Lost and Found

My Review of Osprey Ariel 75 Pack - Women's

2009-02-21T21:41:00.001-08:00

Osprey Ariel 75 is a superb, lightweight pack for backcountry trips, featuring a custom-moldable hipbelt and a women-specfific, shorter torso length.

Fantastic Pack

Travel is my middle name Athena, OR 2/21/2009

Gift: No

Pros: Lightweight, Large Capacity, Good Padding, Easy To Load, Highly Adjustable, Comfortable

Best Uses: Travel, Extended Hikes, Heavy Loads

Describe Yourself: Avid Adventurer

What Is Your Gear Style: Comfort Driven

I bought this pack just after starting the Colorado Trail in 2006, because the pack I started with wasn't working. From the get go, this pack made a significant difference.

I'm short-waisted, with narrow shoulders. The shoulder straps are angled inwards so that they did not fall off my shoulders (like other packs). I especially like how the back of the pack sits away from my back so that I don't feel as warm as I would with other packs.

Hiking has had a positive effect on my waistline. I had to switch out the waistbelt this summer on the PCT to a smaller size. Darn!

Everything can fit in this pack with the exception of some bulky pads. The pad and/or wet tent easily attaches at the base of the pack.

The pack is easy to clean when I come home and ready to go on it's next adventure.

Lost and Found at North Rosary Lake

: Using Product, Picture of Product

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My Review of REI Quarter Dome T1 Tent

2008-09-05T21:04:00.001-07:00

Originally submitted at REI

Our Quarter Dome T1 tent uses an innovative new design to create a strong, ultralight tent with generous interior volume and an easy setup.

Perfect tent for thru-hike

By Travel is my middle name from Athena, Oregon on 9/5/2008

Pros: Everything fit inside, Sturdy, Easy To Set Up, Comfortable, Lightweight, Fly Works Well, Waterproof

Best Uses: Backpacking, Hiking

Describe Yourself: Avid Adventurer

What Is Your Gear Style: Comfort Driven

I just completed a section hike in Oregon on the PCT. I specifically bought this tent as a replacement for a single-wall tent that I hated. This tent was very comfortable. I could sit up in various places in the tent. I could set this tent up in very small places - usually between trees. There were nights where it was windy, but the fly didn't flap in the breeze. It was easy to clean in the morning by taking the stakes out and flipping it over. At night, everything except my shoes came in. Because I was having knee problems, I put my backpack cross-wise under my knees and the contents of the bag in the 'foot' section. Then I placed my pad over that and slept really well. I'm 5'8" and had enough room, lengthwise. This tent is probably not for you if you're over 6'. I would suggest that you NOT set this tent up in the living room the first time. The pole ends kept hitting the walls and furniture.

(legalese)

Why taking Amtrak seems like a better idea than Greyhound

2008-09-04T21:41:00.000-07:00

It was 72 degrees in my tent at 5:00 this morning. I had trouble getting back to sleep and by the time I got up at 6:30, the temperature has risen to 78. I packed up and was getting ready to go on the trail when Boy Scouts from Battleground, WA came by with their leaders. They were on their way to Teakettle Spring because they were almost out of water.

I got on the trail at 7:35, and was amazed at the trail. I remembered the switchbacks, but not the degree of incline (or decline for me) now. I also forgot about the rocky cliffs that had to be walked across. My feet were protesting loudly.

Finally, at 11:15, I came to a creek where Mother Goose was waiting for me. We decided to walk the road rather than the trail into Cascade Locks. We decided to do this because there was a group of day hikers led by a rather portly man on the trail. When returning to 'civilization', we try to come back gradually, not in a mass group. It appeared to be the same number of miles.

This was a good choice, as parts of the roadside were covered with blackberry bushes and ripe berries. Yum! When we came into Cascade Locks, I had Mother Goose take my picture with a PayDay candy bar in my hand. Then we headed to the Eastwind Drive-in for well-deserved banana splits.

Afterwards we headed to the Marina where Marty met us and drove us to Hood River. We stopped for beverages, and then we transferred our gear from Marty's car to Dan's van. Dan drove us to a grocery store where we bought more beverages and items for dinner. Then he drove us the scenic route to his hexagonal house.

He gave us the nickel tour and what a great little house it is. We were able to take a shower and get 4 days' worth of hiking grime off. Dan prepared a fabulous dinner of salad, cheeseburgers, choice of buns, fresh, sliced tomato and onion, and a wide choice of condiments.

After dinner, Dan gave us each a soprano recorder and led us through the first lesson in the Maria von Trapp book, which he gave to Mother Goose. Then, talked turned to meteorites and Dan brought out some of his collection. He gave us each two small chunks that are suitable for necklaces.

As it approached 9:30, we made the trip back to Hood River to the Greyhound "terminal" (really a bus shelter). Our bus WAS to arrive at 12:55, but in reality, arrived at 3:00 AM.

The driver was rude and said, "I wish I didn't have to pick you up," and then refused to take our cash exact fares or let us board the bus. He said he couldn't take the cash because the first Greyhound station that would be open to process the tickets would be Boise, which was well beyond our stop in Pendleton.

This was very frustrating for us because when we were in Sisters, we checked with Greyhound via phone, and they said that since we didn't have a way to get a hard copy of a ticket (we knew we would be coming in on the weekend), that we would only need to have exact fare and pay the driver. The driver did not dispute this, but refused to take our money.

So, we decided to spend the remaining part of the night on the sheltered porch of a building. When the Portland-bound bus arrived at 4:30, the driver was very sympathetic and said that he would have put us on his bus. It was chilly and windy. I put on my rain gear for warmth, and then finally pulled out my tent and draped it over me like a blanket. We managed to get an hour or two more sleep, and then got up and made our way across the street to McDonald's for breakfast. We were able to get a 'used' Oregonian and read it while eating our breakfasts and drinking our coffees.

Then, we made our way back to the Greyhound office, putting our packs on the porch and waiting for the office to open. The manager saw us huddled outside, and opened the door early. He processed our tickets, and unfortunately the next bus is at 1:20 PM. We also each filed a complaint against the driver.

Miles hiked: 8.5 miles

Lost and Found

Going NB over terrain we hiked SB 6 weeks ago

2008-09-04T21:38:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful camping spot. The full moon bathed one side and then the other with light last night. When I awoke at 6:30, I could see Mt. Hood through the front door of my tent.

I was on the trail by 7:40. Unfortunately, we had not gone as far as we had hoped last night, as it took about an hour to reach the abandoned Oregon Skyline Trail and Larch Mountain Road 2030. There were some really nice, level campsites near this intersection.

For the next 1.6 miles I climbed 160' to the Spur of Indian Mountain. Unfortunately the great views of Mts. St. Helens, Adams, and Rainier were obscured by haze. Rainier was not visible at all. However, I met Brit here and later on, his hiking companion, Irish. They were taking the Eagle Creek Trail and planning to come into Cascade Locks today.

From there it was downhill to Wahtum Lake, where less than .1 mile, I could smell hamburgers on the grill - and it was 11:00 - lunch time. As it was, the Mt. Hood PCTA had a sign up for thru hikers - free goodies. It seemed odd. It was a campsite, with a tent, and shopping bags left open. No one was around. I put my pack down, and helped myself to two cookies and a banana. As I was eating, a couple walked up and I thanked them for the food. The woman said, "We left them for you." About 15 minutes later Mother Goose came. She went over and introduced herself. That's when we realized this couple was not the PCTA, and I had filched their food. They were good natured about it.

So, we left and went down the trail to a running spring, where we topped off our bottles and ate lunch. Ahead were some serious climbs, but fortunately the last ones on this trip.

From Wahtum Lake (3750') we climbed up Chinidere Mountain Trail (4270') in 1.8 miles, and then down to a saddle with a viewpoint (4140'), second saddle, which can be more appropriately named rocky hill (3830'), and finally Camp Smokey saddle (3810'). Then, just to make sure we still had it in us, we went straight up to the Benson Trail in .5 mile (4100'), .9 mile later the Ruckel Creek Trail (4110'), .7 mile later the Benson Ruckel Trail (3980') - which looks very abandoned, and finally in .7 mile the Second Benson Way Trail (3760').

We are camped where we camped before - a waterless campsite .6 mile from the trail above and at 3680'. Teakettle Spring is .3 mile down a 12% grade and is barely trickling. It was gushing 6 weeks ago.

For all the snow this area had, the forest floor crunches when you walk on it. It is, however, green, with plants just days away from blooming.

Tomorrow: I am getting on the trail early, as steep downhills are not my strong suit. We are 7.6 miles from the TH and Marty is picking us up at 1:30, so I can't be late. Mother Goose is looking forward to a banana split at the Eastwind Drive-in, where I am to meet her, should she pass me on the trail.

Miles hiked: 14.7

Lost and Found

Going up!

2008-09-04T21:37:00.000-07:00

August 15, 2008

I had a hard time sleeping last night. The spot I pitched my tent sloped toward one side - the door. Then it was warm, never getting below 70 degrees. My sleeping bag became a blanket.

We woke up about 6:30 and were on the trail by 7:45. This day was a lot of ups.

First, after we crossed Ramona Falls on a really nice bridge, there were two warning notices from the forest service about trail problems on the Timberline/Yokum Trails. We were not going that way - we took the Ramona Falls 797 trail.

After crossing several times we came to an informal trail marked with pink streamers. This trail led to a hiker bridge over the Muddy Fork. We had heard about the bridge and trail yesterday. We were happy to have a bridge, because the water was high and it was morning. Then we followed the white streamers till the trail joined the PCT.

Next came a "moderate-to-steep, major, switchbacking ascent up Bald Mountain Trail to a ridge...", a gain of over 1400 feet in 1.7 miles. Time for a break. Mother Goose changed into her long sleeved shirt and long pants because the flies were biting and Deet didn't deter them. We met a young male who had been snowboarding the Glisan Glacier, and was now headed to his vehicle at Lolo Pass.

We then descended to Lolo Pass (3420') and went up to a spring (3520') on the trail for lunch. We got ready for the rest of the day's ascents. The first ascent was to a junction with Huckleberry Mountain Trail (4020') in 3.9 miles. It was a fairly easy hike, but somewhat boring. Part of it bordered the Bull Run Watershed. There were notices posted to indicate you were to stay out.

Then it was up to Preachers/Devils saddle (4340'), descend to a notch (4250') which was difficult to understand since it was not at all level, ascend up to the Buck Peak Trail (4500') and then descend to a small spring (4340'). This was actually a PVC pipe trickling out spring water. We picked up water thinking we would be able to find a suitable camping spot soon.

Unfortunately that was not the case. The terrain sloped and was not at all conducive to camping. Finally, after walking an hour, we found a flattish spot next to the trail, and managed to shoe horn in both tents.

There were a lot of downed trees above 4000' between the Huckleberry Trail and our campsite. There has been a lot of talk on the PCT websites about the crews being unable to get in because of snow. Unfortunately, some of the downed trees have been down for more than a year. In one instance, there were two trees where the snags have been lopped off, but the trees remain over the trail. On one tree I had to remove my pack, crawl underneath and then pull my pack through. On another that was at least 3' in diameter, I threw my pack over and then I went over. I took pictures and plan to send them to the pcta.org. (Actually, I emailed one of the Mt. Hood PCTA coordinators about the trees, which I understand were taken care of two weekends later.)

Miles hiked 17

Tomorrow: It will be a shorter day because of the extra miles we did today. We plan to camp where we did when we were going SB, above Teakettle Spring. We also confirmed our ride to Hood River today. Thanks Marty.

Lost and Found

Onward to Cascade Locks

2008-09-04T21:35:00.000-07:00

We woke up late - just before 7. We had a hard time getting to sleep. The floor we were on (1st/basement) is where all the cheap rooms are located. As it turns out the Chalet had two twin beds, which could have been put together as bunk beds, a small chest of drawers between the two beds, a small table and two chairs, although there was not enough room to sit there, and a sink. The baths were down the hall, and in our case, next door. At the end of the far hall were the 4-person rooms with two sets of bunk beds. There were several parties going on, and with no insulation between the rooms, it was somewhat noisy. We could only imagine what it must be like during ski season.

We quickly got dressed and went upstairs to breakfast. That's when we found out that breakfast started at 7:30, not 7 as we had thought. They were not quite ready, so I went over and talked to Red, Joker, and Croatian, who were also waiting for the restaurant to open.

Either someone was late for work or they were just running late because when the restaurant opened, only about half the buffet items were out AND they had not even plugged in the waffle makers. That was rectified shortly, and then another waiter came along and turned the "on" switches so that they could warm up. Fortunately, there was not a horde waiting for breakfast - mainly about 6 hungry hikers and a few assorted other guests.

After breakfast we returned to our room and packed up. When we left, the male hikers were still in the restaurant eating.

We were on the trail around 9:15. Several day hikers passed us (and turned around at the first river we forded). I put on my neoprene socks for the ford across the Zigzag River. It was flowing quite well and about mid-calf deep. Made it across without falling in!

Then we had what seemed to be a long, tortuous ascent and then descent to the Sandy River. There were quite a few snow patches across the trail. At the river there were three logs tied together to make a bridge. The largest log was about eight inches in diameter, then seven and six inches. The Sandy was quite high, and had the bridge not been there we would have waited until morning. As it was, it was a slow crossing, but Mother Goose and I made it over safely.

Then it was a short mile of uphill climbing to Ramona Falls. The area is fenced off to prevent stock from coming down. We are camped in a designated camping area above and to the right of the falls. It is very serene here, with the exception of the flies. For some reason, we have been plagued with biting flies all day. Finally, I dug into my pack and pulled out two softener sheets, giving one to Mother Goose and keeping one for myself. Tomorrow I'm going to put a piece in my hat to see if that will keep them away from my face. Otherwise, I'll put on the headnet.

Today we hiked about 9 miles, and lost considrable elevation. Timberline is at 5940' and we had two river crossings which took us down, then up. Ramona Falls is at 3460'.

We also got voice mail messages saying that we will have a ride from Cascade Locks to Hood River on Sunday.

Tomorrow is a 'regular' 16 mile day. we plan to camp near a small spring just after Buck Peak Trail.

Winding down...but still lots of hiking!!

2008-08-13T16:14:00.000-07:00

August 13, 2008

You could smell the smoke early this morning. I woke up at 1:30 and there was this bright light shining in my tent like headlights, only it was the full moon. As I tried to go back to sleep, I smelled the smoke from the forest fire east of Mt. Hood. Then the owls started hooting. One was nearby and the rest further away. The nearby owl kept moving closer to where the others were. At one time, it sounded like it was in the tree right above my tent.

