Alarm 6.15am, breakfast, on trail at 7.30am. Cold in the mornings as we are getting more North and closer to Washington.
First stop after a couple of miles at Little Crater lake.
We continued on through the forest with a cloudy sky, definitely looking like rain is coming.
The climb to Timberline Lodge from 4000 to 6000 feet was strenuous, with the trail getting sandy. But the expectation to reach the lodge and with that getting dinner was motivation to push on.
Made it to the lodge at 6pm. We had pizza and beer at the Blue Ox bar.
When we left after dinner to find a tentsite in a small forest above the lodge, it had gotten really cold at our altitude of 6000 feet. We hurried with pitching the tents and got into the sleeping bags quickly. Some hikers returned after more beer at the lodge later to the tentsite…. one guy had fun playing loud music from his bluetooth speaker late at night…
Woke up at 6.15am, nice breakfast with lots of food from the shop, including a cinnamon roll. When the shop opened at 7am, I also got a coffee there.
Some small talk with an older hiker that I had already chatted with yesterday evening. It turned out he is a trail angel out of San Diego when he offered us freshly made breakfast burritos. 😁 His trail name is Otzi, he through hiked the PCT in 1975!
Tinkle and Otzi
We accepted the burritos gladly and carried them as second breakfast for the 10 miles morning break…
Lunch and water break at Warm Springs river, 19 miles in. We joined Happy Hermit and Paradise in their shady spot.
We kept on hiking in the evening until 8pm. Looking for a protected tentsite, we passed Happy Hermit’s and Paradise’s campsite. The clouds looked like rain was coming, so we wanted something less exposted to wind.
We finally came to a very beautiful spot right at Timothy Lake, another hiker Dang had already a fire going and invited us to join.
Got up 6am, had breakfast outside our tents with a view on Mt Jefferson, left campsite at 7.15am.
After taking water at Milk Creek at mile 2025, we ran into MathMan, an older section hiker. We chatted a bit – he thruhiked the PCT in 1975, now section hiking 100 miles of the Oregon PCT. An impressive guy. He recommended to take an alternate to the PCT right after the Timberline Lodge – the Paradise Loop trail, his favorite part of the trail.
Had our lunch break at water around 15 miles in, nice campsite with shade. Happy Hermit and Paradise showed up shortly later and joined us.
We pushed on another 11 miles to Olallie Lake. The small shop there was actually an unplanned resupply stop for us. But since it was right on trail, we headed for it and made it at 7.20pm, in time before it closes at 8pm.
After we packed up our tents after breakfast we ran into the same ultra runner support crew from yesterday again. And they had not forgotten us hungry hikers either… They offered to share their breakfast leftovers – potatoes fried in coconut oil, bacon, apple slices. Hmmm!
Well fed we started hiking – excited about the 2000 miles marker waiting for us in just a couple of miles.
2000 miles at 9am. An important milestone. Disbelief. Relief. Happiness. Time and miles are flying by. Exactly 4 months on trail.
Tempus fugit.
We took several photos and continued hiking until the 10 mile break around 11am.
At mile 2008 at Koko Lake it was time for the lunch break at 1.45pm – also time for a nap.
Tough Thruhiker Life
We continued on around 3pm until the next water break at Rockpile lake at mile 2012. With no water at the planned campsite on a ridge, we took some extra with us.
Continued to a campsite without water but nice views on Mt Jefferson, mile 2017.
It got more and more cold – had breakfast in tent. The trail had been smokey since days – the sky looked really hazy. We were on trail at 7am heading into more lava fields.
I loved the landscape, even though it was windy and difficult to walk. It reminded me in some regards of the Sierra – but most of it looked just alien, like from a different world.
We took a longer break with cellphone coverage at a lake – I had my coffee and booked a place in Cascade Locks, the gateway into Washington.
A highway crossing was coming – a chance for trail magic. But no luck. A bit disappointed, we took a break right next to the street and had some snacks. After a few minutes, a pickup stopped and two men got out. They wanted to know if the crossing trail was indeed the Pacific Crest Trail. We learned that they were father and a friend of a trail runner attempting an Oregon crossing on the PCT. After some chat, they offered sodas and bars which we happily accepted. The trail provides… 🙂
At the end of the lava fields, I came to a crossing of the trail. With the trail so evenly splitting, it reminded me of one of my favorite poems by Robert Frost.
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both…
Robert Frost – The Road not Taken
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
We finally got out of the lava fields and headed towards our next resupply stop, the Big Lake Youth Camp short before mile 2000.
We arrived at 5.30pm at the youth camp. Surprisingly nobody from the camp was around – they were obviously on a break. But the PCT designated hut was populated with hikers. We helped ourselves to a shower, laundry, picked up our resupply boxes and ate some dinner from the hiker box.
Around 9pm we left cleaned up and with devices charged, walked a while to a designated camping area, mile 1995.
The world is big 