Here is the 9th installation of my PCT trail journal (about 2 weeks off the present timeline as a safety precaution). Follow my thruhike in section-by-section blog posts, or in daily posts on Instagram or Facebook (@JustAGirlAndABackpack.Blog). Please attribute all spelling/grammar errors to autocorrect and exhaustion at the end of the day.

I want to thank everyone who’s following and sharing my journey! I hope that it’s as exciting and interesting for me as it is for you.

I heard that my blog posts are hard to read, and I totally agree with you. Last post I tried something that I thought would make it more readable, and this post I took a recommendation from my boyfriend to make it more user friendly. Scroll through my post below and let me know what you think!

---

Statistics for my journey so far are as follows:

---

Friday August 27, Mile 579.2, Zero in Bend (0 miles, day 58)

I made a late breakfast early lunch, possibly the first time I’ve cooked anything on a stove in over a year: an everything bagel sandwich with a cheesy omelet and avocado. Since this was also the first time I’ve made eggs since I was a child, it was a pretty impressive meal, although rather mediocre when compared to people who have spent a lot of time cooking and making eggs recently. Notable mentions to David, who walked me through how to make eggs.

• 

I threw out my old, beat up gaiters, sun gloves and shoes, replaced by my dear father (many thanks!).

• 

• 

And I prepped my resupply, which would now have to fit inside of my bear vault/bear cannister. 3 days of food barely fit. I have an OPsac which I will have to use for my 4th day of food and my toiletries, since there is no room. 🙁

• 

• 

The air quality in Bend seemed to improve as the air quality in the Sierra got worse, and I kept asking myself if I was making a mistake by moving down south so early when there were still a couple hundred miles open in OR.

• 

• 

---

Thursday August 26, Mile 579.2, Zero in Bend (0 miles, day 57)

I believe I spent the entire day (when I wasn’t sleeping) working on my blog and making it more user friendly, easy to read, visually appealing, etc. I looked outside at some point and saw a bunny rabbit chilling with some quail, which was cool.

• 

• 

David and I spent several hours talking late into the night about ideas and directions that my blog can potentially take. He’s all in and very supportive of me making the blog a short and long term goal for a career.

---

Wednesday August 25, Mile 579.2 + 1mi walk to car, Nero in Bend (1 mile, day 56)

I slept in and spent the afternoon working on my blog. Dad and I spoke about my future and he made some suggestions that resonated with me: he thinks that I should give blogging a go–as a career, not just a past time. We discussed options on how we could make that happen.

---

We had to walk about a mile to the car, which was charging at a Supercharger somewhere. The air at this point was so smokey, we were wearing N98 and KN95 masks to try not to inhale all the dangerous particulates.

• 

We did an REI run to get me some new shoes, since the Altra Lone Peak 5s had already died, at only 200/250miles, which is a real bummer. I tried on some Hokas since I had heard a lot of good things from current hikers, and they felt really good on my feet, which never happens. I also tried some other brands on, but these felt the best, so dad bought the Hoka Torrents for me (thanks dad!).

• 

Then we stopped at a brewery for dinner and brews.

• 

---

Tuesday August 24, Mile 579.2 + approx 3mi river walk, Nero in Bend (3 miles, day 55)

{I’m going to try something new with my zero days: keep their descriptions small unless they seem relevant to the trail, or to a normal hikers’ experiences while they are on the trail. I don’t want to fully get rid of them, as I believe that everyone hikes their own hike, and some people do take a lot of zero days}

---

Today was pretty chill. Dad and I kept an eye on Windy, an app/website that has an impressive number of weather and forecasting options including air quality, so that we could decide if I should get back on trail for a few days south of the fire closure, or if I should wait it out in Bend for the entire week that he had the airbnb. Since he didn’t want to drive 2 hours north to drop me off, we made the executive decision that I wouldn’t be getting back on trail until California, because the air quality perpendicular of Bend where the trail was closest to our current location was so shitty that I didn’t feel comfortable hiking.

---

We went for a short walk along the Deschutes River, enjoying the native landscaping and paddleboarders.

• 

• 

• 

Then we stopped at two breweries for snacks, dinner and of course brews.