Finally I got to sleep and woke up just as the sun was surfacing and bathing Mt. Hood in early morning light. We packed up and were on the trail before 7. It was very difficult hiking in the soft, beach-like sand, especially on the steep uphill’s. Fortunately, another hiker had created 'steps' which I used. It was also difficult hiking because of the gain in elevation. In the first .8 mile, we climbed 450 feet. Then in the next .3 mile we climbed 110 feet, which is deceiving, because we went downhill into a gully to cross the upper Salmon River (rock hopped across), and then climbed back up .2 mile and 60 feet later found us at the Timberline spur trail. We went downhill .1 mile and 20 feet to Timberline. We got to the lodge before 8 AM.

The Boy Scouts had stayed over, camping nearby, and were already eating breakfast. We were seated near them and Meadow Bruiser & Ole, a couple who are thru hiking. They had camped at a small site just before the spur trail. We ordered the all-you-can-eat buffet for $12.95. It hit the spot. I didn't realize how much I missed fruit, even though I eat dried fruit every day. I made a waffle that I topped with fresh marionberries and whipped cream; fried potatoes and onions with a couple strips of bacon, and at least three trips to the fresh fruit - pineapple, honeydew and watermelons.

Then we went over to the WY'East Store to claim our resupply packages, for which they charged $4 per package. I had two boxes because initially I thought I would be carrying 10 days worth of food to Elk Lake (going southbound). When our plans changed, my boxes were already sent. I didn't want to open them until we got in our room, and our room wasn't supposed to be available until 4.

Mother Goose got a 'used' Oregonian and we went downstairs to read it. After it was read, we decided to do our laundry, which is down the hall, through two sets of double doors, and down the stairs opposite the sauna. It was a stackable washer and dryer and there was no charge. There was even a box of detergent to use. Mother Goose decided to wash the clothes twice. After the first wash and spin, she started the machine over, adding more detergent.

Then we left to go have lunch. As we were eating lunch, a hiker came in. We talked for a bit. Patchwork is from Portland, and as his name suggests, started at Campo, got a ways, got injured, went home, recovered, got back on the trail at Ashland, and started from Callahan's a few days after we did. He expects to be in Cascade Locks on Saturday where friends are meeting him. I stayed and talked to him; Mother Goose went back to put the clothes in the dryer, but someone had already done that.

When I returned, the clothes w! ere dry, but our room was not ready. We went back to the WY'East store to kill time and when we returned at 3:30, our room was ready. We went to retrieve our packs and everything was gone. Apparently, the hotel staff bagged them up and put them in housekeeping. Unfortunately, they bagged up Mother Goose's ice water, which no surprise here, spilled all over her bag and contents. Then, I opened my resupply boxes, and decided what I wanted to eat, and what I didn't. Mother Goose gave me some packages of crackers and bagged coffee. We each put items in the boxes to take back to the hiker box at the WY'East store.

I had phone calls to make, so I took our donations over. On my way out I saw Red, Joker, and Croatian, young 20-something males, who are thru-hiking. I told them about the hiker box and they got excited. Hopefully, there were items in the box that they can use.

Mother Goose was not feeling well and was hoping it was not the undercooked hamburger she had for lunch. I decided to go down to the Blue Ox, but was surprised that it was closed; it was only 7 PM. So, I headed to the vending machines, and for $1.50, got a 1.75 ounce bag of Gardetto's for dinner. I really wanted Ritz Bits, but was unwilling to pay $1.75.

Tomorrow: Eat Breakfast. Finish packing up and hike out to Ramona Falls - about 9 miles. However, I hear that there is a steep section or two. We expect to be in Cascade Locks on Sunday, and back in Athena on Monday.

August 12, 2008

We were up by 6:30 this morning and on the trail by 8:15. We had a little uphill and then were rewarded with a downhill to Wapinitia Pass at Hwy 26. Across the road, Roberta, who has adopted the Frog Lake area, left a food and water cache for thru hikers. What can I say. Twinkies, Pringles, Butterfingers, and Clementine’s taste a whole lot better than a Fruit and Nut Bar. Plus, I topped off my water bottle. The trail journal revealed that Princess of Darkness and Disco, Lucky and Milky, and Rapunzel and her partner had all been through last week. This cache was near a TH parking area that had trash cans in the pit toilets. What luck, I was able to dump what now was 5.5 days worth of trash.

Next, came more uphill - 640 feet in 3.3 miles, before another downhill to the old section of Hwy 35 at Barlow Pass. Interspersed were spectacular views of Mt. Hood. I was surprised to see how little snow there was on the south side of the mountain. There were several day hikers and dogs out, as well as a group of four (2 adults, 2 children) with frame packs and a dog, headed to Olallie Lake. They were surprised that Mother Goose and I hike an average of 15 miles with our heavy packs.

We stopped for lunch at the new section of Hwy 35 near Barlow Pass. At this point, we were close to where we planned to camp. Mother Goose had been able to get a cell phone connection and Timberline had a cancellation and now we have a room reserved for Wednesday night. Yea!

This last section was basically straight up - 1200 feet in 3.6 miles. We stopped at a gully for water to carry. The water was rushing out. Then we slogged out the last .9 mile to the Timberline trail 600, which circles Mt. Hood. Who would have guessed that at this elevation the ground would be white sand - just like the beach. It is, and, of course, it's in the tent, your shoes, etc. We also see what appears to be an avalanche in the making. Part of the glacier has separated. We're hoping it won't be tonight, not that we're in any danger. It's the noise.

We hiked almost 13 miles today.

Tomorrow: get up, get packed, and hike 1.4 miles to breakfast. Because of this, we each have decided to tidy up and wear our town shirts. My pants are really dirty, so I'm taking the legs off before breakfast. I had cell phone service this evening and called my mother. After that, my service went away. My two calls were dropped. I'll try tomorrow from Timberline.

http://www.timberlinelodge.com/index.php http://
www.mthood.info/

August 11, 2008

The Warm Springs River was a popular place last night. Around 7, two adult men and three Boy Scouts arrived on our side of the river and made camp not far from us. On the other side of the river, I could hear voices, but didn't get out of my tent to investigate.

I woke up at 6 on my own, and decided to change my breakfast routine. I made coffee and ate two Fruit and Nut Bars. Then I packed up and hit the trail at 7:15. It took the Boy Scouts almost 3 hours to catch me (they started considerably later), and when they did, they relayed a message from Mother Goose - Stop for lunch. She caught up with me about a mile before the cutoff for the Miller Trail, just in time to see me trip on a rock and bloody my right knee. So at the cutoff, we stopped to administer first aid and eat lunch.

Then we got back on the trail and soon found ourselves hiking around the east side of Timothy Lake. Although there is a sign that clearly states that bicyclists are not allowed, that didn't stop 3 of them. One woman seemed surprised to see me on the trail. I wonder how surprised she'd be to see horses and riders.

Then we hiked to Little Crater Lake, an artesian spring that is fenced off. It purportedly is 34 degrees year round. I dumped my old water to get new, cold water. Mother Goose and I originally were going to camp here tonight, but we decided to go to the next spring, 4 miles away. That way tomorrow will be a short day of climbing. So, she took off for the spring and I stayed behind, going through my pack for more food. I was hungry and tired of my food. I dug out two packages of almond butter and my chocolates ate a few of those and one package of almond butter.

As I was leaving, the Boy Scouts arrived. We chatted briefly and they said they also planned to camp at the spring. I decided to turn on the fuel and barreled my way there. The first 3.8 miles were uphill, with most of the climb coming after the first 1.6 miles. I arrived at camp in 1.75 hours and 4 miles. Mother Goose had already set up her tent, gotten water, and was preparing dinner. I set up my tent and was just coming back with my water when the Boy Scouts arrived - 45 minutes after me. They are camped near us again, as flat campsites are hard to find.

All in all, we hiked 19 miles and my feet know it.

Right now we're at 3910 feet elevation. Tomorrow we start climbing, and plan to camp 1 mile past the gully at 5340 feet. That is a distance of 12.6 miles and will put us a little over a mile from Timberline on Wednesday morning.

Food-wise, I'm craving just about everything we don't have - pretzels, fresh apples, bagels, pancakes and waffles. I hope I'm not disappointed in Timberline's all-you-can-eat breakfast.

August 10, 2008

It was a chilly 48 degrees this morning at 7 AM. I was feeling great - no aches or pains, and hit the trail at 8:15. Although it was chilly, I set a rapid pace and had walked 4 mostly uphill miles in 1.75 hours. Since I was on a roll, I decided to see what I could do. Generally, I'm better at uphill’s than down.

It was a beautiful day that eventually warmed up to 70 degrees. The tread was good, although not as nice as yesterday. This trail goes through the Warm Springs Reservation, and on the whole, the forest looks healthier than in other forests we've hiked. Huckleberry plants competed with rhododendrons for space along the trail. Later on ferns competed with maple-shaped leaf plants.

It was a 10.1 mile hike that I completed at 12:59 PM. I did stop for pee/snack/take off extra gear/water breaks - about one per hour. I crossed the Warm Springs River on a log bridge. There are campsites on both sides of the river, but the sites on the north side were in the sun.

I filled my dirty clothes bag with river water and proceeded to wash my underwear. I rigged a clothesline between two trees, but found that snags on a fallen log seemed to be better at getting the items dry.

Ok - for the bad news. Mother Goose said that Timberline has no vacancies (at our level) for Wednesday night. Plan B - Hike in for breakfast. See if there are cancellations. If not, pick up our boxes, hang out and hike out that afternoon and camp. Plan C - Hike in for breakfast. If no cancellations, find out if there are vacancies at the motel in Government Camp. Go there. Eat breakfast at the motel the next morning and start hike for Cascade Locks. Plan B will get us to Cascade Locks on Saturday. Plan C, on Sunday.

We planned to take the 12:48 AM bus back to Pendleton and have someone drop my car off Sunday evening so we could drive home Monday morning. Since we don't have tickets, we need cash to give to the driver. We save about $15 in bus fare traveling on Monday. Of course, if we come in on Saturday and can't find a free place to stay (hint, hint, Dan), then that $15 savings is moot.

About Mother Goose - she is a legend (well-known) among long distance hikers, especially on the AT (Appalachian Trail). She has hiked the AT 5 times. She was the first woman to yo-yo (go up and turn around and come back without stopping) the AT (left Georgia 4/91 and returned 3/92). She said she did it because some male told her she couldn't do that "Oh, you can't do that.". At this point, she estimates she has hiked 25,000 miles, vs. my 900 miles. This is the 5th time she's hiked Oregon - because she says it's the prettiest on the PCT and the flattest. So, I feel privileged to be able to learn from a master and only have to pay my way.

Up tomorrow: We plan to camp at Little Crater Lake, which is at the north end of Timothy Lake, unless we get in early, and then we'll decide whether we want to carry water and camp a few miles further or hike 4 more miles to water. Little Crater Lake is 15.3 miles; to the next source of water 19.3 miles.

I can tell that this hike is about over: 1. I'm tired of my food. I'm eating half of what I prepare because I just don't want anymore. Can't make it taste any better. Tomorrow, I'm eating my bars (Fruit and Nut, Peanut, etc.) and seeing if that will make a difference. 2. My other shoe is coming apart at the toe. 3. I have a hole in one of my socks at the big toe. 4. I'm taking more pictures. 5. I'm thinking of hiking-related projects for this winter. 6. I've listened to all of my music on my mp3 player and want something different – audio book?

August 9, 2008

Last night was cold. We haven't had a cold night like that for quite awhile. I was snuggled in my sleeping bag with everything fastened down. We even slept in till 7.

After breakfast we noticed fog rolling in on the lake. By the time we had our packs on the lake was fogged in. We continued to follow the Red Lake Trail. It took us past other lakes where there were campers. Most of them had the common sense to build fires to keep warm.

The huckleberry bushes crowded the trail. Very few were ripe. My pants were getting wet from the dew on the bushes, so I stopped and put on my rain skirt. Then it started to sprinkle, so once again I stopped to put on the pack cover. By the time it started to rain, I decided to put on my rain jacket.

We hiked 4.25 miles to Olallie Lake for lunch. By that time, both of us were cold and I contemplated getting out my stove and fixing hot chocolate. Instead, I put on my full-fingered gloves and Buff, which warmed up my hands and ears.

After lunch, we hiked on the best tread so far. The Sierra Engineers were improving the tread, cutting downed trees, and cutting back bushes on the trail between Olallie Lake and Lemiti Creek, where we are camped. They put a new bridge in over a creek that feeds into Jude Lake. They brought in wheelbarrows full of organic soil on sections that were rocky or over lava sections.

We were able to hike 9.8 miles, take breaks, talk to workers on the trail, in less than 5 hours. Although it was very overcast and the wind kept pushing the clouds along as we hiked, it didn't rain after we started at Olallie Lake. However, it continued to be cold, and when we arrived at our campsite, it was 60 degrees. This, the 9th of August.

By 6:30 tonight, we had eaten dinner and retired to our tents. We have 3 more hiking days to Timberline. Mother Goose's husband is supposed to make reservations for us at the lodge, in what is called the Chalet - a polite name for bunkhouse. It is the least expensive, we think, option there. That way we will have access to showers and laundry. Otherwise, it would be another 4 days till we came in at Cascade Locks, and we'd be mighty ripe.

Miles hiked 14

Tomorrow is a short day. We are planning to camp at the Warm Springs River - a distance of 11.1 miles. One of the SB hikers said that we could expect good tread all the way to the Clackamas Lake Campground. That's 20.5 miles!

August 8, 2008

We woke up to another warm morning at Waldo Lake. As we were packing up a hiker came by and asked us what trail we were going to be doing. It seems that the man and teens were part of a football team. The rest of the team was supposed to have come last night, but didn't show up.

The hike up from Waldo Lake was not as bad as I envisioned. We then took the Minto Pass Trail. Most of this was through a burn area. Although the trees were not pretty, the wild flowers flourished. We saw small groups from the Northwest Youth Corp working on the trail. One group was working on a creek where a downed tree was preventing the creek from its natural course. Another group was cutting back overgrown weeds that were hiding the trail. One of the crew leaders said they were on Mt. Jefferson last week when they encountered snow. That's why they were on this trail.

Later on it became apparent that this crew had improved the tread on a large section of the trail. At lunch today, I discovered the stitching on my Keen hiking shoes is loose. In fact, I can stick my finger inside to my foot. So much for waterproof shoes. This is going to be interesting when I do river crossings. I bought these shoes a month ago in Ashland, so they have about 300 miles on them. I will be contacting the company when I get home.

Later we followed the Marion Lake Trail. Both of these trails went by lakes that are only accessible by foot or horse. Nevertheless, there were lots of day hikers and campers on both lakes. The TH for Marion Lake was a 1.5 mile downhill. We were eating snacks when two men came off the trail. They offered to take us to Detroit Lakes so that we could cut some time and mileage. They were from Salem and this was not out of their way.

