but burn areas have an eerie beauty to them.
Well, the main event of the day was walking through Crater Lake National Park. I did a quick resupply at the Manama Village store, and then hiked up to the rim of the crater. I walked along the Rim Trail through the park instead of the PCT, which is why the PCT mile markers don’t correspond to my total mileage today. Crater Lake is a really impressive sight. It’s just…huge, and very blue.
Less epic but just as beautiful was the golden hour and sunset over the meadows west of the lake. A couple of backpackers coming off the trail gave me all the extra food they hadn’t eaten, which I was happy to accept even though I just resupplied.
Day 80 | 41 miles | 1839 to 1880
Another day of cruising nonstop on easy trails through the Oregon forests being chased by mosquitos; the days are starting to blur together a little. I certainly wouldn’t mind to lose the mosquitos, but it’s a good life otherwise.
I bumped into @bigfootlittlefoothike , a couple of hikers from Vancouver that I had been following on Instagram since the beginning of our hikes, bonding online based on our shared city, but not actually meeting until today.
These days, I’m meeting more section hikers than thruhikers on the trail. All wonderful people, but I kind of miss the thruhiking culture I was immersed in in the past. Maybe I’ll walk into another bubble.
In the evening, I walked by an older hiker that kind of looked and talked like Sam Elliot that said to me “You come through the Sierras? You just have that look about you.” It made me feel pretty cool.
Day 81 | 38+2 miles | 1880 to 1918
This morning I finally got to experience some alpine landscapes for the first time since being in Oregon instead of just forests. It was in the Diamond Peak wilderness, which was beautiful. I didn’t see too many other hikers, because many chose to take a route that shortcut the PCT through that section.
I went into Shelter Cove Resort on the shore of Odell Lake to resupply, and I was stoked to be able to do it completely from the hiker box and from (once again) just being around while people were opening the excessive resupply boxes they received in the mail. It was funny to realize afterwards that my hikertrash style has some serious inconsistencies. While I’m one of the only hikers I know that will pay for a hotel room to myself, I’m also the one that sits beside the hiker box collecting all the half-eaten peanut butter jars and spooning them into one container for myself.
I got lunch at the restaurant at the resort, a big greasy meal that is usually the type of thing hikers dream of for days on trail. But even while I was eating it, I unexpectedly felt like I would rather just be on trail, unwrapping a Clif Bar while on the move, taking in a couple hundred calories at a time and never feeling too full. I’m not sure if it was a compulsion towards doing mileage, the fact that I had been really good with my nutrition lately so I’m not starving on my way into town, or what.
Even though I’ve been doing this for three months, I still haven’t gotten used to the soul-crushing feeling of putting my pack on for the first few miles after a resupply. I plodded along past the beautiful Rosary Lakes in the evening, and even night hiked a bit to make up for lost time at the resort. It was creepy and I don’t really want to do much more of that.
Day 82 | 41 miles | 1918 to 1959
Today was pretty much the perfectly-executed high mileage day of hiking I’ve been trying for lately. I did snooze my alarm a of couple times, then I took a picture of the sun coming up over my campsite. But after that, I didn’t stop walking all day except for bathroom breaks and to fill my water bottle. It was fun, and I’m pleased with how my body and mind are handling these long days.
In the evening, I met a hiker named Shellack, whom I knew I had been following because his name was always just a few above mine in the trail registers. He was the first northbound no-flip thruhiker I had seen in a few days, and it was nice to connect. The last thing I want to do is sound like an elitist about thruhiking and not flip-flopping, but I find that I’m more excited to meet other hikers that have come all the way here from Campo, I guess because of our shared experience.
I also came across a bear hang with “PCT Angel” written on it. I lowered the bag and was surprised and stoked to find it filled with snacks and bug spray.
Day 83 | 40 miles | 1959 to 1999
The mornings the last few days have been pretty darn cold, the coldest since the high Sierra. But you know who doesn’t like cold weather? Mosquitos. So I was pretty stoked on the cold weather.
Things did warm up eventually, and I climbed out of the forest into the alpine meadows of the Three Sisters Wilderness, which were beautiful. Paintbrush and Lupine were in full bloom, and so colourful. I remember walking through Southern California in May wondering if and hoping that I could chase the wildflower bloom all the way to British Columbia, and I’m on pace with it so far, which makes me feel so lucky. In what other scenario do you get to just stay in alpine wildflower season for over three months?
The trail took me through the Obsidian Limited Entry Area, where there were shards of shiny black obsidian all over, which was neat. And in the afternoon, I walked on the infamous lava rocks in the Mount Washington Wilderness. Other than the snow, it was some of the toughest hiking of the PCT so far, and made my feet sore. But the desolate volcanic landscape was beautiful.
Also, a groundbreaking thing happened today. For the first time, I met someone that started the PCT later than me. I hiked a few miles with Views, a hiker from Seattle that started in Campo an entire 11 days after me. Honestly, I was relieved to finally be humbled.
Day 84 | 36 miles | 1999 to 2035
Walking through the alpine areas of Mount Jefferson wilderness with views of the mountain was an epic experience. Jefferson itself was beautiful, and the wildflowers in the meadows that surround it were some of the most colourful I’ve ever seen. I spent the morning walking and chatting with a hiker named Baloo, another northbound hiker that went through the Sierra.
