Here is the 8th 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 heard that my blog posts are hard to read, and I totally agree with you. So I’m trying something new this time to try to make it more user friendly. Scroll through my post below and let me know what you think.

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Statistics for my journey so far are as follows:

• Trail stats: day 46; 557.4mi hiked; 3.6mi skipped; 55.4 extraneous miles; record day = 23.5mi; avg 12.4 mi/day (w/ zeros); avg 15.9 mi/day (w/o 10 zeros); 8 nights night hiking.
• Town stats: 10 zero days; 17 luxurious town nights; 6 resupplies; 17 showers (with soap!); 10 loads of laundry.
• Nature connection stats: 2 lizards; 1 crawdad; 5 banana slugs; 1 flock of wild turkeys; 2 herds of elk; 3 of families deer; 3 snakes; 2 bears; 18 species of wild plants munched on; 7 species of wild plants for butt wiping; 1 good sunrise; 10 good sunsets; 8 great nights of stars; 11 instances when I felt exceptionally connected to nature; 2 accidental splooshes at river crossings; 4 dangerous river crossings; 9 dives into lakes/rivers; 5 rain storms; 2 lightning/thunder storm; 2 foggy days; 7 days of smelling smoke; 14 days of smoke obscuring views.
• Human connection stats: 10 hiking buddies; 3 hitch hikes; 34 trail angels; 2 douchebags; 12 great talks with passing nobos; 2 “propositions”; 6 people that recognized me from Guthooks comments.
• Mental state stats: 5 books read; 3 days of existential dread; times I felt scared = 7; times I wanted a hiking partner = 8; 4 days of off trail depression; 3 nights of little sleep.
• Physical state stats: weight lost = 0lbs; 1 head cold; 2 rash; 7 small cuts; 4 bruises; 3 blisters; 6 calluses; infinite insect love nips; sore calves; neither knee is happy; 1 hangover; I had sore forearms; I had shin splints; my right shoulder was a disaster.
• Gear stats: 1 pair of shoes mangled; 2 other gear items destroyed; 11 gear items bought; 16 gear repairs; 46 gear modifications; 1 gear item lost; approx 4.8lbs of gear sent home or cut.

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Sunday August 15; Mile 491.2 to Mile 505.6 + 1.3mi to motel (15.9 miles, day 46).

{Didn’t write this until the evening of the next day. My habits seem to be falling apart}

“My motivation again deserted me today…”

Slowly Dying

My motivation again deserted me today, leaving me to crawl out of my tent at an astoundingly late 11:30am. And i stopped about two miles in to rest and call david to complain about why on earth I’m doing this silly trail.

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It’s rather amazing how the ecosystem changed yet again: it’s easy to tell that Washington and California merge in Oregon (obviously the border mean nothing to plants and animals, but they’re good reference points for humans), with the hotter climate, drier and rockier soil, poison oak and blackberry plants, western fence lizards and garter snakes becoming more common place. There were some truly lovely river crossings in this section.

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Once I got in view of the Columbia, i called around town trying to find a room for the night, since it would be too late to resupply before dark. Lisa at the Cascade Motel was so kind and gave me her last room, then told me to take my time and she’d make me a plate for dinner when I got there.

“I don’t know how people who are scared of heights make it across this death trap”

Slowly Dying

I crossed the giant river via the Bridge of the Gods, which is a name steeped in indigenous history and is really far too grand for the bridge that is over the river. It felt as though the winds were trying to blow me off the bridge, i was worried id drop something through the grating if the bridge, and since there is no sidewalk I had to walk in the car lane and just hope not to die. I don’t know how people who are scared of heights make it across this death trap. Getting into town on foot is kind of strange and hard to do, with steep drop offs to navigate down to the main level of the town.

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The motel was literally on the opposite end of town, 1.3mi from the bridge, so i started my journey down the road, stopping at the market and finding to my disappointment that they didn’t have good options for cold soakers (i also grabbed some apples and a slice of cake, and overheard the workers exclaiming over the presence of a dead bird on the counter which was unfortunate). Lisa was every bit as wonderful as her voice on the phone sounded, telling me to shower and collect my dirty clothes before coming to her place for dinner. The ribs were so tender and well seasoned, the tomatoes so fresh and the homemade sauce she put on the sweet potatoes was to die for. After chatting with David for the third or fourth time that day, i watched a couple episodes of Supernatural and then passed out on the comfy bed.