• 

• 

---

Monday August 23, Mile 561.1 to Mile 579.2 + .34mi for detour to Little Crater Lake + drive to Bend (18.44 miles, day 54)

{I’m writing this 7 days after the fact, as has become my norm}

Adding chocolate chips and a handful of fruity granola to today’s peanut butter burrito was the MOVE! Delicious. I also had a cucumber (someone at the event gave me a cucumber fresh from their garden) to add to my lunch, which was a great combo with jerky.

• 

• 

My goal today was to meet dad between 4pm and 8pm at NF-42, the last paved road before the Lionshead Fire Closure. This intersection is about 23 miles from the closure itself, so I hope to get back up to Oregon before it gets too cold to do some more miles, since I had heard the closure was supposed to open up some time this year.

• 

• 

• 

I made a short detour of about .34 miles round trip to check out Little Crater Lake, which was shockingly clear, and impressively blue. A color that heretofore I had never seen in anything natural, and have only come to expect from anti-freeze, swimming pools and other highly concentrated chemical liquids. Some day hikers let their dog swim in the water, even though the signs all said “No Swimming,” and the point of this pond was its purity.

• 

• 

• 

Due to fortuitous circumstances, dad and I both pulled up at the NF-42 and PCT intersection at exactly the same moment. I hopped into his fancy new (to him) Tesla (we put a towel on his white seats so that I wouldn’t get them gross and dusty) and we sped off towards Bend, OR for a rather poor dinner at the Black Bear Diner and hot tubbing at the airbnb. I am so appreciative that he drove all this way to help me out!

• 

• 

• 

---

Sunday August 22, Mile 555.7 to Mile 561.1 +6mi walking around festival/town, Nero in Cascade Locks for PCT Days (11.4 miles, day 53)

{Uhg I’m still 5 days behind on writing these entries. Also, making this blog post takes up significantly more time now that I’m trying to make it more interesting, with the pictures and text more broken up, adding quotes, and spacers and headlines, etc}

“I am a middle aged man, trapped in a 23 year old female body”

Slowly Dying

At around 7am I grudgingly rolled out of my tent to catch the last hour of free breakfast for the event. Ethan and Kip weren’t packing up yet (I was worried I’d oversleep and miss my ride!), so I assumed they were still out cold. I sat down with some nobos who recognized my name from my Guthook comments; one of the gals said she and her tramily thought I might be a middle aged man, since my comments were so detailed and specific. My (sort of) joking response was: “I am a middle aged man, trapped in a 23 year old female body.” Brekky was a yogurt, piece of fruit, bagel with cream cheese and coffee, provided by an organization that helps fund events for thruhikers. I saw Kasey again standing around the table, and exchanged instagrams with him and a few nobos who were interested in seeing how the sobos live on trail. Someone gave me a bag of chocolate chips that they didn’t want, and offered me a coca cola, which I didn’t want but I told them not to worry, I’d find someone who wanted it. So, I stood up on the bench, and yelled out at the crowd of breakfasting thruhikers: “WHO WANTS SOME COKE!” The best part was, everybody went silent and turned to look at me, many of them clearly thinking I meant something other than coca cola. Sure enough though, somebody wanted it haha.

“WHO WANTS SOME COKE!”

Slowly Dying

Back at my tent, I packed up and prepped a few more days of food with some of the old food I already had, mixed with the stuff I had bought or received during the event. I also took stock of all of the other random swag I had obtained and put it into the daypack so that I could throw it into a box at a UPS/Fedex in Hood River to send home.

• 

• 

• 

Then I decided to go check on the boys’ tent to see if they were still passed out. They were. With an empty bottle of Jager and half a case of empty beers lying around. Since they were going nowhere fast, I went back to the main green where all of the vendors were taking down their stalls and driving off, and I asked the event coordinators for a trash bag so that I could go pick up trash from the event. I spent at least an hour, maybe two, combing the massive park and picked up at least 5lbs of trash, maybe more, which was a surprisingly little amount for how many people had come to the event. It started sprinkling and the wind picked up while I was doing that, and I was shivering and cold.