Then we hiked 1.25 miles of the road when we got a ride with Paul, who lives at Breitenbush Hot Springs. He took us up to a gravel road where we got on the Red Lake Trail.This is a tough trail. First, there is a 1500 foot elevation climb in 1.5 miles. There are many false summits and parts of the trail are poorly marked. I felt I was going round and round and not able to get off. It starts on the first gravel road, and then you cross another gravel road and continue on the trail.

At 5:30 I saw Mother Goose, who was ahead of me. She presented me with some options, and I let her make the decision, based on her experience. We were going to camp where we were and get water from a stagnant pond. Mother Goose was looking for a suitable camping spot, and saw Red Lake down below. So, we got back on the trail, and after a very short downhill, find ourselves at Red Lake.

Needless to say, we are the only campers here. The lake has fish, ducks and birds. Tomorrow, we plan to take it easy (we hope), and hike to Jude Lake, which is on the other side of Olallie Lake. The resort has not opened, and our Yogi book warns not to drink/use the tap water. Then we will be back on the PCT and headed to Timberline.

Miles hiked today approximately 12.

August 7, 2008

We slept in till almost 7 and then started packing up. The restaurant opened at 8 for breakfast. Much as we wanted to order Huevos Rancheros, we knew from prior experience that having a full tummy and a heavy pack produces a very long digestive cycle. So instead, we ordered lighter fare.

We returned to our motel room and were about to leave when we heard thunder. We looked out our patio door and saw black clouds headed our way. Shortly thereafter it started to rain. Then the power went out. We ended up leaving our room at check out time (11:00), and sitting in the lobby waiting out the weather.

We got a ride to the Santiam Pass TH with a young woman who works in a bar at a lodge in Detroit Lakes. She was on her way to work, and the TH was not out of her way.

We started hiking around noon. This trail was very busy today. We met two SB thrus and lots of day hikers who were amazed that Mother Goose and I were hiking the Oregon segment (amazed because either we were significantly older or the same age as these hikers). The trail starts out in the burn area from the forest fire in 2003. The tread is very nice, but of course, it is popular with the day hikers.

Above 5000 feet we started running into snow across the trail. One section required us to climb up a snowy hillside. Another section was on a down slope with nothing to break our fall if we slipped. It took what seemed to be forever for me to get across (and not look downward to the left).

At our afternoon break we decided to get off the PCT and take trails at much lower elevations around the lakes. We know this means mosquitoes, but it also means we should encounter very little, if any, snow. Mother Goose bought a map of the wilderness at REI and is mapping out a day by day hike so that we get to Timberline 5 days from now. I forgot to mention why our packs are heavy - we are carrying 6 days of food and snacks, because that is how long it will take us to get to Timberline. My pack seems to always out weigh Mother Goose's by at least 5 pounds, but today she said her pack was almost as heavy as mine (and it's heavy!).

We hiked to the Minto Pass Trail 3437 TH and seeing a downed tree, decided to go the opposite direction (south) to Waldo Lake. Purportedly, the trail was .25 miles long - Straight down. I know tomorrow morning I will have some words to say to myself going uphill.

All in all, we hiked 10.5 miles today.

When we got here, we found Waldo Lake was a popular destination. There is a young couple camped next to the lake, and an older man with about 8 high school-aged males camped nearby. This group appears to be overly prepared - heavy sleeping bags and pads attached to the outsides of their packs.

Stumpy bit the dust yesterday. I found an abandoned set of Swiss Gear poles outside the restaurant. One pole was broken and it and Stumpy found their way to the trash can at Sisters Post Office. The other pole needed considerable coaching this morning to get lengthened. Even so, I think it is cursed. The snow basket is already gone and I have no idea where or when this happened. Then the pole tried to trip me, but I caught myself. It also has a lot of spring in it, and seems unreliable to support you when needed.

Tomorrow we plan to hike a little more than 13 miles. It will, however depend on blow downs. If there are a lot and/or the trail is difficult to follow, then we'll just get off at a road and road walk.

Getting closer to the end...

2008-08-07T08:06:00.000-07:00

August 6, 2008

It was 61 degrees again this morning. Last night the stars were out and it was warm. The mosquitoes were waiting for us this morning. After breakfast and breaking camp, Karen, Mother Goose and I started the 2.1 mile hike to the junction of the PCT and then the .7 mile hike over lava to McKenzie Highway.

The 2.1 miles were primarily in a forest and we descended 600 feet. As we were hiking, it became increasingly cloudy and looked like rain. As I approached the lava, it started sprinkling heavily. At first, I put the cover on the pack. Then, when I was on top of the lava, it started to really get windy. At that point, I donned my rain skirt and rain jacket. Finally, I was down a roadside where it was snack time.

We decided that .7 mile lava was preferable to 16 miles, so we started walking McKenzie Pass eastbound. The first thing we discovered was there was no snow! No 50 feet, no 50 inches, no snow. The next thing we discovered was that trees scheduled to be logged out are sprayed blue. Some had been cut already; many are still standing.

We road walked about 3 miles to one of the viewpoints. We were just about ready to eat lunch when a logger offered us a ride to Sisters. Gee - ride to Sisters or lunch and road walk 14 more miles. He dropped us off at Ray's, a grocery store on the north end of Sisters. We then walked into Sisters and went to lunch. We found out as we were eating lunch, that Karen's bus that would take her to Eugene, would leave in an hour, and the stop is right in front of the restaurant.

After lunch, Karen got on the bus and Mother Goose and I went to the library to use the computers. We checked into bus tickets for our trip home. We save about $15 by going on Monday rather than Sunday.

Then it was a trip to the post office to pick up our resupply boxes, and a walk back to the north end of town to our motel at Sisters Inn. We got a 10% discount, which we aren't sure why. The reservations clerk said they didn't have a hiker discount.

Unfortunately, the motel is under new ownership and there is no RV park and no laundry. Mother Goose and I had to do our laundry in the tub and hung it outside. After we got back from dinner, we brought our still wet clothes in. They are in the bathroom with the heat lamp on.

After breakfast tomorrow, we plan to start at Santiam Pass and head into the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness. It will be 6 days before we get to Timberline, and then 4 days to Cascade Locks.

http://geology.com/cities-map/oregon.shtml Sisters in on east/west Hwy 20 between the north/south bound 5 and the 97.

August 5, 2008

It was 61 degrees this morning when we woke up. All night long the wind had blown hard. I was sure glad I had staked out my tent and rain fly.

We were on the trail by 7:40, but the snow over the trail and the downed trees prevented us from doing our customary 2 mph. It took us 4 hours to get to the spring above Obsidian Falls, a distance of 5.1 miles. Mother Goose got a phone call from Flippy. He said that when they came through this area 2 days ago, they had to glissade down a snowy part just after Obsidian Falls. What a difference two days makes! We were able to walk that section. However, further down the trail were two sledding hills. The snow was very slushy and it was hard to keep going. You had a tendency to start and then stop, and had to push yourself forward to go again. It was actually fun, except for the cold butt.

We had a variety of scenery and treads today. Evergreen forests surrounded by lava flows. We climbed Opie Dilduck, which is a series of switchbacks up and over a lava flow.

By the time we reached the Minnie Scott Spring, I was tired of snow, and not looking forward to the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness. Oh well, the trail had more snow anyway. Finally, as we neared South Matthieu Lake, we found Karen sitting by herself, with laundry on the clothes line and various camping equipment scattered about. According to her, Ninja Tortise (his spelling) left her yesterday, allegedly because she would not hike his pace, and because she added Tang to her water. He took the water filter and tent, leaving her no shelter and no way to purify her water. They did not have a stove because he had not gotten around to making one (many long distance hikers use 'cat food can' stoves that they make themselves, and Heet for fuel). He told her, "See you in September." (when he finishes in Canada)

So, I waited while she packed up and Mother Goose went ahead to North Matthieu Lake to find a good campsite. We rigged up the rain fly to my tent as a makeshift shelter for Karen. She is going to try to head back home to Eugene. She is having difficulty because McKenzie Pass is closed in both directions. I gave her the phone numbers for the trail angel.

We are planning to get close to the Santiam Pass tomorrow night. We will have to carry water as there is no water available on the lava beds. One of the SB hikers today said that Coldwater Spring, which never has water, was running. We'll see.

Miles hiked: 16

August 4, 2008

Mother Goose got me up at 6, so I could go have breakfast, but I wasn't too impressed with the restaurant and decided to fix a sandwich instead.

I showered, and finished packing my pack. I was ready when she returned. Now, the hard part was staying awake until the trail angel picked us up. We waited near the entrance to our motel. He arrived right around 9. We put our packs and poles in his trunk, and, since I had two packages that needed mailing and only one box, he decided to take us to the post office in downtown Bend. I managed to get everything in one box for Sisters. Most of it was 6 days of food and snacks. The other box was to ship home to me. It had items I no longer needed, such as my medium waist belt for my pack.

Then we left for the Mirror Lake TH. As he was driving, the trail angel was explaining about the McKenzie Pass closures. Apparently, the logging company has not logged out all of the downed trees near the road which could fall in the road. The pass on the east side is open for bicyclists and hikers. He thought we might be able to get a ride into Sisters with a logger. In case we were stranded, he told us where cell phone coverage started and to give him a call.

We started on the trail at 10:15 and had 3 miles to hike before getting back on the PCT. The trail was busy today. There was a group of three horsemen who passed me; they were going to Mirror Lake. We were eating lunch at the trail junction, and another couple appeared on horseback - also going to the lake. After lunch, we saw two day hikers and a couple pulling a horse each. We asked everyone about the trail conditions because last week there was a snow storm in the Sisters Mountains and ice axes (which we don't have) were recommended.

As we approached South Sister from the South and West, we saw a group of climbers who were planning to summit tomorrow. Then, we met three women about our age, who were hiking a loop. They said the area was doable, but there were some doozies of downed trees.

South and West of South Sisters Mountain, we entered a wide valley that resembled a desert. The ground was sandy, and only dandelions and other low ground cover were present. There was an occasional evergreen tree. Then we would enter a forest, only to be replaced by the desert environment again. As we gained elevation, there were more snow patches across the trail. It was fairly easy to figure out where the trail went: you followed the muddy trail in the snow. Also, because it was afternoon, it was easier to walk on the snow because it was slushy.

There was one section that was a steep downhill and I lost my footing and slid down about 4 feet.There were several downed trees - downed together and still sprouting all of their limbs. Some we were able to go around and over. One, had both of us crawling on the ground underneath.

We are camped near a lakelet at 6460 feet. There are other campers on the other side of the lake. We are up under the trees. It isn't very buggy here - an occasional mosquito or black ant. The wind is also blowing slightly. It feels good being back in the tent.

Tomorrow we plan to camp at Lava Camp Lake, which is a car campground, but since the road is closed, no cars should be there.

Miles hiked today 10.6.

A little hiking and zero days

2008-08-04T14:27:00.000-07:00

August 3, 2008

This was a pretty lazy zero day. We got up after 8 and walked down a block to eat breakfast. I had cornbread and sausage gravy, which was not outstanding, but OK. Then we came back to the room and dozed, watched TV, and dozed some more until after noon.

We called a cab and went to REI. I got a smaller hip belt for my pack, which has made a significant difference. We also each got a package of the Sawyer Permethrim treatment for our hiking clothes. Afterwards we succumbed to Ben & Jerry's. Finally, we walked back to the motel room.

I packed up the laundry and headed to the laundromat in the next block. There were few people there and I found something to read while the clothes washed and dried. When I returned to the room we prepared the Permethrim solution and put our clothing in the bags for 2 hours. Afterwards, we hung our clothes up to dry.

While I was at the laundromat, Mother Goose was figuring out how many days out we would be on the trail. Then I went through my resupply box, and gathered meals and snacks for the next 3 plus days. I also decided to send myself a box to Sisters, so that I will have food between Sisters and Timberline. Lastly, I got my box home ready.

We decided to start near Elk Lake and hike northbound after talking to a few sales clerks at REI about snow conditions. I called the trail angel about getting a ride tomorrow to the Mirror Lake Trail 20. He will be picking us up tomorrow morning, taking us to the post office, and then to the trail.

Mother Goose went out to Grocery Outlet to get snacks and dinner. We had ham and cheese sandwiches, which tasted quite good after all the restaurant food we have been eating.

Then we started packing our backpacks in anticipation of tomorrow’s hike. My knees feel better, but the reality is that they probably won't feel really good until the hike is over. I tolerate the inconvenience by taking OTC pills like Ibuprofen, Motrin, or Naproxen throughout the day.

McKenzie Pass is closed in both directions, so the reality is that we have 42 miles to hike before we get to Santiam Pass and come into Sisters for our resupply boxes. The trail angel will be picking us up at 8:45, so hopefully we will be on the trail by 11 or 12. Sign on the driver's side of a vehicle at the motel. I liked it!

August 2, 2008

That tranquil lake had a new look this morning. It started to lightly rain, and the mosquitoes came out in droves. We stayed in our tents until 7, hoping that the rain would stop. When it became obvious that wasn't going to happen, we donned bug repellent and opened the doors to make breakfast. However, Mother Goose's zipper pull on her mosquito netting broke and she was unable to shut the mosquitoes out. We determined that we had to get to Elk Lake today, and if necessary to Bend, in order to get a new zipper pull.

Mother Goose went out and discovered that there were people camping all over that campground. The dirt road was 6 miles from the highway. We decided to start walking.

We had walked a mile or so when a young couple with a canoe on top, a yellow lab (Gus) in the backseat, and a yellow lab puppy in the front seat offered us a ride. We had to share the backseat and hold our backpacks on our laps. The couple had come out last night at 10 to camp and liked the fact that there were no mosquitoes. After Gus went for a swim this morning and the mosquitoes swarmed them, they decided to change their plans. The lake didn't look as inviting as before.

They took us directly to Elk Lake Resort where we all decided to have breakfast. We also saw most of the thrus we had seen at Shelter Cove and/or ski hut. After breakfast, picking up my box, and paying the bill, the couple took us to an inexpensive motel, which is conveniently located next to a bus stop and within walking distance of REI.

After unloading our backpacks and changing into our town clothes, we walked to REI in search of zipper repair kits, and other items. I bought a lighter weight stove, an MSR Pocketrocket, which is significantly lighter in weight than my Primus multi-fuel stove. The zipper repair kit was sold out. So back to the motel for Plan B. Mother Goose decided to take the bus to Jo Ann's and I decided to take the bus in the opposite direction to the library to check my emails. After I boarded the bus, I found out that the bus I needed to transfer to would leave at 4:44 and the library closed at 5! I decided to walk the remaining way.