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Saturday August 14; Mile 471.8 to Mile 491.2 (19.4 miles, day 45).

{I got to camp and was too pooped last night to write, so I’m writing this in the morning}

“My step was surprisingly light, my mood elated and my pace fast”

Slowly dying

Debbie’s couch was surprisingly comfortable, so i didn’t wake up with any new aches and pains which is always nice. I ate a whole mango, some raspberry yogurt and a granola bar while drinking a canned cold brew. David and I chatted while I packed, and i actually read an entire coffee table book while he was distracted picking his mom up from the airport. Then Debbie very kindly offered to take me back to the trail head since the air was considerably clearer (instead of low smoke clouds, the sky just looked overcast with the smoke up very high). Debbie’s generosity knows no bounds, as does my appreciation of her. If anyone is ever near Hood River or Carson WA, you should stay at her beautiful Airbnb, the Blackbird Cottage!

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We said our goodbyes and took selfies before I set off into the woods again. My step was surprisingly light, my mood elated and my pace fast; i had expected to be dragging my feet like the last times is spent too much time off trail, but maybe 2 days is the perfect number of zeros: refreshed and ready to get back to hiking. I got into the first river i passed since the heat was really bad. My sweat was beading on my skin and dripping down me, which never happens but must be from the added humidity.

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This section of trail was new and exciting in the sense that the ecosystem had changed considerably. The lower altitude (and latitude) allowed deciduous trees (vine and big leaf maples) to be part of the canopy, and the understory had trees that were taller than me, such as red elderberry, maples, and mountain ash. The low lying plants also changed completely, with edible berries such as salal, bunch berries, red huckleberries, bilberries, thimbleberries, rose hips, and manzanita, and poisonous berries such as red baneberry, devil’s club, Solomon’s seal, false Solomon’s seal and so much more. The diversity has definitely increased! I’ve also started seeing these little tiny squirrels with fluffy tails and orange stomachs. Not to mention the old growth trees, mossy and licheny ground and trunks, and the 4 species of ferns that make everything seem ethereal and beyond time.

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Since I got a late start, and there was this nasty dry uphill section to do, i decided to spend a few hours nighthiking. The sun set around 8/8:30 and full dark came between 9/9:30. I had dinner at a river under a bridge that smelled horribly of whatever chemical they used to seal it, and had the misfortune of seeing a naked man who had been bathing in the river. 

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“The beauty of the night is everything changes: the animal life shifts to nocturnal beasties, like crawdads, banana slugs, bats and moths; the headlamp illuminates things like mosses, spiders and their webs, glistening specks of sap, and the purple reflective eyes of moths; sounds seem to echo further and louder, making you feel a little jumpy; the eyes play tricks on you as stumps and mushrooms loom out of the gloomy peripherals of the headlamp light”

Slowly Dying

The beauty of the night is everything changes: the animal life shifts to nocturnal beasties, like crawdads, banana slugs, bats and moths; the headlamp illuminates things like mosses, spiders and their webs, glistening specks of sap, and the purple reflective eyes of moths; sounds seem to echo further and louder, making you feel a little jumpy; the eyes play tricks on you as stumps and mushrooms loom out of the gloomy peripherals of the headlamp light.

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By 11pm i was over the climb (physically and emotionally, but not literally), which was about 3 miles at 550ft ascension per mile, but the campsite I was aiming for was full, so i had to push on a little further to a place in the duff.

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Friday August 13; zero in Carson, Mile 471.8 (0 miles, day 44).

{Yet another missed journal entry}

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Debbie let me check out late and offered for me to stay a night on her couch since she was booked out in the Airbnb and the air was still so horribly smokey. I took her up on her offer and went down with all my stuff after spending the morning talking to David.

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She asked if I wanted to come to Hood River with her, and i jumped on the idea. We went to Walmart, Safeway and a taco truck, where I got some fresh fruit, a cold brew for the morning, a premixed salad, Chinese takeout food for dinner later, and more tacos of course. Debbie told me all about herself and her daughters and really just welcomed me into her life.