• 

Butterfly came over and walked back to the Island with me to check on the boys, since the event coordinator told us that they were turning the sprinklers on asap to kick people off the island faster. Some guy handed us each a beer, which I decided to save for later. We walked up to find them blearily throwing their shit together, trying to get off the island without getting wet. They also handed me a beer, which I again saved for later, although one of them popped one open for himself. All I can say, is even in their hungover states, they still picked up trash that wasn’t theirs as they were heading out.

• 

Theirs was the last stall standing in the empty lawn, and they spent another hour at least unpacking their truck only to repack it with everything they had. It was nearly bursting at the seems, and that was without me and my pack to squeeze into the cab. We stopped at a place that google said had a fedex, but there was no fedex, and the UPS and USPS weren’t open on Sunday, so I decided I would have to carry the extra stuff for the next day and a half on trail until dad picked me up. We also stopped by Ixtapa Family Mexican Restaurant, where I ate 4 massive street tacos, along with beans and rice. Something I’ve started doing since beginning my hike: I eat until I am painfully stuffed, then I wait, moaning in distress, until I feel less stuffed, and then I eat the rest of the food on my plate, shoving bite after painful bite into my stomach because I know I’m going to need the calories. I joined Ethan in a margarita and a shot of tequila, since they insisted they were buying and I knew it would be some time before I got on trail anyway.

• 

• 

• 

“Something I’ve started doing since beginning my hike: I eat until I am painfully stuffed, then I wait, moaning in distress, until I feel less stuffed, and then I eat the rest of the food on my plate, shoving bite after painful bite into my stomach because I know I’m going to need the calories.”

Slowly Dying

They dropped me off around 5pm at Timberline Lodge and I walked in to find a place to charge my electronics and drink the beer they gave me. I bumped into Bearslayer, him having hitchhiked with some nobos, and both of us having forgotten about the other when we figured out our own rides (every man for themselves as they say). I gave him the other beer that I was given. He told me that he and the others had arrived around 12pm, set up their tents up the hill from the Lodge, and were chilling inside trying to stay warm as the temperature plummeted and the wind rose; it was supposed to get down to 26 degrees not including wind chill, according to the weather prediction. I made a plan to hike 5 more miles south in the dark, so as to drop about 2000 feet in altitude in the hopes that the air would be warmer.

• 

• 

The sunset in the smoky air and on Mount Hood were lovely, but the dropping temperatures were frightening as I hurried downhill in my zipped up down jacket and wind/rain shell, feeling my nose and fingers going numb in the windy night. I made some comments on Guthooks about campsites near Timberline, since there were so many, but for some reason I had been under the impression that there weren’t any and had camped several days ago in a horrible, bumpy, exposed spot because I was worried their wouldn’t be anywhere to put my tent.

• 

• 

As I marched along in the dark and cold and wind, with my head lamp on the medium setting (a few days ago my headlamp suddenly ran out of batteries, because I had been using it at full power while night hiking, so now I keep it at the medium setting which illuminates just enough of my surroundings for me to be able to safely walk, but not enough for me to alleviate my fears of the scary noises and movements in the dark woods around me), a horrifying screech echoed through the night that made me jerk and curse and quickly turn the light up to try to spot whatever horrid creature was reacting to my presence. Thankfully, I’m pretty sure (not 100% but close enough for government business) that the wind rubbing dead trees and branches together caused the noise (please please please be the wind).

• 

• 

“As I marched along in the dark and cold and wind, a horrifying screech echoed through the night….Now unsettled, each subsequent creak had me jumping and spinning around, wondering if something was stalking me in the night. All of a sudden, my headlamp caught the glow of two eyes glaring at me out of the gloom, that suddenly became four eyes all looking at me menacingly….I was plunged into heart pounding darkness with the threat and mystery of those glowing eyes potentially coming closer or disappearing altogether….”

