Going Wherever It Leads

Exploring motherhood and Mother Nature

Category Archives: Oregon


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PCT Revisited: Providing Some Magic to Hungry Hikers in Oregon

Charlton Lake, Oregon

Charlton Lake, Oregon, first thing in the morning, before a beautiful trail run, then quick swim –ah, camping life

This past weekend Not-a-Bear and I donned our trail names once again and headed to the PCT –this time as trail angels, and weekend car campers, at Charlton Lake in the Willamette National Forest, near Bend, Oregon. The lake and campsites that surround it are on a lovely stretch of trail surrounded by tall pines and dotted with crystal clear lakes. We passed through the area last year at this time (about a week later), and figured there would probably be a good-sized pack of this year’s PCT thru hikers to feed.

We were right! We lost count, but we probably saw around 40 hikers in the two days were we there. We grilled up 60 hamburgers, 32 hot dogs, and 2 veggie burgers, and doled out 48 cans of soda (grape, strawberry, and cream soda were the hits, and favorites of mine on the trail), 72 beers, 2 bags of applies, 4 giant bags of potato chips, sour patch kids, a bag of baby carrots, and lots of baked goods –basically everything we craved as hikers. We didn’t bring any food back with us and ran out earlier than we’d expected.

We had a blast! For those of you unfamiliar with trail magic, it is when strangers give unexpected food to hikers. This could be in the form of a cooler by a trail head filled with cold soda, or cooking up an actual

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fun time feeding new friends

meal. It is something you don’t expect on the trail, but is always appreciated, and often the pick-me-up you need at just the right time. Our highest compliments of the weekend were from hikers who told us they were having a really bad day until they saw our signs on the trail for burgers and beers, and then things picked up. I remember feeling the same.

finally got to break out the hammock we got as a wedding gift, thought I'd have more time to relax in it, but we were quite busy with our guests!

finally got to break out the hammock we got as a wedding gift, thought I’d have more time to relax in it, but we were quite busy with our guests!

We really enjoyed chatting with this year’s hikers and learning about how different the trail is compared to last year. For one thing, they got a lot of snow in the Sierras and had some miserable sounding stories involving miles of snowfields, ice axes, and micro-spikes. I am glad that wasn’t us last year! 2015 was an exceptionally low snow year, followed by a pretty high one this year. This led to more water in sections that were very dry for us, but also an increase in mosquitoes. We had a small smokey campfire burning all weekend to keep them down, but when you left that circle you certainly felt them, and many hikers came in with bug netting covering their faces. The bugs were long gone last year at this time.

For us it was nostalgic to be hanging with hikers again (I didn’t even mind the smell!), and fun to live vicariously for the weekend. For me especially it was really nice to feel like I fit in, something I struggled with most of my own hike last year. I finally felt like I earned my trail cred. It felt good to be able to give advice to this year’s hikers, share our stories, and listen to theirs.

Deschutes River, near Bend

Deschutes River, near Bend

It was a great group of hikers, and just a perfect weekend, topped by heading into Bend on Sunday for the night. Since we ran out of food on Saturday, we left a little earlier than planned and had time to check out some of the sights around Newberry National Volcanic Monument, like Lava River Cave, a cave created by a hollowed out lava tube, and some rapids on the Deschutes River. Then we spent the afternoon and evening exploring McMenamin’s Old St. Francis School, a Catholic School beautifully and creatively restored to a hotel, complete with a soaking pool, several bars and restaurants, and even hidden rooms filled with very cool art work.

one of many really cool pieces of art at Old St. Francis School Hotel, Bend

one of many really cool pieces of art at Old St. Francis School Hotel, Bend

Now we are home, back to the real world, but it was a great mini-vacation.

Over-and-out,

Comet

P.S. If you’d like to see some of the things I’ve been up to check out The Passion Project, especially the profile of potter, Amy Hepner, a thru-hiker we met on-trail last year. Subscribe to read about another creative thru hiker I met in the next installment.