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Back at her house, i borrowed her laptop to check and respond to emails I’d been putting off since starting the trail started the process to apply to the peace corps, and started the process of looking into positions at a science school that had offered me a job. The whole time she was painting in the other room. The couch was surprisingly comfy and I slept well once I finally put my phone down.

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Thursday August 12; zero in Carson, Mile 471.8 (0 miles, day 43).

{It’s hard to remember things that happened 4 days ago in good detail 🙁 }

“The smoke was horrifying today”

Slowly Dying

The smoke was horrifying today. I could barely see the Columbia River, which is a MASSIVE body of water, and the hills beyond were nearly fully obscured.

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I spent nearly the entire day on the phone with david, hiding from the excessive heat and horrible air quality. We watched a horrifying and educational podcast about a north Korean woman who escaped.

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Tabitha hit me up mid day and invited me to head over to a bar with her to play pool, so she picked me up and off we went to Stevenson to a private club/bar place that she has a membership to. An old dude (David) came up as we were setting our drinks (apple crown and cranberry) down and grabbing pool sticks, and asked if we wanted to play him. We said sure, and made it clear that we were really bad at the game, and he said he’d take it easy on us. As we played, several other older guys gathered around to watch and offer pointers. We played slops, and he let us each take a turn for every one of his. He still beat us 3 games in a row. We played a game of our own before Tabitha had to head back home.

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Back at the room, I called David again and an episode of a Columbian tv series (in Spanish!).

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Wednesday August 11; Nero in Carson, Mile 465.5 to Mile 471.8, + 3mi to brewery for dinner (9.3 miles, day 42).

{I need to write these things the day of!! Get it together girl. I barely remember 5 days ago lol}

“I started hiking, sweating profusely and feeling miserable in the heat”

Slowly Dying

On Wednesday, my eyes popped open at 5:53am. It was literally so hot my body protested and made me wake up hours before I normally do to get the day started. Indy, who happened to have camped right at the same spot i was camped, also woke up around the same time due to the heat. I started hiking, sweating profusely and feeling miserable in the heat.

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Within a few miles, the trail crossed through beautiful old growth forest then dropped down into Panther Creek where the temperature dropped 20 degrees. I sat in the cold air along the river bank, and chatted with various nobos who stopped to do the same (Lupine, Dean, One Love, Thimbleberry, etc). When I eventually dragged myself out of that blissful place, i found myself near Panther Creek Campground, and decided to check it out; That’s one car camping site that i would gladly return to, with well kept grounds, gorgeous forests, and the cold river nearby.

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A couple miles later i decided it was simply too hot to hike, and some guy had told me the heat wave was supposed to get up into the 108° range, which seemed dangerous. I called David at a dirt road and asked him to find me a nearby hotel or Airbnb to wait out the heat. He hooked me up with a room at the Blackbird Cottage and the owner of the Airbnb, an amazing and kind woman named Debbie, offered to drive 25mins out of town to pick me up.

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She brought me into Carson, stopped at the delicious taco stand and boba truck for me to grab lunch (I met a lady and her son Tabitha and Jason, here and she was so excited about me doing the PCT that she got my number and said she’d bring me a little care package), and set me up on her kitchen counter to eat while she finished prepping the room upstairs. As you’ll read over the next few days, she’s one of those trail angels that goes above and beyond, time after time.

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I showered and Tabitha came over with some hard seltzers and her care package which consisted of fruit snacks, granola bars, powdered drink mix, q-tips, lotion and more. We made plans to head to a bar for drinks and dinner later, but she ended up canceling, so i walked the 1.5mi to the only open restaurant in town in the blazing heat (even at 7pm it was so so hot).

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There was a flock of turkeys pecking around the fallen apples in someone’s yard . The brewery had a wait, but they had a huge, completely empty, outdoor waiting area where people can have drinks. I ordered a massive salad with lots of veggies and seeds and cheese and fruit, as well as a medium pizza with just as many goodies on it. I killed the salad (except for some excess cheese and most of the giant slices of raw onion) and only ate 2 slices of pizza.

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I carried the huge box of pizza to the general store, bought a pear, and headed back to the Airbnb, where I talked with David late into the night. It was nice to have such a long and deep chat with him, since so many of our convos of late have been fairly superficial. I also went on Instagram after he went to bed and stayed up later than i intended.