Slowly Dying

Now unsettled, each subsequent creak had me jumping and spinning around, wondering if something was stalking me in the night. All of a sudden, my headlamp catches the glow of two eyes glaring at me out of the gloom, that suddenly became four eyes all looking at me menacingly, causing me to yell out a great big “fuckholyshitnothankyouverymuch GET GET get the fuck out of here” while waving my arms about and desperately trying to turn my light brighter. My headlamp has the unfortunate function of having to be fully turned off before it gets brighter, so for the long, long second it took for me to turn it back on, I was plunged into heart pounding darkness with the threat and mystery of those glowing eyes potentially coming closer or disappearing altogether. In my haste and fear, I accidentally moved through all three settings on the device, turning it back off again, and having to slow down a little bit on my second attempt. Finally, finally, my light was back on and bright enough to fully focus on the owners of the four eyes. Although, since my mind had fully descended into panic and was imagining mountain lions and bear and tigers and worse things from horror movies, it took me another few moments to recognize just what I was looking at. The glowing eyes I understood, but the strange giant growths coming out of the creatures heads didn’t fully come into focus until one of them turned its head. Deer. They were two bucks with large racks of antlers on their heads. Completely unafraid of the human bumbling around in the dark.

• 

At long last, I was able to arrive at a campsite, unharmed, except perhaps on a psychic level by irrational fears. Thankfully the wind was less, and the air was only cold and not below freezing. I ate my couscous with no little disgust and curled up into my quilt with my buff, beanie and long john hood pulled down low over my face to keep warm.

---

Saturday August 21; Mile 555.7 + 6mi walking around festival/town, Nero in Cascade Locks for PCT Days (6 miles, day 52)

{Another day that I didn’t write on the day of. Sigh}

“I heard the shortest line for coffee in town was right here”

Wonderwoman

Today was pretty much a repeat of yesterday, with a few differences.

---

I got up and was wandering on the search for caffeine, when someone warned me that the cafe lines were all the way down the block. I got lucky, though, and bumped into Wonderwoman and Teg, who told me to go knock on their hotel room and say to Happy “I heard the shortest line for coffee in town was right here.” I did exactly that, and hung out with Happy for awhile. If his name isn’t enough of an indicator, this man is literally so happy, carefree, and just a delight to be around. He’s the kind of person who sees the good in everything and can make friends with anyone. I’m grateful to have met him and his friends. He literally made my day every day I saw him. And today, not only did me give me coffee, he offered me a clean towel and a shower. Amazing.

---

When I left his room, I needed some food so I went over to Bridgeside and got the same dish as yesterday (today it was a scramble instead of an omelete, but I think someone just made a mistake). I worked on making plans for hiking a little bit more, then getting picked up by dad a little bit further along the trail past the Lodge, since he was being an awesome dad and had driven up to Bend for a week to see me and take some time off in a beautiful locale.

---

Back at the event, I went to all of the booths that I had missed the day before, got more raffle tickets and free swag, and hung out with Kip and Ethan at their booth. One of guys at one of the booths recognized me a gave me a knife for free, which was pretty sweet. I also bought a book written by one of only 9 Triple Crowners in a calendar year, receiving several more raffle tickets. After an hour or two over the course of today and yesterday of trying to figure out details on a rain kilt for Chunky Chuckwalla (my friend and backpacking partner from home), on and off the phone with him, and speaking with the maker of them multiple times, he decided to buy one. But at that point they had sold out in his size :(.

• 

• 

• 

I then bounced around in between the various raffles that were happening. At the first raffle, I excitedly won a beanie from the Appalachian Gear Co. At the second raffle, they were calling out trail names for the winners, and the first name they pulled out of the hat was Slowly Dying. I shouted “what?!?!” in shock as I pushed forward to grab the Granite Gear day pack I had won–my second win for the day. I am almost positive that hanging out with Happy, Teg and Wonderwoman caused their black magic luck to rub off on me! While waiting in the crowd for the Granite Gear Raffle, Teg and I cheered as Happy’s name was called (again!); unfortunately, he had already hit the trail earlier in the day, so his gear was given to the next ticket called. I missed one of the raffles because I was at another one, but all I can do is hope that I didn’t miss out.

• 

For the finale of the event, the big PCT Days raffle happened on the main stage by the food carts and beer garden. The crowd gathered around was impressively large (corona!!). I tried to find people I knew to hang out with during the final raffle, but didn’t see anyone. So I grabbed a beer and laid my tickets out in front of me and prayed. A guy, Kasey, started chatting me up and we helped each other out by watching the others tickets when I went to the bathroom and when he went to grab beers for the two of us with his beer tokens that he got for volunteering at the event. I grabbed a delicious stir fry from one of the food trucks while hundreds of prizes were being given out.