I was able to get right on a computer, check my bank balances, email, and post on a site before the library closed. Then, I discovered that the last bus left the library at 4:47. So, I walked what I estimate to be, 2 miles back to the motel.

Mother Goose had a similar experience with the bus, except she stopped at the Goodwill Store, Big 5, and Columbia Outlet Store before returning to the motel.

Then we called Domino's Pizza across the street and had them deliver a pizza to the room. We are sitting in the room channel surfing.

Since we had already planned to spend two days in Bend next week, the only thing planned for tomorrow is laundry, which is across the street. Then we will divvy up my resupply box, and get ready to hike southbound Monday.

Miles hiked 1, not counting in town walking.

There is still snow out here!!

2008-08-02T20:22:00.000-07:00

August 1, 2008

The thrus got up at first light and were none too quiet about it. Everyone, except Mother Goose and I, left by 6. It was 48 degrees in the ski hut this morning and my knees ached. We had hung our packs and food (separately) because of the possibility of mice. My legs are used to being elevated in the tent, with my empty pack crossways in the tent under my knees, and everything else in neat piles at the foot.

I had a restless night. One, I was cold. I was sleeping on a wooden bench next to one of the octagonal walls. The windows leaked, and the logs were not completely chinked. Two, I couldn't get comfortable; my knees ached and kept me awake. Finally, I took my "pillow" (clothes in a stuff sack), and placed it under my knees. Then, I had to make a visit to a tree outside. I was afraid I would slip off the deck floor onto the slate entryway, so I scooted along the edge of my bench to where I could feel the slate with my flip flops. Then I had trouble finding the door. I found someone's backpack first. I didn't put on my headlamp because I didn't want to disturb anyone. I was finally getting some sleep when the thrus woke up.

As I was packing up, in walked Flippy. He had spent the night at Rosary Lake and hiked to the ski hut this morning. He showed Mother Goose his "toys"- solar charger, smart phone, etc.

He left when we did, except instead of walking down the trail, he was RUNNING! Oh, to be young.

After initially going downhill for 4 miles, we started our ascent of 650 feet in 5.1 miles. Then we hiked to Charlton Lake, which is quite peaceful and serene. While enjoying the scenery we spotted a bald eagle flying along the water until it went up into the trees. The wind was blowing, and for the first time today, we didn't need our head nets. This area is having a worse than normal mosquito problem. It has been attributed to snow. There were patches of snow across the trail at 6200 feet today. Some of the ponds looked stagnant. One of the thrus commented that there were a lot of dragonflies AND mosquitoes at Summit Lake. My concern is that Mother Goose is using 100% Deet spray and the mosquitoes seem impervious to it. I use Sawyer Family Insect Repellant Controlled Release cream. I have found that I have the best luck putting the cream on the outside of my clothing, and for the most part, the mosquitoes avoid those parts. However, even though I put it on my face and hands, the mosquitoes bite anyway, which is why I wear the head net.

We were planning to camp at Taylor Lake IF the wind was blowing. However, to get there, we had to walk through 3.3 miles of the remains of a forest fire. In fact, it appeared in some places that there had been two fires. Mother Goose hiked the PCT in 1998, and she said it was a year after the fire. The trail markers were not up, and she said they had a hard time finding the trail. The wind whistled through the forest of dead trees. You wondered if the trees would stand long enough for you to get all the way through (yes, although Mother Goose said she heard a tree fall).Finally we reached Taylor Lake, and it was not inviting. There was no wind, the lake edges (where we would have to get water to filter) looked murky, and the mosquitoes were swarming all over us. While reading the Guidebook, we discovered that there was a campground at Irish Lake. The lake was .3 mile further and the campground .25 mile, so we continued walking.

We are camped by a large fire pit near the lake. There were dark clouds on the other side of the lake, but they appear to have moved over us. The water was easy to get to filter. The wind has been blowing since we got here. Some mosquitoes made poor choices and came into my tent, but now they are reminders on the mosquito netting.

Today we hiked 18 miles and both of my knees were not happy the last 4 miles. I am hopeful that a good rest in the tent will solve that problem tomorrow. Tomorrow will be another full day of hiking. We plan to hike into Elk Lake on Sunday for dinner.

Other thrus we met today: Mapman and Robin, who blew by us as if we were standing still.

July 31. 2008
This has been a really nice day. First of all, we were camped 1.5 miles from Shelter Cove. We slept in and got on the trail after 8:30. Then, when we arrived at Shelter Cove, we met Flippy, who had been camping with a group of thru-hikers at Summit Lake, but the mosquitoes were so bad, he hiked 17 miles into SC last night and cowboy camped without mosquitoes. We sat and chatted for awhile, and then decided to take our showers and do our laundry. After that, we sorted through our resupply boxes to make sure we had enough food to Elk Lake.

When we returned to the store, some of the thrus had arrived. We sat and chatted some more, signed the PCT register, ate some food, got the clothes out of the dryer, and then tried to send my Pocketmail messages. However, they refused to go; I tried 3 times. Finally, we put the packs on and set off.

Mother Goose and I figured that we needed to get on the trail before the thrus because we are much slower hikers and we wanted to sleep in bunks at the Maiden Peak Ski Hut. We hiked the road for about a mile and got a ride with a woman who has a bar and restaurant near the TH, which is near the sand barn at Willamette Pass.

We were only on the trail about 1 mile when we saw Scratch and Dent going southbound. Scratch told us about the ski hut and showed us pictures of the interior. Scratch said there was practically a driveway to the hut.

Mother Goose and I continued hiking and stopped at a spring by North Rosary Lake to get water to carry. She also took a picture of me holding the front page of the EO, which I had sent in my resupply box.

Then we continued to hike, thinking that the ski hut was 1.1 mils further. It was not. Reality was that the hut was 2 miles and 250 feet higher than where we were.

When Mother Goose arrived ahead of me, she found Ninja Tortise (his spelling) and Karen already there. We talked to them for awhile, and then Ninja left to go get water from what he thought was a nearby creek.

Mother Goose and I made our dinners, and the Ninja returned. He said he had seen Rapunzel and her hiking partner on the trail, and they were planning to camp further up near Bobby Lake (4 miles further). However, shortly after that the thrus started arriving. Two of them are camped outside. Of the other five, two are on the floor on the main floor, and three are in the loft with Ninja and Karen.

Tomorrow we will probably wake up early because the thrus usually are on the road by 6. We are planning to camp at Taylor Lake, which appears to be 17.7 miles away. However, since it is a lake, we won't have to carry water.

July 30, 2008

Today was exhausting and long. We woke up and were promptly greeted by mosquitoes. Both Mother Goose and I ate our breakfasts in our tents. We were on our way by 7:45.

Nestled in with Nip and Tuck Lakes were other lakes, along with the mosquitoes. It was a pleasant morning and we stopped after about 5 miles for a morning break. As we were sitting and talking, up walked Crow, a long distance hiker who was thru-hiking the PCT for the umpteenth time. Mother Goose met Crow last year when they breakfasted at Timberline. Crow is at least 10 years younger than us and really hustles on the trail. She said she took her adult son hiking last year and slowed down to 15 miles per day!

Shortly before lunch at the Metolius Windigo Horse Campground, Mother Goose took a wrong road and I ended up walking 2 extra miles; because Mother Goose was ahead of me, she probably hiked 3 extra miles before turning around and finding the right trail.

After lunch we began our climb, with the assistance of swarms of mosquitoes. We climbed 690 feet in 3.1 miles. The only thing nice about the trail was that it was primarily for horses, and all the downed trees had been removed from the trail. Besides the mosquitoes, the trail was dusty/sandy, with tree roots, snags, stumps, and rocks. We had our afternoon snack at the top.

Then began what we thought would be our descent; however, there was a 2 mile saddle at the top after Diamond View Lake, which was .7 mile further up. The downhill finally started with a downed tree. The trail was consistent with what we had going uphill.

What appeared to take 2 hours to camp, in reality took me almost 3 hours. My feet are sore and tired. We are camped near a very active creek (Trapper Creek), and Mother Goose estimates we are 2 miles from Shelter Cove.

My mileage estimate 18.7 miles, which includes the 2 extra road walk miles.

July 29. 2008

Today we have been on the PCT for 3 weeks. We started from Cascade Locks 3 weeks ago. I think my body is getting into the hiking mode. I'm not as hungry as I was the first week, and am able to withstand the rigors of hiking a lot better.

Today was also a day of meeting thru hikers. As we were packing up this morning, Scott and Joe came by. They are hiking together and trying to beat Joe's record of 79 days to complete the PCT from Campo to Manning, unsupported. To put this into perspective, yesterday they were at Mazama Village. They are hiking at least 40 miles a day.

Then this afternoon Lucky and Milky passed us. Milky said he came with his trail name from England. Lucky said that he was just lucky to be hiking the trail. They also said that there are three hikers behind us who are also hiking only Oregon.We followed much of the PCT until this afternoon. Then we road walked Road 60 for about .5 mile and then got on the Old Oregon Skyline Trail.The ups were definitely up, not gradual inclines. Most of the descents were gradual, which my knees appreciated. Overall the tread was very nice - like those photos they show of trails.

We passed through forests where all the trees were draped in some sort of moss. There were a few downed trees, and only one or two were a challenge. One I had to take the pack off, crawl underneath, and then pull the pack through. There were a lot of snags on top, so going over wasn't an option.

Although the mosquitoes welcomed us this morning, within an hour, they were gone. It was a cool (60's), overcast day, and one where the fleece was worn mainly for warmth, not to provide an extra mosquito layer.

We took the Oldenberg Trail and are camped near Nip and Tuck Lakes. We dropped our packs where we planned to camp, and took our cups and containers to the lake for water. Then we returned to our campsite and started the filtering process. I have enough water till the next source, Oldenberg Lake, which is 2.3 miles from here.

Tomorrow we plan to camp near Shelter Cove on a creek, and then on Thursday morning go in, get showered, our clothes laundered and get our resupply boxes. After that, we will get on the trail for Elk Lake, and should arrive on Sunday.

Today we hiked 14.5 miles, not counting the round trip to Nip and Tuck Lakes for water.

July 28, 2008

We slept in till 7, and then had coffee in bed before packing up and going over to the lodge for breakfast.

Since I had learned not to feast before hiking, I got the 'reduced menu' of 1 French toast and two pieces of bacon. Mother Goose got bacon instead of the sausage that she ordered, so I got her two pieces too.

Then I called Campmor about my broken pole. Because it had been more than a year since I bought the poles, they referred me to the Leki customer service. When I called that number, the rep said they only deal with Campmor, not the public. Seeing how it isn't going to get resolved while I'm on the trail, I decided to continue to use the pole as is, which I call Stumpy. I just make sure that Stumpy is on the upside of the hill since it is shorter than the other pole.

I got my box mailed and then a hiker arrived from The Netherlands. He was picking up his resupply package, and the postmistress gave him the PCT register. After he signed it, Mother Goose and I looked at all the entries since 1995. Then we signed it, and got ready for our hike.

We left the lodge at 9:40, which is late for us. We used a back road behind the cabins to access the Howlock Mountain Trail 1448. At the TH is a corral with horses to rent. There is also a campground only for horses. There was evidence of horse use on the trail to Thielson Creek. In fact, a party of four came down the trail, as we were going up. And up it was. It was up from Diamond Lake; we crossed Highway 138 for the Howlock Mt. Trail at 5360 feet; at Thielson Creek it was 6040 feet. When we finally joined the PCT, we had hiked 7.2 miles and were at 7320 feet - and we still had more up.

Of course the worst part is that there is a water alert for 25.9 miles between Thielsen Creek and Nip and Tuck Lake. So, at the Creek we had to filter out a Platypus of water and carry it in our packs. My Platypus holds 3 liters. This was in addition to my full, 1-liter bottle and my full 28-ounce bottle. Also, after Thielsen Creek, the trail was full of downed trees, which slowed us down, because either we had to go over/under/or around, and then get back on the trail.

We had lunch where the trail met the PCT. We met Lost there. She is a young, 20 something who road hiked around the closed PCT because of the forest fires. She said it wasn't fun, but she wanted to be able to say she had hiked from Mexico to Canada.We continued to climb, including traversing snowy patches across the trail. Most of the snow was slushy, but once Stumpy got stuck and I had to wiggle him out. Finally we reached the high point for OR and WA on the PCT - 7560 feet. We took pictures to mark the occasion, and then began our descent.

We are camped at the junction on the PCT and the Maidu Lake Trail. There is water at Maidu Lake, but it is 1 mile, one way. We are at 6190 feet, and it is 5.1 miles from the high point. Overall, the tread was much better than what we've seen for at least a week. The mosquitoes were out in force today, and the head net was worn quite a lot. In fact, I can see the value of mosquito pants, gloves, and shirt. God sent us some breezes during the heat of the afternoon, which was quite welcome.

Tomorrow is supposed to be an easy hike, according to Mother Goose. There are a few ups and downs, but nothing like what we had today. Nip and Tuck Lake is 14.5 miles, but we may go further. We expect to be at Shelter Cove on Wed. late afternoon or Thurs. morning.

A few mosquitoes are under my rain fly - between the tent and the rain fly, but they are not moving around. Could be because it's 59 degrees and 8:45 PM.

July 27, 2008

We awoke to a foggy 48 degree morning at the campsite. We packed up and started walking the highway towards the Diamond Lake Lodge. We got a ride after a mile with a man going fishing. He commented that my backpack weighed too much for even him to carry.

We immediately inquired about a room at the lodge, and got a double for $89; however we had to wait until after 12 to get in. In the meantime we ate breakfast, dozed on the couch, watched TV, and read the Sunday newspaper. I found a box to send some of my treasures and overweight items home. For instance, I'm sending home my town skirt and the LS t-shirt I bought in Crater Lake. Maps, brochures, and other paperwork are also in the box. I'm trying to lighten my pack because we have some bigger days coming up with fewer sources of water.

After we got into our room, Mother Goose discovered that the plug for the TV was broken. She repaired it with my knife (thanks to skills she learned in the U.S. Army). Now she was set for her TV fix.

The first thing I wanted was a shower. I use Wet Ones each night to get off the surface dirt, but after a few days, you start to develop a brownish, dirt-colored tan. Then I had Mother Goose check out my stab wounds on the back of my leg. I got stabbed by a snag on a downed tree two days ago. That night, I cleaned the wounds, but wasn't sure (because I couldn't see them), that everything was A-OK. So, I had Mother Goose play nurse and check to make sure nothing was infected; it wasn't.

I gathered the laundry and went down to the on-site laundromat. No detergent, although I spotted a used softener sheet on an out-of-order washing machine. I came back to the room and got a bar of soap and my knife. I shaved the soap into the washing machine and we were good to go. The clothes came out clean too.