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sunset, Charlton Lake

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moon’s reflection

 

 


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Goodbye Oregon, Hello Washington Wildfires

So, we made it to Cascade Locks, the last stop in Oregon. We can see Washington from here! Tomorrow we will cross the Columbia River via the Bridge of the Gods (the place that Cheryl Strayed ended her hike in Wild) and enter our last state of the trail, with about 500 more miles in it, barring trail closures, I’ll get to that later.

Columbia River Gorge, Bridge of the Gods, Cascade Locks, OR

We’ve had a fun run in Oregon, hiking mainly in the “green tunnel” of big moss-covered trees. Some hikers use “green tunnel” as a negative term, complaining about spending so much time under tree cover, but I love it. It’s nice and cool and shady, and the forest has its own quiet beauty.

just a little log on the trail

Of course we’ve also got plenty of glimpses of the out loud beauty of mountains and
lakes this stretch as well.

South Sister, in Three Sisters Wilderness

 

Obsidian Falls in the Obsidian Limited Use Area

Also lava fields, cool when you first go through them, but then the other-worldly desolation kind of gets to you, especially coupled with large burn areas.

burn area in the lava field, most desolate stretch of trail for me

 

burned trees framing Five Fingered Jack

 

lava

 


We had a great bit of relief in the lava fields when two friends from Eugene, Lisa and Dean, came to re supply us for the next leg and brought a great picnic feast. We all had a nice swim at Lava Lake campground to cool off.

Then it was back on the trail. Except the next day we decided this stretch was a little too long, and we couldn’t make it to Cascade Locks without a little break. So we hitched into Sisters, which turned into a very restful zero the next day.

My feet were still hurting, so Jason suggested I see if the physical therapy office, literally right next door from our motel, had any appointments. Turns out they did, starting with an hour long foot and leg massage by their massage therapist. The PT saw me as well, kineseotaped my feet, gave me some new metatarsal pads for my inserts, gave me some other good tips, and assured me my feet would stop hurting when I stop walking. So the take away message is pain management until the end of the trail. Thank you so much Step and Spine Physical Therapy for your generosity!

My feet are actually feeling better now. They’ve gotten used to my new super cushy shoes, Altras, and with my old inserts, it seems to be a good combination. So good that after my first 29-mile day 2 days ago, I wasn’t any more sore than I’d expect to be, which is a great improvement.

Now, enough talk of feet. More interesting things– photos of waterfalls, lakes, and mountains. Our last day hiking into the Columbia River Gorge (lowest elevation on the PCT), we took a popular alternate trail, called Eagle Creek. This trail has tons of great stream and waterfall views, including the very cool tunnel falls, where you hike along a cliff’s edge to the waterfall and then go into a tunnel behind it, coming out the other side. When you get close to the falls, you get a little wet from the mist, and the tunnel is dripping and full of lush moss and ferns, one of my favorite experiences on the trail so far! Not as much for Jason, who is afraid of heights, but he troopered through it!

Mt. Jefferson

 

 

kayaker on Timothy Lake during our sunset swim

 

Timothy Lake during my sunrise foot soak

 

Mt. Hood

 

closer view of Mt Hood, early morning

 

Unfortunately, WordPress isn’t letting me upload the waterfall pictures. I’ll try on Instagram or in the next post.

As we head into Washington, we are faced with several large wildfires that have closed the trail in places. One trail closure will be coming up in few days, near Mt. Adams. We will skip ahead around it, getting a ride by car, missing about a day of trail.

The next closure isn’t for a few more weeks and affects a larger portion of trail. We will probably skip around this as well. However, lots of rain is predicted for the next few days, so this may help contain fires and possibly open trails. We’ll just wait and see.

The wildfires are all currently quite far from us and we are in no real danger. The PCTA and forest rangers do a great job of proactively closing trails for hiker safety, and getting the word out about them.

See you down the trail,

Comet/Catie

P.S. we’d love to get encouraging snail mail for our final push, also Jason’s birthday is this month! Check the Where We’ll Be page on this blog for addresses and mail it today so we’ll get it in time!


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Wildfires, Big Feet & OREGON!!!