• 

• 

Eventually the crowd dispersed and a singer came onto the stage. I found Ethan and Kip, and we had another beer while chatting. They offered to give me a ride back to Timberline Lodge in the morning, which was awesome, since I really didn’t want to figure out a hitch with randos. We wandered around looking for something to do, and found some people hanging out in the parking lot drinking whiskey (for the record, I helped Kip with a cheap bottle of wine and had nothing to do with the whiskey) with a massive dog. I was starting to feel exhausted and wasn’t really enjoying myself, but I felt a little fomo, so I stuck with them as they all moved towards the water to go swimming. 3 of the guys jumped in, two of them naked, while the other 3 of us shivered fully clothed in the cold wind. I went off to bed before the rest of them started in on the beer and Jager.

• 

• 

---

PCT SOBO 2021 series: Friday August 20; Mile 555.7 + 6 mi walking around festival/town, Nero in Cascade Locks for PCT Days (6 miles, day 51)

{Something to note: I am approximating 6 miles per day while I am in town, by making the assumption that I walked the length of the town about 10 times per day. Also, I wrote this 6 days after the fact, so apologies for any inaccuracies}

“We returned to Happy’s hotel room that he was sharing with Wonderwoman and Teg, where we sang along to Teg’s emotionally charged ukulele songs”

Slowly Dying

I got up around 7am to cloudy skies that would last the rest of the event and hiked almost a mile across town to Bridge Side for a delicious omelet and iced coffee. I used up a few hours on my phone, reading, charging electronics, and calling David, before hurrying back to my tent to pack up and move to Thunder Island where PCT hiker were required to camp for $20 during the event. A guy called Maravilla took my picture for his collection of PCT Class of 2021 photos (some of which were presented at a new tap house that had recently opened in town). I set up right in the middle of some other peoples’ tents, talking with them about their experience with the guy who takes care of the landscaping who told them he was going to turn the sprinklers on if they didn’t move their tents ASAP. Then I went to the public library to schedule some blog posts.

• 

• 

• 

• 

When the library closed, I wandered into the PCT Days event area, which was a huge public park full of pop up tents for probably a hundred different companies. Although mostly cottage thru-hiking gear companies, there were also some tents for dehydrated food, phone apps, recreation/conservation areas, fancy sunglasses, heavy knives and more. I spent a LOT of hours walking around, stopping to chat with every person manning each stall (if they were willing to chat), grabbing free stickers, tickets for various gear raffles that would happen the next day, a shirt, a bottle opener, and other free goodies. I bought an alpaca hair neck gaiter from the Appalachian Gear Company, some dehydrated food from two companies that say their food is good for cold soaking, and a DCF wallet with glowing blue mushrooms printed on the fabric. Happy (who didn’t recognize me at first), Teg and Wonderwoman bumped into me, and I watched them and their friends win free things magically. I literally asked them if they were performing some sort of black magic because their luck seemed too good to be true. They invited me to join them and their tramily for dinner later, and we exchanged numbers. I took another hour to explore tents, not even seeing half of them by the time I saw the text saying they were at dinner.

“I literally asked them if they were performing some sort of black magic because their luck seemed too good to be true”

Slowly Dying

• 

• 

I hurriedly joined their group (which had swelled to include Squeeks and Ash) at the local tap room; they had already eaten but said that the portions were so small they planned on eating more at the Thunder Island Brewing Company. We got resos, and I ran back to my tent to drop all of my event swag off and to get my charging brick and a jacket since I knew I’d be out and about for another few hours yet. Back at the brewing co, we got a table and ate way too much food over a couple of beers. Their friend Cartwheel joined at some point, and everybody but Happy, Cartwheel and I headed back to their hotel.

---

We chatted in front of the building for awhile until they asked us to leave since they were closed; we only went a little further away to hang out out of the wind in an enclosed bus stop where another gal joined us, as well as some other randos who were absolutely wasted and looking for something to do. We extricated ourselves (along with the one gal) and we took some adorable pics in front of a PCT monument, bonding over being hiker trash. We returned to Happy’s hotel room that he was sharing with Wonderwoman and Teg, where we sang along to Teg’s emotionally charged ukulele songs.