Back in the room Mother Goose was eating ice cream and watching TV. I started filling my box with items I would not need. I bought some gloves at the store on site that are much lighter in weight than my neoprene gloves, yet should keep my hands warm.

We went to dinner in the cafe. I had the Sunday special: beef pot roast with carrots, onions, celery, potatoes, and gravy, also garlic toast and a salad. There is even a box with leftovers tempting me now.

Tomorrow: The post office opens at 9, so we will leave after that. It appears that tomorrow will be a long one - 17 or more miles.

The Adventures continue!!

2008-07-27T20:26:00.000-07:00

July 26, 2006

It was a balmy 39 degrees at 6:00 AM when we woke up. We decided to stay in our tents till 7, and finally got back on the trail at 8:40.We were still following the stock trail of the PCT. Those pesky nuisances (mosquitoes) were out and I put on my head net. It seemed to have some sort of attractant, but that was ok because they were on the outside. There were trees down across the trail for what seemed like every 100 feet. I likened it to wildlife hurdles, except it was a mix of high and low, some with snags, and others without. Finally we came to a junction that would take us to Boundary Waters. We followed that trail to the Rogue River. We could have gone cross country, and across the river on a log, to the headwaters, but didn't. We had a photo opp near a cascading waterfall on the Rogue, before heading back on the trail.

Mother Goose told me that the trail was full of ups and downs, and followed the Rogue through a canyon before we crossed it on a bridge. Unfortunately, I missed an arrow she laid on the trail, and I continued up a very short, steep incline. I arrived at the dirt road a short time later with Mother Goose nowhere in sight. I looked to the left and to the right on the road for her tale-tale footprints, but could find nothing. I decided to stay put. About 20 minutes later I heard my name being called.

See, I didn't know we went from the Boundary Waters Trail to the Rogue River Trail. I thought we were just on the BWT. At any rate, we walked the dirt road to where Mother Goose had stowed her pack and then walked a ways further to a spot near the road for lunch. After lunch we continued to walk the road for 2-3 miles, finally coming to Highway 230. Mother Goose had had enough of the dirt road and decided that we would walk on the shoulder to where our trail took off on the left.

Shortly before getting on this trail, a young couple and their dog pulled over onto the shoulder of the highway. The man wanted to know if we were PCT hikers and what we were doing on the road (avoiding the snow on Mt. Thielson). He said he had started at Campo and hiked to Forrester. He was lonely so he went home. I forgot to ask him his name, but he said he had read my trail journals. WOW! This is the first person I've met "on the road" who has read them. Thanks.

Back on the trail. The road was the old Highway 230, which is now closed to motor traffic. We were looking for the entrance to the Broken Arrow Campground because there is a free hiker/biker area. After going round and round through the campground, we located the campground host. Basically, you go through N and follow the bike trail to the hiker/biker campground. There is a bathroom structure and several picnic tables with fire pits on sand pads. We are camped closest to the bathroom. Mother Goose has her tent on the sand, and I'm off in a grassy area.

Tomorrow our plan is to get up early and head into the Diamond Lake Lodge for breakfast. We are going to inquire about getting a room Sunday night and having another zero day. Mother Goose needs her TV fix, and I have items to mail home on Monday. We are also going to see about putting in a water cache for Monday, as it is 26 miles between reliable water sources (as opposed to carrying water).

Miles traveled, excluding going round and round in the park: 11. Feels like 20.

http://www.co.douglas.or.us/countyinfo/dl.html

July 25, 2008

Happy Birthday, Chris.Good Luck, Carol.

I awoke a 6:15 and it was 48 degrees outside. That was decidedly warmer than the previous night of 37. I got up, but was somewhat disorganized in packing my pack. The park provided individual bear lockers at each campsite, so all of my snacks and lunch had to be taken out of the food bag that goes on top of my sleeping bag in the bottom of my pack, and put in a more accessible location in my pack.

Even though we planned to be at the Annie Springs Restaurant at 7 when they opened, reality was 7:15, and even then, I was busy in the bathroom getting my contact lenses in (a real bathroom beats a travel mirror any day). I was amazed to see the grit in the container from the day before.

After breakfast, we loaded up and walked to the new TH for the Annie Springs Trail - a mere .5 mile straight up to the PCT. Somewhere along here Dragon Ant passed us. He started in Campo, bypassed the areas of wildfires (the PCT is closed there) and is heading to Canada. We had already decided to take the stock trail because it had less ups and downs. What we hadn't counted on were the downed trees.This PCT trail goes through the Bybee Controlled Fire of 2006. Mother Goose said that this trail was closed last year. It was obvious from the condition of the trail that no one had done any trail maintenance for quite awhile. Not only that, but no stock had been on the trail for quite awhile - at least not this year. We initially were maintaining a 2 mph pace, but with the downed trees, our pace dropped to 1.5 mph.

The pesky mosquitoes were out too. However they much preferred Mother Goose over me. Luck of the Irish! I found that if I forcibly exhaled air from my mouth, jutting my lower lip out, that the mosquitoes left me alone.

Tonight Mother Goose tried an experiment with a cut clove of garlic. She rubbed it on her hand, and the mosquitoes avoided it. She has hiked the AT (Appalachian Trail) with Oklahoma George who ate garlic and whose body exuded a garlic smell. She said he never had trouble with mosquitoes.

The highlight of the day was that one of my poles broke. I have no idea how it happened. I placed my poles on the other side of a downed tree and then hoisted myself over. When I picked up my poles, I noticed that the lower 6 inches of one pole was at a 30 degree angle. When I went to put it back, it broke off in my hand. I lengthened the other sections so that it is almost long enough, and put the short piece in my pack. When I get to Diamond Lake on Sunday I will call Campmor and see what can be done. Mother Goose thinks Leki warrants them from breakage, but we'll see.

We had a very relaxing afternoon break at Red Cone Springs. We were sitting on logs near the headwaters where the spring was coming out of the ground. We filled our bottles and Platypuses because our next water source is Boundary Springs 7 miles away. After our break, we continued to hike for another hour, making it a 15 mile day. The only marks on the trail appear to be another hiker ahead of us and lots of deer. We are camped in an area of felled trees. It appears to be sectioned off, but we don't think it's intentional.

Because the mosquitoes were annoying while we were cooking dinner, we went to our tents to eat in peace. I was lucky and only had one mosquito in my tent, which soon became very unlucky.

Tomorrow we will hike towards Diamond Lake and camp in the free hiker/biker campground 2 miles south of the restaurant. Then on Sunday we will go in and have breakfast.

July 24, 2008

What a relaxing zero day we had. I slept in till 7:30, got up, took a shower (3 quarters for 4 minutes), came back to camp, and Mother Goose and I went to the breakfast buffet at the Annie Springs Restaurant. After breakfast we got a ride to the rim where we played tourists. We took some pictures sitting on the ledge with Wizard Island and Crater Lake in the background. We went to the visitor center where we saw the two men who were camped near us last night.

On my way to the bathroom last night, I stopped to talk to them. They appeared to be in their 20's to 30's, and had left Highway 140 (Fish Lake) the same day we did. They figured it would take them 6 days to get here, so they had a lot of food. Most of it was prepared backpacking food, such that you will find in the camping sections of specialty stores. They also had a Costco-sized bag of beef jerky. The younger man was telling me how he slid down Lee Peak hitting the same tree I did, except he continued to slide all the way to the bottom. His friend walked down the snowy trail and took his picture as he came sliding by.

They were supposed to have family pick them up this weekend, but were hoping to get a ride today.As luck would have it, we saw them and their family in the snack bar adjacent to the gift shop. The family seemed more interested in Mother Goose and my adventures, than their own son's. Kentucky Grey Beard also showed up for lunch. He had to pick up his resupply at the post office.

Finally, we went to the Crater Lake Lodge. I sat in a rocking chair out on the deck overlooking the lake while Mother Goose made Amtrak reservations at the end of our hike. Then, I remembered that I needed to post my daily reports, so I used the pay phone next to her. Crater Lake is the cell phone dead zone - Mother Goose has Verizon and her neighborhood is not here.

We looked at the lunch menu and decided on getting the chocolate lava fudge dessert with whipped cream. It was good, but not as good as the one at Austin's. Darlene: be sure to let Austin's know that Crater Lake Lodge can't do it better.

Then we got a ride back to Mazama with a couple celebrating their 35th anniversary today. They were driving a zip car, which they explained was similar to a rental car. (www.zipcar.com) They live in Portland and don't own a car. Interesting concept, but not sure how it would play in Eastern Oregon.

We gathered our laundry and headed back to the Mazama store and laundromat. Fortunately, there was no wait. We waited for our laundry to finish at a shaded picnic table in front. I got the PCT hiker register, read some of the entries. Most of the hikers we had seen on the trail had signed the book. We made our entries, and passed the book onto some men who were also hiking. Then we came back to camp. Mother Goose started working out the details of the next few days, and I returned to the store to use the pay phone.

When I returned to camp, I worked on getting 5 days worth of food ready. We decided to split a package of macaroni and cheese for dinner. That worked fine till I spilled most of my noodles on the picnic table, and most of them found their way to the ground. There was still enough left for me to eat.

It was 7:00 PM when we went to our tents to get ready for tomorrow's hike. We will break camp and be at the restaurant at 7 AM when it opens. Then we are taking the Annie Springs trail to where it joins the PCT and follow the "stock" trail rather than the rim trail (which has too many ups and downs). We should be at Diamond Lake in two days; Shelter Cove three days later, and then on to Elk Lake Resort.

Onward to Crater Lake

2008-07-24T15:27:00.000-07:00

July 23, 2008

What a successful day we had. It was cold last night. At 5 AM it was 37 degrees, and at 6 it was 39. We got up anyway and were on the trail by 7:30.

There were a lot of patches of snow on the trail, and in some parts obscuring the trail. At one juncture, someone had drawn a large arrow into the ground so that we knew which way to go.

We had planned to get water at Stuart Falls, but missed the trail. We don't know if the sign had been knocked down, or, as we later learned from the Crater Lake NP side, if it had been re-routed. In any event, we had to make do with what water we had, which for me was 1 liter of water for 14.6 miles until we reached Mazama Village. I had a full package of Shot Bloks which I chewed.

The trail in the national park was awesome. It was, for the most part, cleaned, with very little debris. In one part there were little pine trees on both sides. I wouldn't have been surprised to have seen tree arches at the end of the trail. What we couldn't understand was with all that cleaning, why they hadn't taken the snow blower and removed the snow :-)

We got to Highway 62 right around 2 and walked the 1.25 miles into Mazama. We smelled food coming from the Annie Creek Restaurant, so we set our packs in the lobby and went inside for a meal. I had a small pizza and 2 glasses of lemonade, in addition to the glass of water.We saw Kentucky Grey Beard eating lunch. He has camped about 7 miles from Mazama and had hiked in, and showered. After his lunch, he had to go to the post office up by the rim.

After lunch we checked in for a camp site for 2 days. $42 and some change. We have a big site, and our tents are nestled under trees and not too visible from the road. Each campsite has its own bear vault which easily accommodates two backpacks.We went back to the store to pick up our resupply boxes and get some treats. I had not brought a towel, and had been using my skirt, which was somewhat inconvenient when I had to put it on damp. So I bought a towel, a candy bar, and a box of band aids. We picked up our boxes and went back to camp.

While Mother Goose was figuring how many days we had to hike from place to place, I went back to the store and bought a bag of ice, two microbrews, and a t-shirt (50% off due to a fire sale). Then I came back, took off my shoes and put my tootsies in zip bags of ice water. That felt really good.

Mother Goose has decided that we need 5 days of food to Shelter Cove. I have at least that amount in my resupply box. She tries to encourage me to buy my snacks locally, but for the most part I like nutritionally dense snacks, rather that packaged cheese and crackers.I suspect it will be another cold night. I'm in my sleeping bag, with top and bottom long underwear, fleece top, and buff on my head. Tomorrow: We take showers, put on clean clothes, go to the breakfast buffet, and then go up on the rim to see the sights. Hopefully, the Laundromat will be operational. That's what burned. Then kick back.

http://www.nps.gov/PWR/customcf/apps/maps/showmap.cfm?alphacod e=crla&parkname=Crater%20Lake%20National%20Park

July 22, 2008

Word for the day SNOW. I had a very difficult time sleeping. There were periods of thunder and lightening, which was a concern since we were camped right next to the lake. I couldn't get comfortable. My knee ached. Finally I woke myself up at 7.

We got on the trail by 8:30. First order was to climb Devils Peak and glissade down Lee Peak Saddle. Mother Goose had told me about glissading in 2003 when I met her. However, hearing about it, telling about how to do it, and doing it are all different experiences. The trail was very difficult going up to Devils Peak. There were downed trees, most of the trail was rocky and narrow, and there were patches of snow. When we turned the corner, I saw what Mother Goose was referring to. There was snow all across the trail, but you could slide downhill and meet the trail on the lower slopes. Mother Goose provided the demonstration and was quickly down the mountain.

It was my turn. To say it went smoothly is an exaggeration. You sit down on the snow and push yourself. You are supposed to steer with your poles, shortened all the way in. You can dig your heels into the snow to slow yourself down. I forgot that part. I was heading for the top of an evergreen tree. I tried to steer away, but hit it broadside and started rolling sideways down the hill. I stopped on a rock about 50 feet from the trail. My poles were up in the snow about 10 feet up and my water bottle was about 5 feet away. I took off my backpack and gathered everything. Then I rolled the backpack down to the trail. From start at 8:30 to finish at 11:00, we had only hiked 2.6 miles. But they were very intense miles at that. We stopped for a snack, and then decided to stop for lunch 3.6 miles later.The trail continued to be difficult, with many patches of snow covering the trail. There were footsteps to follow. However, maintaining your balance was difficult, and once I fell backwards into a tree. At lunch I discovered that I was missing one of my 1-liter water bottles.I have no idea when it fell out of the front pocket. So if you see a water bottle in rock slide and wonder how it got there, I may have an explanation.

I filtered two liters of water and filled my remaining bottle. Mother Goose filled a platypus with water to filter at camp.After lunch, the trail got more difficult. It was rocky and had many ruts. It looked like water runs through it, but not now. Kentucky Grey Beard passed me. He did not know Mother Goose, who is also from KY. He started at Campo and was on his way to Canada.The trail started to climb - in 1.9 miles it gained 630 feet. After taking our afternoon break at the McKie Camp Trail intersection, we started downhill towards where we planned to camp.

