Blowdowns, snow, mosquitoes, and more blowdowns—that was the theme of the last three days. I also had a lot of long water carries. But I love being back on the PCT, and I finally met some PCT thruhikers! So many fun memories from Tim and my 2018 PCT thruhike are coming back to me as I walk across Oregon! ❤️
Day 4 – OR PCT Mile 104.3
I woke up smelling the fire and saw more ash on the trail, but I didn’t see the fire this morning. I started hiking around sunrise. The first 7 miles or so were peaceful and a good temp. But then it started to get hot again, and my back started hurting really bad. I finally made it to a spring—today was another dry day with over 10 miles between every water source—after taking lots of breaks with my backpack off for a minute or two. At the spring, I took a long break with a bunch of mosquitoes (good thing I had DEET and a bug head net). I used water bottles filled with ice cold spring water to “ice” my back. I also rolled my back with my small Nalgene, which doubles as my cold soak jar. It seems like it must have helped because my back was not hurting quite as bad after that break. I cannot wait until this pack gets lighter!! There were lots of blow downs today, which definitely slowed me down. There was a 65-year old guy sawing one of the down trees across the trail with a hand saw. He asked me to help him and had me push/rock the tree while he sawed. I guess my weight/strength wasn’t enough though because we couldn’t get it. Also, I finally met a PCT thruhiker today at the spring and had a nice time chatting with him. I only saw 3 people today—the thruhiker, the saw-man, and one guy setting up his tent far enough away that I did not say hi. Another good but hard day on the trail!
Day 5 – OR PCT Mile 132.1
Today was hard—snow, blow downs, and mosquitoes. (All things I feared starting in July instead of August. Oh well—too late now.) A deer woke me up at 2am making noise near my tent. I was mad, but later in the day deer redeemed themselves. I had a big descent down Devil’s Peak which was covered in snow. There were no human footprints to follow. There was an old melted glissade path down the mountain, but I didn’t feel up for that. A deer had decided to walk the trail on top of the snow though. I followed the deer prints, and they matched the trail switchbacks exactly. Pretty crazy. I met two nice PCT thruhikers at a water source and had fun chatting with them while we all filtered water. Today was probably the worst day of blowdowns, especially as I walked through a burn area this afternoon. It was hard to find the trail at times. This evening I made it to Crater Lake National Park.
Day 6 – OR PCT Mile 160.2
Today I accidentally slept in. I got started hiking at 7am. I probably needed the extra sleep because I felt better than normal as I started hiking for the day. Today’s terrain was fairly easy, but there were a lot of blow downs again. I saw a herd of elk in Crater Lake National Park. I was surprised because had no idea there were elk in Oregon. At a spring, I stopped to soak my feet in the ice cold water. I also taped up two blisters on each of my little toes. In addition to blisters and back pain, I have a rash on my back/butt under my backpack hip belt. Luckily, the rash doesn’t hurt. This afternoon I started a 21-mile stretch between water sources. I have 4 miles to go still tomorrow morning. This is the longest water carry for me yet, and I felt the weight. I saw three water caches that trail angels put out for PCT hikers, but I couldn’t take any water because then I wouldn’t be hiking unsupported. There was also trail magic with cold sodas and a group of thruhikers hanging out—everyone looked at me like I was an alien when I declined and kept walking. 😕
Current Stats
Day 4 Distance Hiked: 25.9 miles
Day 5 Distance Hiked: 27.8 miles
Day 6 Distance Hiked: 28.1 miles
Day 1-6 Average: 26.7 miles per day
Current Record to Beat: 28.4 miles per day