• 

• 

• 

• 

I got the ladies back to our campsite and got my picture taken with long exposure photography, which was pretty sweet.

• 

I then joined some random guys were on some sort of drug and when they wandered off, I bumped into Ethan and Kip who were manning the Proof sunglasses booth. The three of us hung out at the end of a concrete sidewalk that runs out into the Columbia River (I believe it is used for unloading cruise ships that pull up alongside Thunder Island). They jumped into the river several times, even though it was exceptionally windy and very chilly outside; to be fair, the water was a lot warmer than the air.

---

Thursday August 19; Mile 553.2 to Mile 555.7 + 6mi walking around festival/town, Nero in Cascade Locks for PCT Days (8.5 miles, day 50)

{OOF I’ve gotten lazy. I’m writing this literally 8 days after it happened and can’t remember anybody’s names. Good thing I took pictures or I wouldn’t remember a thing}

“The Lodge herself seemed like a Victorian manor or a small castle set in the grand vista in the middle of nowhere, with a huge stone fireplace and decorative moldings and murals on the walls”

Slowly Dying

I woke up covered head to toe in sand that the wind had kicked up into my tent, and spent the last few miles to Timberline Lodge scraping sand off of my face. The early morning light on the surrounding mountains was beautiful and refreshing as I hoofed it to the lodge for the breakfast buffet that everyone had been raving about for as long as I knew the PCT existed. The views of Mount Hood only got better as I approached the ski slopes that run along the shoulders of the mountain.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

The Lodge herself seemed like a victorian manor or a small castle set in the grand vista in the middle of nowhere, with a huge stone fireplace and decorative moldings and murals on the walls

• 

I begged the host to seat me early, since my reservation was for 10:30 and I had arrived almost 2 hours earlier (actually, he couldn’t find my reservation, but thankfully they had space for me anyway). He seated me in the corner of the room, perhaps in recognition that I was a smelly hiker that he didn’t want bugging the rest of the very wealthy resort guests. I waited patiently to make some waffles, then smothered them in butter, syrup and fresh berries. I also grabbed a plate for my ham, sausage, eggs and potatoes. The waitress kept the coffee coming as I stuffed my face and read my book while other hikers and guests filed in to go about eating their own breakfasts. I overheard a little boy asking his dad about my backpack and trekking poles, and from the explanation the father gave, it was clear that he had spent some time thru-hiking as well. Honestly, the food and ambience was good, but I wouldn’t say it was worth $25 unless I had real hiker hunger and eaten more than a single helping.

• 

I received a text from Big Red that said he was at the Lodge and that he could give me a ride to PCT Days if I wanted one. I texted Horshradish, the trail angel from yesterday who had made me a sandwich and offered me a ride to PCT Days in Cascade Locks, to make sure it was cool to grab a ride with Big Red instead. She told me she would be several hours anyway, so I should take him up on the offer (they are also close friends and were both going to the event for him to perform his unicycling show). On our way out the door, he saw another hiker, Bearslayer, who was making a sign that said “Cascade Locks” to try to get a ride. We made some space in Big Red’s van and Bearslayer crawled horizontal into the bed in the back, and I sat up front with a box of trash on my lap that we found a home for in a can along the highway. Bearslayer and I made a pact to try to catch a ride back to Timberline together if we could fit another person and the timing was right. We grabbed lunch at a Brewery in Hood River, and my cold couscous smothered in aioli (read: mayo) wasn’t very good.

• 

• 

• 

At Cascade Locks, we set up our tents for $5 at the campground next to the railroad. I spent some time drinking beers with trail angels Real Deal and Butterfly, whom I had actually met on trail a few weeks back. At around 5pm, we made our way to Thunder Island Brewing Company for Unicycling Unicorn’s (Big Red’s) juggling, unicycling and comedy performance. I had beers with a bunch of people including Horshradish, Studio, Colonel Sanders, Cyborg, Wonder Woman, and like 50 other folks who I’m sorry to say I can’t remember their names (although some of their faces I could definitely say I know). The show was great and everybody hung out afterwards for music and drinking and socializing. Instead of going straight to bed, I hung out with Butterfly, Real Deal and some other hikers.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

---

Wednesday August 18; Mile 538.5 to Mile 553.2 w/ Ramona Falls & Paradise Loop alternates (14.7 miles, day 49)

“I made the coffee with lemonade instead of water!”