First Forest passed me. He had started at Donner Pass a few weeks ago and said he should have waited a few more weeks. He was young and traveling light. Then Fred passed me. He also started at Donner Pass and had recently met Forest. Fred said he was able to walk across the snowfield on the upper trail. He started at Campo last year and his body gave out at Donner Pass. He plans to go to Canada, or as far as his body will let him.My body was saying, "Find camp." We got to the Jack Spring spur trail about 6. There were a lot of level sites to choose from. I feared if we went another mile, we would not be as lucky. So we each set up our tents, cooked dinner, and got ready for tomorrow. It is going to be a cold night. Already it is 52 degrees at 8:45. The mosquitoes appear to have gone to sleep too. At least they're not buzzing around trying to get in the tent.

Tomorrow we hike into Mazama Campground at Crater Lake. I've never been there, and we're thinking of having a zero day there. Today we hiked 13.4 miles, and it will be about the same tomorrow.

July 21, 2008

Today can be summed up in one word: MOSQUITOES. They were out when we woke up at 5:45. For a change, I was waiting for Mother Goose to get packed up and on the trail.In all fairness to Mother Goose, she did not feel well at all last night. After she told me she was feeling nauseous, I took an Alka Seltzer too. We don't know if it was food borne or not.

From my vantage point at our table at the Fish Lake Resort restaurant, I was able to observe the waiter take a cleaning cloth, drop it on the floor, and use his foot to wipe the spill. Then with his right hand he added some water to a decaf carafe, and with his left hand, picked up the cloth from the floor. He walked the length of the counter where the stools were to the sink at the end, where he dumped the water from the carafe. On his way back, he placed the cloth on the edge of the counter. For the life of me I can't remember if this was before or after we got our food.

I also saw him prepare Mother Goose's salad with his bare hands. Mother Goose thought this may have been his first day on the job. We should have said something, but didn't. We both have food handler's cards and know this was not how it's supposed to be done. The cloth was still on the counter when we got up and paid our bill.'

At any rate, we realized this morning that if we took the PCT it would take us directly to the Four mile TH parking lot. There, Mother Goose yogied a ride for us to the Four mile Lake Trail. We took that trail to the Badger Lake Trail and then got back on the PCT. The reason we did this was to avoid the snow on Mt. McLoughlin.

However, the mosquitoes were swarming around us to the extent that it was like a dark cloud following us. I found out that my pants were up to the task but the mosquitoes were able to bite through my nylon shirt. My head net came out, and some unfortunate mosquitoes made it inside only to be quickly extinguished. I ended up putting repellent on my arms and other body parts where I didn't want to be bitten. Lesson for tomorrow: First, apply repellent, then go outside.

The terrain was relatively easy and I would have appreciated it more had I not had to constantly ward off those pesky nuisances. There were several downed trees. Most of them appeared to have been dead before falling over onto the trail. A few challenged my lack of nimbleness.

We are camped at Snow Lake and Mother Goose has had bad experiences every time she has camped here. She thinks she hears thunder, but I don't hear anything except airplanes flying overhead.

We hiked over 15 miles today and my feet are sore. At least a mile was on more lava flow, which is very hard on my feet. I have a blister on my right, lower heel, which I treated tonight. I think I found all of my mosquito bites and put hydrocortisone cream on them.

Tomorrow we go over Devils Peak and hope to camp at Stuart Falls. It will be a long day, but if we get there
we will only be about 11 miles from Mazama Village (Crater Lake).

July 20, 2008

Well, we weren't where we thought we were last night. Somehow we missed the turn for the Brown Mountain Trail and actually had hiked a mile of the lava flow. We awoke at 5:45 and were on the trail by 7:00. Although we rationed our water for breakfast, neither of us were speed demons going across the remaining 4.8 miles of lava on Brown Mountain. There were numerous ups and downs, and it felt like you were going around and around the mountain. The trail was rough - a combination of small red rocks resembling gravel and larger boulders. There was an occasional tree across the trail, and evidence that work crew had been out clearing downed trees. We arrived at Highway 140 at 10:45. I was in lunch mode so I set a 2 mph pace and we arrived at the Fish Lake Resort shortly before noon.

We were quite thirsty and quickly drank our glasses of water. I ordered a hamburger with ham and Swiss with fries, and Mother Goose got a regular hamburger with salad. We split the fries and salad. I finished everything (clean plate club).Then we set about getting our showers and laundry. $1 to wash the clothes, and $.50 to dry, although not everything was dry. Showers were $1.00 for 3.5 minutes, and Mother Goose could not get the hot water to come on until she put in another dollar. My shower seemed much shorter than the 4 minute shower we had at Klum Landing. I didn't even get the soap rinsed out of my hair. We performed other chores while waiting for the dryer to finish, like washing our cook sets and charging our cell phones.

Then we went back to the store and picked up our box. Because we are doing longer days, we didn't need as much food, so some items got donated to the hiker box, like packages of oatmeal and apple-cinnamon trail bars. Those bars are heavy on the spices, and IMHO not good.

As we were sorting our food a couple sat near us. They had just mountain biked from Lake of the Woods over to Fish Lake. Disco and Princess of Darkness, thru hikers from Colorado, arrived and set their packs down near ours. They are traveling very lightly and using packs that offer very little support. Of course, they're young. Princess was wearing a Macabi skirt she had hiked up, so it was shorter.

Mother Goose and I treated ourselves to waffle cone soft serve sundaes. Slowly we packed up. I had a difficult time getting everything to fit, but managed. We got a ride back to the trail head with a man who was going fishing. We are camped on the other side of a creek (Highway 140, creek, our campsites). Although we can hear the traffic, it is not comparable to I-5 at Callahan’s.We have been warned that the mosquitoes are worse than normal. I have some Sawyer repellent, and I treated my clothes with a Sawyer premethrium product by rolling up the clothes and having the product soak in. It's supposed to repel biting insects for 6 washings. So far it is working. I also have a head net.

Tomorrow we are planning to leave the PCT and do the lake route. Part of this is because we don't have accurate information on snow - Mt. McLoughlin, and a few other peaks. Mother Goose has hiked the lake route several times. She says it is shorter than the PCT and has fewer ups and downs.

Today's hike was short - 7 miles.

July 19, 2008

Last night when I was composing my blog, I heard a man talking, "One zero niner over" three times. It scared the willies out of me. The door of my tent faced the trees, so I had no clue what was going on. Mother Goose heard it too, and she thinks it was a hiker trying to find the rest of his party, because, as luck would have it, the PCT trail started right across the road from where we camped.

I slept so well last night that Mother Goose had to come over and shout my name while shaking my tent. I was dead to the world, but scared her because she wondered if I had died in my sleep. My cats know all too well that I can sleep through alarm clocks.

We had a leisurely breakfast, and while enjoying it, we met thru-hikers Pippi and Outback. They are a young, married couple from Utah. They camped at thfont>e Klum Landing Campground. They were very polite and said, "See you around." We thought probably not as our packs are heavier, and we walk slower.

This was a much prettier hike than yesterday. Much of the hike was in the forests. At Big Springs Creeklet we met a couple camping. They had pulled their trailer up to the creek. Walking to the far side you could fill your bottles directly from the spring. They were quite helpful on water sources, as they had the PCT map for the section we are hiking. They assured Mother Goose that they had heard water at Little Butte Creek, although it is not a reliable source of water.

After that we had a climb up to the Rogue River National Forest Boundary. This area was characterized with giant pine cones and lots of blow downs. Mother Goose thinks most of the blow downs are from 2003, when she hiked that section. She said there were at least 500 trees across the trail.We had lunch near the top. While waiting fofont>r me to arrive, Mother Goose saw a red four-wheeler with a man driving and either a woman or child with him. There was also a large cooler in the back. They were making their own road and were about 300' from where she sat. Unfortunately, that area of the forest is only open to hikers and horses. As we were eating lunch, they came down the mountain on the same trail. They were too far away to see clearly, but the red color stood out.

Then I started out on the hike, with the intention of meeting Mother Goose at the Brown Mountain Shelter. The trail was mostly downhill. At times it was difficult to plant your feet squarely on the trail because it was gully-shaped.Near the Dead Indian Road trailhead there was evidence of purposeful sabotage of the trail. For instance a 2' diameter log was rolled out lengthwise onto the trail so that it was quite difficult to get around. At first I thought a bear had moved it, but there were no tracks and no scat. Then, a little way further there were two, well-spaced fresh piles of horse do-do. Again, no tracks.

One of the trail markers was moved to show a turn down a blocked road. There was a Forest Service sign on a tree cautioning not to tamper with any of the signs. Scratched into the sign near the top was "NO LOGGING NO HOUSES". Finally the signs at the parking area trailhead had been vandalized. This is such a beautiful area that it's too bad we all can't live in harmony.

I got to the Brown Mountain Shelter and was surprised to see Pippi and Outback. He said they had been there for a few hours and had taken a siesta. They were going to eat dinner, but would help me get the water, because, you guessed it, the pump handle had been broken off. This shelter is used by hikers, equestrians, skiers, and snow mobilers. Outback had rigged a piece of wood to where the handle had been, and with the two of them pulling up, we were able to fill our bottles. I filled both of mine and added about a cup to my Platypus. Mother Goose only filled one bottle, because she was planning to carry water from Little Butte Creek.

As we were hiking, we saw a spring that was off trail, and her reasoning was that it flowed into the creek. Alas, the creek was dry. Our next water source is down the Brown Mountain Trail, which is not too far from where we're camped. As it is, we hiked further than we planned. We have crossed several lava flows, which are covered in red rocks similar to what Sisters uses in the winter on its roads. We have made camp in an area between lava flows near Minor Ridge. These will not be "Leave no Trace", as we had to clean the area of twigs and branches before setting up our tents. My spot has two ups and a down, but as tired as I am, I don't think it will matter. As near as I can tell, we hiked 17 miles today.

Tomorrow: Get up early. Mother Goose is going to hike to get water and I will stay on the trail with the packs and set up for breakfast. Then we will continue to hike the lava flows for 5.8 miles, and walk Highway 140 for 2.2 miles to Fish Lake, where our resupply package awaits us, as well as showers, laundry, and restaurant food.

July 18, 2008

We got to sleep in, and that we did, getting up around 7 and arriving at the Green Springs Inn about 45 minutes later. They had big mugs of hot coffee. I had the Italian Eggs Benedict with home fries. The Italian part was Italian sausage with chopped red bell pepper. The sauce was lemon-flavored and really good. I ate almost all of it. I topped off my water bottles, and an hour later Mother Goose and I set off.We decided to walk up the road directly in front of the restaurant for 3 miles. Then we picked up the PCT at the Hyatt Lake Resort.

Less than a quarter of a mile down the trail is a signed trail to water, except the water was not turned on. Mother Goose was counting on this reliable water source, so she climbed over the fence and used the water faucet in front of a building. She talked to a man about the lack of water and his explanation was that they had moved the horse corral so there was no need to have the faucet turned on. In fact, he indicated that they should remove the sign on the trail. Never mind that this water source is mentioned in the guidebook, data book, and Yogi's data book. We are going to contact Pacific Crest Trail Association to let them know about this because they will know who to contact and which bush to shake.

I was hiking really slowly today (less than 1.5 mph). For one thing, I over-ate at breakfast and wasn't ready to eat anything until 2:30. I was hot, even though temperature-wise it was cooler today than yesterday. I was taking frequent water breaks. We were hiking through a very desert environment where the trail was dusty or rocky or both.Yesterday I fell again. I tripped on a rock with my left foot; the next rock was for my left knee, and the last rock was for my right forehead. I had already banged up my knee in my fall down Eagle Creek, and my forehead on a rock going down on the Chinidere Trail. I've been sporting a shiner for the past few days, so I guess I just wanted to perpetuate the look. My knee is swollen, so I had wrapped it with an Ace bandage. I also haven't gotten my hiking legs yet, so I think yesterday's long mileage took its toll.

There was evidence that there had been a lot of downed trees this year. They had been cut so that the trail was unobstructed. This was not for the hiker's benefit, but the equestrian's. The PCT is shared with the horses.

We had originally planned to hike 15 miles today, but with me being slow, we decided to camp near the Klum Landing Campground. We inquired about getting a campsite, but for $18 for a tent, we decided to camp in the woods. However, we each took a shower for two quarters for 4 minutes. The best part was a clean body after 2 days of hiking dusty trails. The worst thing was putting our dirty hiking clothes back on. Of course, we did put on clean undies and socks. We also got water at the spigot, filling up our Platypuses too. Then we hiked up, what the data book describes as "little-used road", which just happens to parallel the PCT, except it is flatter.

We are camped in an established camping area. There is a fire ring of rocks. There are very old cow pies and road apples. There is also an established ant population, which forced both of us inside our tents. I'm just hoping that we will not have visitors from Medford or Klamath Falls tonight - this being Friday night. Overall, we hiked 11 miles today. We have about 24 miles till we get to Fish Lake, but we expect to be there on Sunday. We have a box waiting, as well as access to showers and laundry.

Bad news: the pants are getting looser. I can feel the gluteus maximus burn, as well as the hamstrings and calves. What body parts will be next?

July 17, 2008
Revelry came at 5:15 when two of the concrete workers arrived. The concrete truck arrived at 5:30. However, we were slow to get moving. We enjoyed our coffee sitting in the chairs watching the sunrise.

As we were getting ready to return the PCT book to Donna, Ron Berquist asked us if we wanted a ride to the trail head. The answer was an immediate yes, as that ride cut 1.6 uphill road miles from our hike.Ron told us that they had owned Callahan’s for 13 years, and had spent 10 years of money and sweat trying to improve upon a structure that was poorly built. He said that one of the blessings of the fire was that the termites went up in smoke too. So, they thought long and hard about whether they wanted to rebuild.

Mother Goose and I had already decided to camp as close to the Green Springs Inn as we could. The hike started with a gradual uphill to Pilot Rock. We posed for pictures later down the trail with the rock in the background.

Along the way we met two day hikers from Ashland. One of the men used to live in Dayville and worked at John Day Fossil Beds. He said his son was born in John Day 33 years ago.We ate lunch at what was supposed to be a fenced-in spring. Actually, it was piped with a broken faucet. We had to go outside the fence to the spring for water.

We met the owner of the adjacent land. He is planning to build a green house - off grid. He told us where to look on the web for his ideas, and relying on memory, I think is was www.beckrock.com, but of course I could be mistaken. He said he would repair the faucet, because he was handy with plumbing tools.The next part of the hike consisted of lots of ups and downs. Interspersed along the way were areas of blackened rocks and no trees, coniferous forests, water-dependent plants, and sandy soil. One could easily see the effects of one of the nearby eruptions. The last almost 3 miles were tortuous.

Up and down on private property. By the time we reached Highway 66 at Green Springs Summit, our feet were ready to quit. We had our maps out trying to figure out where the Green Springs Inn was in relation to where we were (between mileposts 17 and 18), which was meaningless to us because we didn't know what mile marker we were at.