I had a great afternoon swim in Rockpile Lake. One of the best things about hiking in Oregon has been the consistent awesome swimming opportunities along the trail.
The landscape in the area is dominated by a few really prominent peaks, like the Sisters, Washington, and Jefferson, all of which I’ve been able to see from miles away. It’s been neat to be able to really get a sense of my progress as I get closer to or further from those peaks.
My mileage for the day was relatively low because when I was walking through the Jefferson Park area in the late evening, I just couldn’t pass up what seemed like some of the most beautiful campsites I’ve seen in ages. I set up next to Russel Lake, thinking that there might be some great stargazing from there later that night.
Day 85 | 52 miles | 2035 to 2087
The day didn’t start with any plans for big mileage. I woke up in the middle of the night to shoot the Milky Way over Russell Lake, went back to sleep, and woke up around sunrise as usual. I said so in yesterday’s journal, but it’s worth repeating that the Jefferson Park area is breathtakingly beautiful. I knew that this was the area that some hikers try for their 24-hour mileage challenge, but I was surprised to find that the trail was pretty tough, with lots of rocks and boulders.
I went into the quaint little Olallie Lake Resort to resupply, once again substantially from the hiker box. I don’t know what kind of person puts Snickers bars in the hiker box, but I guess I’m happy they’re out there.
It wasn’t until after Olallie that I realized why hikers go for big mileage on this section. The trail softened and flattened out, and I really started to cruise. And when it started to get dark out, my usual time to find a place to camp, I just kept walking instead. I didn’t actually commit in my head to a mileage or time goal, but I was having fun with it, and ended up pushing well into the night. I would have liked to see what I could do in 24 hours, but ended up stopping because of fading headlamp battery. I was eventually going so slow because I couldn’t see the trail very well, and decided it was a poor use of my time and energy to keep stumbling along. So I cowboyed next to Highway 26, falling asleep to the sound of cars driving by.
I’ve mentioned before that night hiking in the forest scares me, so doing it for a few hours by myself was kind of a big deal for me. I wanted to face my fears and just immerse myself in those feelings until I felt comfortable. I think my dying headlamp ironically helped, because I had no choice but to focus only on the few feet of trail in front of me and forget about the rest. I felt pretty good by the end of it.
Day 86 | 36 miles | 2087 to 2123
I woke up early to make my way to Timberline Lodge for the breakfast buffet that’s famous among thruhikers. It was a beautiful old ski lodge where the tables are set with white linens and multiple forks and my server called me “sir”. Part of me enjoyed that stuff, missing the rituals from my off-trail life. But part of me felt uncomfortable getting that kind of treatment while pretty visibly not having done laundry in a couple weeks.
It turns out that eating a breakfast buffet, especially on a thruhiker’s appetite, and then trying to hike out on a hot summer afternoon was a bad idea. The food was so yummy and satisfying that I kept eating until I felt pretty terrible. After relaxing in the ambiance of the Lodge’s lobby for a bit, I hit the trail and spent the next couple of hours alternating between shuffling along and just standing around feeling the Belgian waffles move through me. But I eventually digested and actually felt better than ever in the late afternoon. The views of Mount Hood were incredible all day. It’s a gorgeous mountain.
In the evening, I unexpectedly came across some trail magic at Lolo Pass from 2018 thruhikers Gusty and Twerk. They had cold beer, sandwiches, spaghetti, and all kinds of snacks. I got to eat good food, chill out with other hikers, but best of all, see Twerk take photos and even model for him. I’ve been a big fan of his Hiker Trash Vogue project since last year, and I loved seeing it all in person.
I knew I wanted to hike more miles for the day, but the more I ate and drank and the darker it got, the harder it got to leave the trail magic. Thankfully, my old buddy Views showed up, and we agreed to hike out together. So we drank a couple more Raniers and then charged off into the night, half drunk, to bang out eight more miles for the day.
Day 87 | 25 miles | 2123 to 2148
Today I took my first steps into Washington state, the home stretch of my PCT adventure. It was a special occasion not only because I was crossing a state line, but because I was meeting my mom and stepdad, who had driven down from Canada, in Stevenson, WA.
I woke up around dawn to get a head start on the day and race into town. The trail started high up, with my first views of the prominent volcanoes of the North Cascades. But it quickly started descending down into the Columbia River Gorge on some very steep and rocky terrain. My feet hurt and it was really hot and not so much fun, but I’d seen worse and I was excited for town and to see my family.
I eventually made it down, and crossed the Bridge of the Gods out of Oregon and into Washington. It was a big moment for me, but also tense because there was no shoulder and I just had to walk among traffic. I made it safe and sound and was reunited with my mom and stepdad on the other side, looking forward to some much needed rest and relaxation after a tough couple of days, and before my final push to Canada.
Also, I smashed the “Oregon two-week challenge” by walking through the state in 11 days and 19 hours. On my way, I established and completed the “Oregon no-laundry, no-shower challenge”, and just barely failed the “Oregon sober challenge” because of the beer at trail magic the night before. Close enough.