Trail Angel Susie

I had a good time hanging out at the trail magic all day, since the only place i had to be was Timberline Lodge at 10am the next day, about 17mi from Lolo Pass where we were set up. I grabbed a coffee from Susie (which tasted kind of weird, and when she made herself a cup she exclaimed, “I made the coffee with lemonade instead of water!” And quickly went to pour out the whole mug and make a new pot).

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

As i ate a PB&j and chatted with a million north bounders, i watched as Susie commanded all of us with very polite “suggestions” that, if not followed, were repeated more and more directly until things were done exactly the way she had in mind. People’s things had to be in specific places, or not in others; tents had to dry on her car, not the bushes, but the moment they were dry they had to be removed (no matter that you were mid conversation or eating or what have you). I asked her if i could do anything so that i could give back instead of just taking, and she excitedly gave me a bag of giant carrots and a dull knife and asked me to peel them, but then immediately came back over and said “I’m sorry, i wasn’t clear on my instructions” and proceeded to insist i peel the carrots exactly her way. She just went on and on this way, with every body and everything. Around noon, i made myself a second sandwich (chicken) while all of my things dried out from the rain yesterday.

• 

• 

• 

I met a sobo named Jeff and another named Richard, which was cool because you don’t often meet sobos in the massive crowd of nobos. After two beers with Richard, i got back on trail to try to kill most of the miles to Timberline Lodge for the famed buffet brunch.

---

There were two alternate trails that were recommended, so I took them both.

---

The Ramona Falls alternate was a lovely little path through an inviting wood, along a bubbling stream, with steep cliffs rising up to one side and a magnificent waterfall at the end of it.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

The Paradise Loop alternate took me up up up to a view of Mt. Hood that was just spectacular with the alpine glow from the setting sun highlighting the glaciers just right.

• 

• 

• 

David and I tried calling several times with minimal success since my service was in and out. The sunset lasted a full hour at least thanks to some clouds low on the horizon. The oranges and pinks were impossible to capture on camera but will hopefully live on in memory.

• 

• 

• 

• 

I cranked out a couple more miles in the dark, having to ford a tricky river before hiking straight up a mountain. The glowing eyes of a deer caught in the light from my headlamp nearly gave me a heart attack, and I made sure to keep my light on it as I passed, in case it decided to eat me (obviously an exaggeration born of the innate fear of the dark that cripples all of human kind when we find ourselves in the forest after night has fallen). I found a cramped, exposed little campsite with a view of the valley on top of a ridge and was rewarded with strong wind for the entire night.

• 

• 

---

Tuesday August 17 approx Mile 517.3 to Mile 538.5 w/ eagle creek alternate (23.76 miles, day 48)

“Is Oregon the land of long, slender, tube shaped creatures? Corn snakes, garter snakes, banana slugs, tiger moth caterpillars, orange caterpillars, black caterpillars, millipedes, centipedes, western fence lizards, river worms”

Slowly Dying

I saw no less than 8 banana slugs within a minute of leaving camp around 8am. The waterfalls on this section are beyond amazing. The Tunnel Falls is literally a tunnel underneath a fall that is hundreds of feet tall. I watched as some idiot day hikers slid down the steep cliff on their butts to try to reach the base of the falls.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

The trail is in and out of a burn area the whole day. The fire must have lept down the mountain, splashing 20, 30 feet tall, but continuing on its way fairly quickly to leave only the uphill sides of the trees charred. A flock of 4 huge grouse scared the bejeezus out of me when they waited until I was nearly on top of their hiding spot before taking off in a loud explosion of wings and my curses. A very young buck with tiny little nubs for antlers was on trail, unwilling to remove himself from my path, even when I made loud sounds and big gestures.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