We met a couple returning to their car after walking their two huskies. They offered us a ride to a suitable camping spot close to the inn. It was a little tight in the backseat, so my backpack went up on the roof carrier. They dropped us off 200 yards from the inn, near an abandoned jeep road. We hiked back about 100' and found suitable spots. All in all, we hiked 17.7 miles. However, we get to sleep in tomorrow as the Green Springs Inn doesn't open till 7:30. The couple who offered us a ride urged us to get a ride to Hyatt Lake Resort, which is on the PCT. That would cut 2.6 miles from our hike.

The Next Leg of our Adventure....

2008-07-17T07:33:00.000-07:00

July 16, 2008

We woke up at our usual time and ate breakfast in the cool morning (we had our fleece on). Then we packed up and got on the trail by 8.

Mother Goose was in restaurant mode, rather than hiking mode. We were averaging better than 2 mph, and the terrain was not all downhill. We ate lunch at the Mt. Ashland Inn's picnic table at 11:00. Then went back, on the trail till it crossed FS 20. At that point we decided that the road looked a lot less hilly, and maybe we could get a ride.

It happened. A woman, who worked at the Mt. Ashland Inn, stopped and offered us a ride into Callahan's. This was her summer job, as she has been a part-time student and special needs school bus driver.

It was just after noon when we arrived. The place was buzzing with activity. In the back, the concrete guys were pouring the deck. We chatted with the concrete owner's son and another worker. He said that the business was year-round, and they travel from Washington to California for jobs.

Because there were so many workers vying for the 'hiker' bathroom, we decided to go into Ashland, get some more supplies, eat at a restaurant, and then come back, clean up, and do the laundry, which is also in the hiker bathroom.

We got a ride with Jose, a concrete worker who lives in Medford. He's single, 42, and looking for Miss Right. He dropped us off at the gas station, near the Knight's Inn. We felt like we were 'home'.

We went to Albertson's for laundry detergent and softener sheets, as well as more bars - for me that was some peanut bars and a few Payday candy bars. Then we went to dinner, although it was only 4:00 PM at the Mexican restaurant. I had the steak fajitas and the hiker appetite is almost back.

We called two cab companies for prices back to Callahan's. Yellow Cab quoted $25 and Cascade Airport Shuttle $15. CAS got our business. The owner/driver told us that she did a lot of hiker business and had just taken a couple last week from Ashland to Yreka so they could start where they left off.

When we got back the workers were gone. We got ourselves cleaned up and our clothes washed and dried. Our food is sorted in our food sacks. I donated some oatmeal to the hiker box.

Donna arrived with the PCT register and camera. She took our picture and then took us on a grand tour. Her husband started Shari's and built 34 of them. They bought Callahan's and the rest is history.

Tonight I have my tent set up on the gazebo and I'll be sleeping with my food in my tent. Mother Goose is sleeping cowboy style with her food in the foot of her bag. Hopefully, this will prevent the fat racoons from getting our food.

Game plan tomorrow: Get up early and hike 17 miles. Breakfast at the Green Springs Inn will await us on Friday morning.

July 15, 2008

Last night was one of the best sleeps I have had since starting this hike. I set up my tent under some trees, but left the rain fly off. Around 2, I woke up and could smell the smoke from the California fires. However, I could still see the stars.

Mother Goose and I got up around 7 and quickly ate breakfast. We hung our food and stashed our packs. We set out with water bottles and snacks for the border. We had not gone a mile when we ran into snow across the trail. This particular trail was cut into the mountain, so the snow obliterated the trail. We looked for ways around, but found none. Since I had already had my lesson on how to fall on mossy, slick-with water rocks in sandy soil, I didn't feel like I wanted the lesson icy and snowy rocks in sandy soil. So, we took pictures and called it good.

We retraced our steps back to our campsite and retrieved our packs and food.We decided to road walk FS 20 in the hopes of either getting a ride, or shortening the miles to walk today. We also knew where the water sources were on the road, and would only have to carry water for 5 uphill miles, as opposed to 12.9 on the PCT route. We made exceedingly good time.

That is, until after lunch. We ate lunch at the 5-way road junction on Long John Saddle (5880'). Then, we started uphill for the next 2 hours on the road, finally cresting at 7030', 4 miles later. It was hot, but we had sufficient water. I sucked on Shot Bloks too, which seemed to energize me.

As we neared the shelter at Grouse Gap, we got on the PCT trail in order to get well-deserved beverages from the trail angel coolers. Then, we got back on the road and realized that it was a winding road, taking us not on the most direct route.

We took matters into our own hands and proceeded to hike cross country (not on trail but literally a straight line) to the shelter. The wind has picked up from the south, and it has cooled down significantly. Thanks to the haze from the fires, we are unable to see Mt. Shasta from our excellent vantage point.

Tomorrow, we are heading back to Callahan's for our resupply, showers, and laundry. We're going to try to get a pizza delivered. We will be on the PCT trail to start, and then pick up the road, where it appears the PCT adds miles.

July 14, 2008

We slept in again. I woke up at 6:15 and was surprised to see Mother Goose still hunkered down in her sleeping bag. I tried something different for breakfast. I had dehydrated hash browns, carrots, green beans, and hamburger. It was much more filling than oatmeal, but lacked flavor. The next time I'm in a market I'll see what kinds of flavoring packets I can find.

We were on the trail by 8. Some trail angels left two coolers of beer and pop at a saddle (7030'). It being only 8:45, I drank half a Sierra Mist. They also provided a bag for empties. There was a trail journal that we signed. Mother Goose and I were the third and fourth hikers to sign this year.

We had another day of climbing. The stretch between Siskiyou Gap (5890') and Wrangle Gap (6496') in 3.8 miles was especially torturous. There were many stretches straight up on rocky slopes, with no vegetation cover. According to the guidebook, this was considered a moderate climb.

On a positive side, there were many springs running. Some of these are very seasonal, and not noted in the guidebook. Toward Wrangle Gap I had the good fortune to have a doe black-tailed deer come bounding down the trail toward me. She stopped about 25' and kept looking at me and flicking her ears. I was downwind. Had I been upwind, my body odor could have knocked her over, what with two days of hard hiking. I waited until she went off trail before continuing my hike. I tried to get a picture, but I'm not sure how successful I was.

Up about 50' from where she stopped were two springs running across the trail.We stopped at the Sheep Camp Spring for water. This is a piped spring. The pipe was about 3" in diameter and the water was rushing out. I filled up both of my 1 liter bottles and my 2 liter Platypus. The pack was heavy now. We carried our water until we found a suitable place to camp.

We are under some trees about halfway between Jackson Gap (7040') and Observation Gap (7030'). Road 20 is nearby. Just before crossing the road we met our first NB hiker, Jason. He plans to be at Callahan's tomorrow. Of course, he is in his 20's and we are not.

Tomorrow's plan is to stash our packs in the trees and hike to the border - which we estimate to be 3.5 miles away, take pictures, and hike back for our packs. Since we have already hiked the PCT, we are planning to hike on the road in the hopes of getting a ride back to Ashland and Callahan's.

July 13, 2008

Mother Goose woke up at 5:15 and saw a fat raccoon scurry down a tree near the gazebo where we were camped. We decided to get up, and try to get an early start.I had not slept well at all. First of all the fumes from the synthetic wood deck on the gazebo interrupted my sleep. Then there was the constant and never-ending traffic on I-5. Considering I have hearing impairments in both ears, I can only wonder how loud the traffic really is at night.

We quickly made coffee and breakfast, packed up, and were on the road at 7. We left Donna Berquist, one of the owners, a note to remind her we would be back in 4-5 days. There is a .9 mile road walk before connecting to the PCT trail. It quickly became hot. A lot of the trail was on unshaded areas.

My breakfast wore off one hour after we started hiking, and I started to eat an energy bar that was supposed to be my morning snack. By snack time, I was eating my afternoon bar.The trail climbed steadily. Callahan’s is at 4240 foot elevation and we are camped at Grouse Gap Shelter, 6630 feet.

Parts of the PCT are bordered on both sides by private property. This section of the trail is functional, but not pretty. There are reminder signs to stay on the trail.The Mt. Ashland B&B provides a picnic table and cold water spigot (plus friendly golden retriever) for PCT hikers. We had lunch there. It was also necessary to fill both bottles because there was significant uphill ahead, heat, and about 4 miles of no water. After crossing Road 40S15, there were many springs gushing out from the sides of the mountains. One spring near where we are camped, had two sources, with the one on the right resembling a faucet turned on full blast.

We are camping at the shelter tonight. I have a free-standing tent that I have set up inside the shelter (concrete floor). I am using my food sack as a pillow. Mother Goose is sleeping on the picnic table. She has hung her food, and we have both hung our backpacks.We would like to get to the OR/CA border tomorrow. There is a lot of ups and downs so that may not happen. We plan to walk part of the hike on Road 20, because there is a reliable source of water. Otherwise, it is almost 13 miles to our next water source on the PCT.

July 13, 2008
A reminder of what a 25'-30' fall looks like:

We again woke up around 8:30 and went across the parking lot to the Ashland Inn for breakfast. Then we returned to the motel room and loaded up our resupply packages for UPS. Mother Goose found out after she had made out her Traveler's check to UPS that they didn't take them. Someone in line told her to go to the Bank of America next door to get it cashed. Mother Goose was very grateful that the bank was able to help her out. That experience makes one inclined to purchase the Visa and Master Card gift cards rather than use the traveler's checks.

I sent my old hiking shoes and a few other items home, and some maps of Ashland to my web guru, Linda.I finally was able to connect with Donna at Callahan’s and she said she would try to find a ride for us and let us know by 11:00. Since the restaurant isn't open yet, we needed to get food for lunch, dinner, and breakfast, as we were planning to camp there tonight; and start southbound for the CA/OR border in the morning.

We returned to our room just before checkout, loaded up, and waited in the lobby for a call from Donna. At 11:15, and no call from her, I called back and talked to her husband Ron. He said that I had just missed Keith, but he would be coming back to Ashland and give us a ride. A little background on Callahan’s.

It is located about 12 miles south of Ashland off I-5, and about a mile from the PCT. In the past Callahan’s has offered free camping for hikers and showers for $2.00, which included towel, soap, shampoo, and other spa-type sundries. On September 2, 2006, the lodge was completely destroyed in a fire. The lodge is being rebuilt, and will be much larger than before.

Right now, it is far from complete. Donna describes it as a construction zone, and that's very appropriate. Next Friday a wedding reception is taking place there. Her plan is to serve the guests in the main dining room. The kitchen appears to be almost finished.

Keith and the cook were at the Windmill Inn hauling tables and other items up to Callahan’s on a trailer behind their Suburban. They were happy that we were riding along, because then they didn't have to put more items in the Suburban.

We are camping cowboy style in the gazebo, unless the mosquitoes come out (we have put on repellant). We have access to a bathroom behind one of the shops. As a token of our appreciation, we cleaned it. Mainly, it was covered in a layer of fine dust, but now it is clean. It is almost 9 PM and still light outside. We have hung our food bags from the tall supports on the gazebo in hopes that small critters don't help themselves. We are not too concerned about large critters. Our trash is stashed in the dumpster on the other side of the lodge.There is a gentle breeze and right now it is 80 degrees. Hopefully, it will be good sleeping weather.

What a zero is not

2008-07-12T12:45:00.000-07:00

We woke up around 8:30 and packed up in search of breakfast. There was a bus stop right next to the motel. The fare is $1.00 for 90 minutes to Ashland.

On the bus, we asked about a good, sit-down restaurant. Suzie Q's, which turned out to be Mrs. Q's, was recommended. We had to walk across the one-way street, through a parking lot, across another street, to the other one-way street going back toward Medford. We were not disappointed. I had the Sunrise Breakfast and a side of tropical fruit.

Then we re-boarded the bus back to the transit center where we transferred to the Ashland bus. Yogi recommended the Knight's Motel, which is where we stayed. It is under new management and the rates are lower than in 2006. We gave the woman doing the laundry $5.00 to wash our very dirty clothes.

We then had to figure out our food, since we had aborted our southbound trek. I have boxes at home ready to go to Callahan's (Ashland), Mazama Village (Crater Lake), and Elk Lake Resort. We have since added stops at Fish Lake, Shelter Cove, and Sisters. The small box going to Callahan's now needs to go to Shelter Cove UPS. So, I bought food for the 4-day trips to the CA/OR border and back, Calllahan's to Fish Lake, and Fish Lake to Mazama Village.

This was not easy for me since I dehydrate most of my food. I'm eating a lot of mac and cheese for dinners and peanut butter and crackers for lunches. We sorted our food into the appropriate stops to send at the UPS Store tomorrow morning. Then we went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant next to the motel for dinner. I had an appetizer - Vegetarian Nachos, which was huge. I couldn't eat it all.

Now, we're vegging out in front of the TV. Tomorrow's game plan is to get breakfast next door, take our packages to the UPS store and then yogi a ride to Callahan's.

A zero day is one that you're not hiking. You're not sitting in a motel room vegging out on the TV all day! You're doing laundry, getting your food together for the next section of hiking, getting other supplies (if there's a hiking/camping store nearby), and eating TOWN food.

Beautiful trail, but scary

2008-07-12T12:42:00.000-07:00

I had a very uneasy night. First, my stomach was so upset, that I ended up throwing up dinner. Then, I kept having nightmares about slipping and falling on the trail. Finally, I was sore all over.

We broke camp at 7:30 and quickly discovered that the 7.5 camp was less than a mile from where we camped. At the first narrow, rocky area of the trail Mother Goose walked across, dropped her pack, and then came back for mine.

At At the cave behind the waterfall, a man dayhiking southbound carried my pack while I gripped the cable. After that, I was able to carry my pack, grip the cable, and not fall.

The views on the Eagle Creek Trail are spectacular. As the trail became closer to the trailhead, the tread was much smoother and wider. There were bridges as opposed to rock/boulder hopping or logs.We made it to the trailhead shortly after 3 PM. The men we met yesterday arrived about 15 minutes later.

Mother Goose tried to yogi a ride to Portland with them, but they were going to Sandy. Then one of the men yogied a ride to the Portland bus station for us with Jennifer and Nora. We were quite lucky to arrive an hour before the Medford bus was to leave. We bought tickets, grabbed something to eat, and waited to get on the bus.

Now we are in Medford at the Cedar Lodge Motor Inn, which is just down the street from the bus station. Our plan is to ride the RVT to Ashland, get supplies for our upcoming stops, mail the packages, and then go out to Callahan's for some zero days to recouperate, before starting for the CA/OR border.