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Tuesday August 10; Mile 445.3 to Mile 465.5 (20.2 miles, day 41).

“Sunset and full dark are coming remarkably earlier and earlier”

Slowly Dying

I’ve officially hiked over 500 miles on this trip, but I’m still having the hardest time surmounting the 20mile in a day hump. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve done it several times now. The issue is it’s HARD and i want to pick up my pace a little. It doesn’t help that i seem to be coming down with a head cold or maybe allergies (please please please don’t be covid!); My nose has been on the verge of stuffy all day and my head has been hurting and the lymph nodes in my neck are swollen and sore. I took a Motrin and a Zyrtec this morning hoping they would help me out, and something eventually did the trick to get me moving faster than a crawl (although who knows if that wasn’t the berries i was eating or the Cold spring water i splashed on my face).

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Blue lake was a beautiful first stop where I called David, but the service was pretty bad. At my next stop on top of a ridge with views of Mt Hood, St. Helens, Adams and Jefferson, i FaceTimed the whole fam and got to see my niece and nephew. I started listening to Walden on audible to try to give me more motivation.

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I did a late lunch at a trailhead, where I napped for an hour before the sounds of Razor, Alan and Connie arriving woke me.

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Dinner was a relaxed affair at the last stream before a 10mi water carry, with couscous in one hand and my book in the other. I hiked another 6 miles in the fading light, surprised to see so many nobos doing the same thing, since most of the hikers so far have camped before 7pm. Sunset and full dark are coming remarkably earlier and earlier the further south i go.

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“Each stump looked like a crouching human and the woods felt menacing with branches leaning over the trail”

Slowly Dying

Hiking in the dark today was strangely scarier than usual. Each stump looked like a crouching human and the woods felt menacing with branches leaning over the trail. It’s so fricking warm in my tent right now at almost 10pm, I’m literally lying in my underwear. I popped another Motrin since my symptoms from this morning have returned with a vengeance, and all i can do is hope i can sleep.

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Monday August 9; Mile 423.7 to Mile 445.3 w/ 2mi Sawtooth Mountain alternate trail (22.2 miles, day 40).

The morning was a chilly 40 something degrees as we ate more huckleberry pancakes at the diner and packed up all of our gear. I had a good talk with Rooster about plants and trees, since he does tree work and studied environmental studies.

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At 10am, all the hikers who were ready to hit the mountain again gathered at the general store to await the arrival of the shuttle driver (really just a variety of retired volunteers with big trucks that have the time and kindness to bring hikers to and from the trailhead). We all squeezed into the cab and back of Doug’s pickup truck and listened to his stories about his life until he dropped us off.

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Indy took off ahead of us, but Razor, Alan, Connie and I all walked together for the first few miles, munching on strawbs and hucks. I sped up because I had plans to make bigger miles, but at my first break stop they caught up and we ate lunch together.

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In Hood River i had bought a pair of cheap earbuds to listen to music while hiking, but i listened to one song before I decided I hated not being able to be more aware of my surroundings and immediately took them off.

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At my second stop i fell asleep for 20 minutes until the sound of the three of them coming around the bend woke me up. They stopped for the night within a half mile of there, asking my advice on a campsite with a bunch of Widowmakers (dead trees/branches that could fall and kill a camper in their tent). I hope it’s needless to say that i told them they needed to choose a better spot.

I signed a PCT logbook that was chained in a metal box on the trail, and flipped back looking for names I recognized. Bombadil is about 9 days ahead of me, having written his name on the 31st.

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The vegetation on one section of trail was so beautiful, with the bear grass bunches and flowers everywhere amongst the reds and yellows of huckleberry bushes and the greens of young pines. I took the Sawtooth Mountain alternate trail hoping for views and cell service. The only really good view was at the end of it with Mt. Adams in the distance; the rest of the view was timber forest for hundreds of miles in all directions. There was a 10mi water carry that ended with lake after lake glimmering off trail through the trees.

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I settled on the grassy Eunice Lake when the sun was below the horizon, feeling the long miles in my feet and tired eyes. Tonight is a cold one. I could see my breath throughout dinner and the ground is cold through my tarp and tent. I closed my storm doors to try to conserve heat. Hopefully I survive the chill tonight haha.

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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.