So, if you’ve seen Instagram you know that we finally crossed the border into Oregon! We learned the hard and very long way that California is a very big state!

But before we get to Oregon, here’s a little more of Northern California. I last left you in the small town of Etna. From there, we hiked through the smoky haze of wildfires. We stopped to resupply in the very little town of Seiad Valley (in the lovely wanna-be state of Jefferson). It was a long hike into town (27 mile day) ending in a 7 mile road walk that is part of the actual trail.

It was such a long day because we didn’t make our planned mileage the day before. It was a very hot day and I started it out feeling sick. After a long morning rest, we only made 15 of the 20 planned miles. So by the time we got into Seiad we were pretty exhausted, but we managed to get some food for the next leg of the trip before the little general store closed, and shower and set up our tent in the local RV park beside it. It actually was kind of a fun day. Cooler than the day before, we had a couple nice opportunities to get wet in stream crossings, and an afternoon thunderstorm was just long enough to cool us off without leaving us soaked for the rest of the day.

hot and sick feeling this day, but some views are just too gorgeous to ignore

 

Grider Stream, a bridge burned in last year’s fire is of no use to us now, but it’s so hot we welcome the chance to take our shoes off and ford

 

this is not a sunset, but the wildfire haze makes it look like one

 

 

eerily beautiful sky reflected in the Klamath River, hiking the road into Seiad Valley

 

this also happened on that road, only 999 miles to Canada!

We were a little nervous about all of the smoke we were seeing (and inhaling), especially while passing through many miles of last year’s devastating fire. But we learned when we got to town that the smoke was coming from fires hundreds of miles away. This same smoke would follow us up into Oregon and mix with the smoke of its wildfires as well, still very far from the trail. Not too fun to hike in. You know those days when the weather forecasters warn to stay indoors and limit outdoor activities? A little hard to follow when your job is to hike all day.

yay Oregon!

 

more eerie wildfire sky


The smoke was just one of the factors that made me take my Oregon break a little early. The other was my feet and their amazing ability to outgrow my shoes. I finally realized in Etna that my feet have actually grown and this is the probable cause of most of my current foot pain. This was confirmed while trying on shoes here in Eugene. I am now an 8.5. This is common on the trail and I’ve read that some hikers’ feet never go back to their old size. (I wonder if there will be more shoe shopping in my post-trail future?)


After Seiad, and a very long climb out of town (about a 5000 foot elevation gain over 9 miles), it was only another few days to Ashland, a very cool town I’d always wanted to visit. We walked into Callahan’s Lodge to get our free hiker beers, then found a room in town.

 We returned to the lodge the next afternoon to fully make use of our zero day in one of their very nice rooms (hiker rate), including a jacuzzi tub. Shouldn’t zero without one!

The next day, we parted ways: Jason continuing the path to Canada and I being picked up by my ever-so-kind Oregon family, where I’m spending the week, with my car and all my stuff in storage there, as this is where we’ll be when we finish the trail. It’s a weird feeling to be parted with your “stuff” for so long, and then be reunited. More on that later I’m sure.

I spent the last few days shoe shopping, sleeping, and lying in bed reading frivolous novels on my kindle unlimited, zombie-like. After 5 days I finally feel human again, and, are you ready for this? ready to hit the trail!

Yesterday I visited Jason at Crater Lake National Park, about two hours from Oakridge (the town I’m staying in).  Seeing the other hikers and the beauty there made me miss it. I am developing quite the love-hate relationship for this trail.

us at Crater Lake, Wizard Island just behind us

 

Crater Lake

He’s been hiking the good hike, but he is getting tired too. I admire his determination not to quit, even if I don’t share it.

Not-a-Bear passed this a few days ago

 

In a few days I’ll pick him up at the trailhead at Willamette Pass, just a 40-minutes drive from Oakridge. He’ll take the next day off, then we’ll both head back out on the trail. We’ll have only about a week and a half left of Oregon, then it’s Hello Washington!

 

expressing my Oregon love at the border

Well rested and read,

Comet/Catie