Snow...and then a change of plans

2008-07-12T12:39:00.000-07:00

We broke camp and started on the trail about 8 AM. First I went back to Teapot Springs to get water for our trip. Our goal was to camp near Buck Peak Trail. However, we encountered patchy snow at 3900 feet, about 2 miles south of where we camped. Thinking it was a temporary inconvenience, we moved on. Six miles from our campsite, we encountered a rather large snowfield, and four men who were camped nearby and were out for a dayhike. They had gotten lost and it took them an hour to get their bearings. Mother Goose and I decided to go back to Cascade Locks via the Eagle Creek Trail. The men showed us a shortcut that skirted the north side of Wahtum Lake. It was pretty treacherous with steep, rocky downhills, interspersed with crossing fast-moving streams,
with slippery rocks. More than once I lost my balance and managed to get water on my pant legs. I was just so thankful that my bag is lined with a huge Zip-Lock bag.

I lost my footing several times on the trail. Each time I was able to pick myself up, with the exception of when I slid downhill 25'-30'. A large trunk broke my fall. Unfortunately, the rocks and ground were slippery where I landed. I quickly assessed my situation and determined that I was fine except for a few bumps and bruises. I was pondering what to do when Mother Goose found me. She went back to get her pack, as she was walking ahead of me, and hadn't witnessed my slide. Then two of the men we met earlier helped get my pack, poles, water bottle, and me back on the trail.One of the men wore my pack as we hiked to our campsite 2 miles away. They originally planned to hike a side trail to run off some energy. Rescuing me accomplished that feat.

We are camped in a really nice campsite next to the trail. The plan tomorrow is to get started early, as a rough estimate is that we are 9 miles from the trail head. The men will meet up with us and carry some of my gear. Then Mother Goose and I plan to take a bus from Hood River to Medford, ride the Rogue Valley Transit to Ashland, and get a ride to Callahan's. Then, we'll start by hiking to the CA border, and then go northbound. Mother Goose is familiar with how to hike around the mountains in the south.

Will we...or won't we...start on our hike?

2008-07-12T12:35:00.000-07:00

We woke up early but there was no incentive to get going until we knew for sure that Mother Goose's gear had arrived. We went to breakfast at the Cascade Inn. I got 3 French Toast (carbing up). Then we went to the post office and the box wasn't there, but there were 5 boxes on the Express Mail Truck, which was expected at 9 AM.

We went to the grocery store to see if they had insoles. No, they don't.We returned to the motel room. I started gathering my things, so I wouldn't forget anything. All of a sudden Mother Goose went out the door saying she'd be right back. She came back with her box. She had given her husband the wrong zip code for Cascade Locks, so yesterday her box was at Bridal Veil. She got the zip code off her 'smart phone', but obviously Verizon hasn't made updates recently. Mother Goose unpacked her box, and then started adding in her bike gear. Her husband had packed a lot of large-sized zip-type bags, and I took a few for my pack. One has already been designated 'dirty clothes', which is a relative term for hikers.

We managed to leave town at 10 AM, and got our picture taken at the trailhead. It was 70 degrees, clear sky, and almost no breeze. Cascade Locks's elevation is 100 feet. We are camped at 3580 feet. There was a lot of climbing for 7 miles. Most of the significant climbing was the last 3.5 miles where the grade averaged 12%. We failed to top off our bottles at a creek before the climb. We were both almost out of water by the time we got to Teapot Spring. The water tasted so good. It was ice cold. We each drank a bottle of water and also filled our 2-liter Platypuses.

We were so tired that we knew we wouldn't be able to go much further, so we headed to the waterless campsite .5 mile up the trail. As it is, there is room for 3-4 small tents. I picked a narrow site, because my tent is small. After the tent was up, I started making dinner. First I boiled water for hot chocolate. Then I boiled water and added dehydrated hamburger, spaghetti sauce, carrots, and rotini. It was kind of soupy, but very filling.

After dinner, we went to our tents to plot out how far we will go tomorrow. There will be some climbing. First we climb to 4110 feet in two miles. The we go down to 3830 feet in two miles. Next we go back up to 4270 feet in three miles. Then we go down to 3750 feet in two miles. 3.3 miles later we are back up to 4400 feet. Two miles later we are down to 4190 feet,and we go back up to 4500 feet 1.3 miles later. We're planning to camp near the Buck Peak Trail. Then we should be able to make it to Ramona Falls on Thursday, and cross the Sandy River Friday morning. So far the trail has been great. No blowdowns, or hard-to-hike places, and no snow. We talked to some day hikers who encounter a lot of blowdowns on Herman Creek Trail. They were unable to find the trail, even with their GPS.

It is 8:40 PM and still light outside. Inside my tent it is 70 degrees. The sleeping bag may be a glorified blanket tonight. Goodnight.

Still waiting to start

2008-07-08T10:38:00.000-07:00

We woke up tp a beautiful day in Cascade Locks. After a few cups of coffee, we went for breakfast at the nearby restaurant, Cascade Inn. We went to the grocery store next to the restaurant where Mother Goose got her food for Cascade Locks to Timberline. Then we went to the post office to see about her box, which wasn't in yet. The postmaster indicated he usually got his mail by 9 AM. So, we went back to the motel and I rented the room for another night. Our thinking was that even if her box came in at 3 PM, as promised, by the time she got everything ready and mailed her bike gear, it would be late afternoon.

We came back and went over our notes which we had left behind on our food needs. Then we went back to the grocery store for more food from Timberline to Sisters, went to the post office for priority mail boxes, and I mailed some letters and small packages, came back and Mother Goose got her resupply ready for mailing. Then we went to lunch at the Eastwind Drive-in across the street from the motel. There is an ice cream cone sign next to the name, which is what drew us there. We had cheeseburgers, split an order of fries, and milkshakes (carbing for the trip). After lunch we walked to the marina, and went to the Sternwheeler Gift Shop. Finally, we went to the library to check our email and find out about snow conditions on the trail. Unfortunately, our 30 minutes were up much too quickly.

We walked back to the room still feeling stuffed from lunch. We took naps, I made journal entries and made notes on the Yogi Trail Tips and Town Guide - I should explain here. Yogi is a long distance hiker who has put together books for different trails. I have two books for the PCT. Her Trail Tips and Town Guide goes into more detail on where to find water, and where to stay and eat when you go in town. The Planning Guide is chock full of useful tips from other hikers, as well as organization tips from Yogi on resupply stops with phone numbers and addresses, which we found to be invaluable on the trail. Finally, Mother Goose called the post office one more time, and, of course, her package wasn't in.

We went over our notes on the hike and looked at my maps of the Mt. Hood National Forest. We were looking for alternate routes over the Sandy River near Ramona Falls in case the river was too high to ford. Mother Goose decided she wanted her own copies of the Data book to carry, so we went back to the grocery store to make copies, which I had already torn out of the book. We also got some snacks for dinner, as we were really not hungry. We are anxious to start our hike and hope that the box is at the post office tomorrow morning.

Getting it all Started

2008-07-07T18:43:00.000-07:00

The bus ride from Pendleton to Hood River was uneventful. Marty B, a woman I had taught with at the middle school and her granddog, Piper, met me at the Greyhound station. She took me to a coffee place called Ground, In Hood River, where Dan R, another former teacher at the middle school, met us. I gave Dan the books I had promised to send at least two years ago. We chatted for awhile, and then Marty and I left to pick up Mother Goose, who was camped at Tucker Park. After going beyond where we were supposed to go, we got directions and found Mother Goose. We loaded her bicycle panniers into the car.

Marty decided to take Piper back to her place, and then take Mother Goose and I to Cascade Locks, get a motel, and then go to dinner. The Econo Inn is now the Columbia Gorge Inn, which of course is under new management. It has a nice king bed, TV, microwave, small refrigerator, large desk/table and chair, plus another chair and ottoman, with one of the ugliest floor lamps that I have ever seen. I took a picture. I can't even find the on/off switch.

Marty picked the Charburger for dinner. We each had some sort of burger for dinner. The burgers were very well done, but we were hungry and ate them anyway. Marty took us back to our motel. We left $20 on her seat for gas money, which I know she appreciated. Then we set about figuring, or refiguring the route and food resupply points. We decided to add Sisters and Fish Lake.

I have about 11 days worth of food going to Timberline and what we decided to do was split my food, and then when we get to Sisters, Mother Goose will reimburse me by buying what I need to resupply to carry me to Elk Lake. Then, we'll repeat this from Elk Lake to Fish Lake, and to Mazama, except we'll buy it all in Sisters where there are decent grocery stores.

Called it a night early, because we are both tired.

PCT Itinerary

2008-07-07T17:32:00.000-07:00

Date TH Start Finish Total Cum.
7/7
Mon. Cascade Locks 2155.0 2139.7 15.3 15.3

7/8
Tues. Wahtum Lake CG 2139.7 2128.7 11 26.3

7/9
Wed. Huckleberry Mtn. 2128.7 2111.4 17.3 43.6
Trail 617
7/10
Thurs. Paradise Park Shelter 2111.4 2107.3 4.1 47.7
7/10
Thurs. Timberline WY’East 2107.3 2093.3 14 61.7
Store

7/11
Fri. Small Campsite 2093.3 2077.1 16.2 77.9
with seeping spring

7/12
Sat. East slope Summit 2077.1 2056.9 20.2 98.1
Butte

7/13
Sun. Jude Lake 2056.9 2050.7 6.2 104.3
Almost a zero day

7/14
Mon. Upper Lake 2050.7 2034.2 16.5 120.8

7/15
Tues. Mill Creek 2034.2 2020.8 13.4 134.2

7/16
Wed. Rockpile Lake 2020.8 2004.9 15.9 150.1

7/17
Thurs. Lily-pad pond 2004.9 1988.4 16.5 166.6

7/18
Fri. Lava Camp Lake 1988.4 1972.3 16.1 182.7

7/19
Sat. Clear Lakelet 1972.3 1958.3 14 196.7

7/20
Sun. Elk Lake Resort 1958.3 1958.3 0 196.7

7/21
Mon. Elk Lake 1958.3 1945.1 13.2 209.9

7/22
Tues. Tadpole Lake 1945.1 1930.4 14.7 224.6

7/23
Wed. Charlton Lake 1930.4 1916.6 13.8 238.4
Trail 3570

7/24
Thurs. Middle Rosary Lake 1916.6 1897.6 19 257.4

7/25
Fri. S. shore of 1897.6 1882.9 14.7 272.1
accessible lake

7/26
Sat. Windigo Pass 1882.9 1866.5 16.4 288.5

7/27
Sun. Tipsoo Peak Saddle 1866.5 1850.6 15.9 304.4

7/28
Mon. North boundary CLNP 1850.6 1830.4 20.2 324.6

7/29
Tues. Mazama Village 1830.4 1830.4 0 324.6

7/30
Wed. Mazama Village 1830.4 1813.4 17 341.6

7/31
Thurs. Big Bunchgrass 1813.4 1793.4 20 361.6
Trail 1089A

8/1
Fri. Christi’s Spring 1793.4 1780.4 13 374.6

8/2
Sat. Fish Lake Resort 1780.4 1763.0 17.4 392

8/3
Sun. Big Springs creeklet 1763.0 1750.2 12.8 404.8

8/4
Mon. Hyatt Lake CG 1750.2 1732.8 17.4 422.2

8/5
Tues. Crest saddle 1732.8 1726.6 6.2 428.4
Almost a zero day

8/6
Wed. Callahan's Resort 1726.6 1713.0 13.6 442

8/7
Thurs. Open Crest Saddle 1713.0 1698.8 14.2 456.2

8/8
Fri. OR/CA Border 1698.8 1713.0 14.2 470.4

8/9
Sat. Open Crest Saddle 1713.0 1726.6 13.6 484

8/10
Sun. Callahan's Resort Well deserved Zero Day

8/11
Mon. Taking Greyhound Home!!!

Leaving for Cascade Locks

2008-07-06T08:33:00.000-07:00

I'm awaiting my BFF who is taking me to the Greyhound Bus station this morning. I am taking her out to breakfast at the Rainbow first. My bus leaves at 11 AM and arrives in Hood River at 2 PM. I have another friend picking me up. Then we need to go pick up Mother Goose, who camped at a park 5 miles south of Hood River last night. Mother Goose and I plan to stay in Cascade Locks tonight. Her gear is supposed to arrive tomorrow by 3 PM. Then we can hit the trail.

I think I'm ready. Have the house, cats, mail, newspaper, yard taken care of. Probably packed too much food, but that's good news for other hikers when I leave some of it behind in the hiker box.

Lost and Found

Mother Goose called yesterday

2008-07-04T08:27:00.000-07:00

Good News ! Mother Goose is joining me on my hike, if I can wait a few days. Right now she said her bike trip is done. She's in Utah and its 110*. Wanted to know if she could come along. Of course. She is looking for some Frogg Toggs rain gear. I went online and found a dealer in Grand Junction, where she is going to be on July 4 all day. If that doesn't work out, I have a large Helly Hansen jacket with a hood that she can use. I also discovered that I have enough leftover fabric to make her a rain skirt. I called Mother Goose back and gave her the address in GJ. Since our first phone call, she had made arrangements to ship the bike home and have her hiking gear shipped to Hood River. She plans to be there on Saturday, and I'm coming in on Sunday. So, right now, it looks like we'll be starting as planned.

Right now I'm seam-sealing the rain skirts. Would sort of defeat the purpose to have them leak at the seams! I also need to get my food organized, and most importantly, get a box together for Timberline, which needs to be mailed tomorrow.

Then, I need to firm up last minute details, and I'll be good to go. Really looking forward to the trip.

July 1 Shopping Trip

2008-07-04T08:13:00.000-07:00

I made a big trip to REI and hopefully have everything I need. I will have to use my MSR Dromedary bags for the unfiltered water because I couldn't find anything else that could be hung. Fortunately, I will have Crystal Lite and other flavors to mask the taste of water from the bags, which tastes similar to water from an old hose.

Got a new tent, which was on sale. The Quarter Dome T1. It's very light - less than 3# once I shed the outside bag.

Also got another supply of waterproof matches, seam sealant for the rain skirt I'm making, map sealant, lithium batteries for the Pocketmail, headlamp, and mp3 player, green Superfeet insoles, a shut-off valve for the Dromedary bags to help filter the water, a nice compass, and, of course my favorites, five Margarita Shot Bloks.

Today I am making my rain skirt, highlighting the trail on the maps so I can waterproof them, and sorting my food and packing my boxes. I also need to make a new itinerary since I'm going SB and re-write the directions from the Guidebook.

Busy Day.

Preparation

2008-06-22T11:54:00.000-07:00

June 22, 2008

The PCT Oregon segment hike is two weeks away. Getting my gear out of storage, starting to plan the meals and ordering new items online. Really trying to lighten the load because it's over 100 miles from Ashland to Crater Lake.

Going to start some local shake-down hikes to fine tune everything. Also need to get my bus ticket, and firm up details on how to get from Medford to Ashland.

Lost and Found