The nobos i met regretted taking the true alternate down indian creek trail, because of how steep it was, so i went with my gut and took the alternate alternate. The overcast sky got steadily more misty and foggy, causing condensation to form on the trees to then rain down with each consecutive wind, until my pants, shoes socks, gaiters and rain jacket were sopping wet. Although I was cold and wet, the gradual, well graded uphill that was the trail for 90% of the day was my happy spot for a good pace and no pain. The mist was so thick and low, i couldn’t see very far in front of me at times; without the signage, i wouldn’t have known Wahtum Lake was just in front of me.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

David and I called for a bit when I had cell service, and i had him look up the Lost Lake Resort, but unfortunately the restaurant was closed on Tuesdays (a hit drink would have improved quality of life significantly since my fingers felt like they were going to fall of). I met some nobos, Teg, Happy and Wonderwoman, who gave me a beer and told me about the amazing trail magic just a couple of miles south (3 separate people had come to the same trailhead with food and drinks for hikers).

• 

I picked up my pace and was able to arrive around 9pm, after the multitudes of hikers had already gone to bed, but before Big Red, Horshradish (yes, with an ‘sh’), BC and Razor were done catching up. The reunion with Razor was one of excitement and disbelief (as always each of us had thought the other was several days ahead). Horshradish offered to make me a Sammie with all of the fixings while Big Red (aka Unicycling Unicorn) made me a Tequila Sunrise and Razor helped me find a flat spot for my tent. The group of us hung out for an hour or two, chatting and generally shooting the shit before retiring to our cold tents. My feet were still swimming in rain water, so dry socks felt like heaven. Razor and someone else in camp spent the whole night snoring.

---

Monday August 16; Mile 491.2 to approx Mile 517.3 w/ eagle creek alternate + 1.3 from motel (7.2 miles, day 47)

{I’ve just caught up on a bunch of these entries, and now it’s after midnight and I’m tired and don’t want to write this last one 😭}

“I’m writing this post from my most uncomfortable campsite yet: slanted ground, rocks and thorny blackberry vines under the tent, mice squeaking in the underbrush, burn area threatening to be dangerous if wind or rain come through”

Slowing Dying

I checked out of the hotel early and walked back to town to grab breakfast at Bridgeside, a diner with a great view and alright food. David and I talked for awhile, and I also talked with some nobos (Colonel Sanders among them) who were at the table next to me.

• 

• 

I left to catch the $1 CAT bus to Hood River to resupply at the Safeway. I was in and out in 30 minutes and just barely caught the bus back to Cascade Locks as it was leaving the block where it stops. On the bus I met Wild Card, a professional boxer, who had done big sections of the PCT but never quite made it past Hood River since he loves it here so much.

• 

I hopped off at the Thunder Island Brewing Co for lunch, which was an amazing salad with blackened chicken and pork spring rolls (which were actually fried egg rolls, but whatever). First beers for hikers at this place are free thanks to a cool trail angel program they do. I stayed there for the entire afternoon, trying to figure out the next two weeks since dad was coming up and there were fire closures in less than 150mi. I also repackaged my resupply at the table. They eventually asked me to move to the back area because they needed my table for paying costumers who hadn’t already finished eating. I stayed in the corner for a few hours planning, charging and talking politics with a German guy (Colonel Sanders) that I’d met at breakfast.

---

Once I finally forced myself out of the vortex around 6pm, I hit the road, which was literally a paved road for 3 miles. Several nobos had convinced me to do the Eagle Creek alternate trail, so that i did, getting a little lost several times, and adding comments to Guthooks to help soboers get to it. The trail goes high up above the river and is embedded in the cliff, with occasional narrow sections with a cliff on one side and a sheer rock face on the other. I was worried about rocks breaking loose from the strange cliff and knocking me off the edge into the valley below. The burn section was unfortunate but the rocks and the water falls were amazing.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

I’m writing this post from my most uncomfortable campsite yet: slanted ground, rocks and thorny blackberry Vines under the tent, mice squeaking in underbrush, burn area threatening to be dangerous if wind or rain come through. Hopefully the roaring river puts me to sleep and I just sleep through the night, even with the discomfort.

---

Thank you so much for reading! Please let me know what you think about how the readability/accessibility of my posts now that I’ve made some changes. I love to hear constructive input.