7/17/2023
Section: Milepost 2067.3 to 2048.3
Total Trail Miles: 891.0
Distance: 19.56 Miles
Moving Time: 07:37 hrs
Elevation Gain: 3,185 ft
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So here we are, 2 months on the trail, what an achievement. Would have liked to still be going Northbound through the Sierra at this point, but the 1000-year snowpack year is what we were dealt. As it is, I am happy to be back in my second home state and cruising south through the Cascades. Oregon really is a stunning place - I feel like it always plays second fiddle to its northern and southern neighbors, but it has incredible scenery, and it’s a lot quieter than both Washington and California.
Today’s stage continues south through warm Springs Indian reservation, past the eastern flanks of South Pinhead Butte, then through Lemti meadow and Slow Creek. At mile 2051.9 the PCT crosses near Jude Lake and then crosses back into the Mt. Hood wilderness and a major burn zone from the 2020 Lion’s Head fire. The last 4 miles of the stage are in this major burn zone which is quite depressing but eventually delivers you to the Olallie Lake Resort, which is over 100 years old and maintains a nice, cash-only general store for all of your hiking needs.
We slept in this morning. Yesterday was pretty draining, and I just couldn’t make the 5 am wake-up call work, so we slept in till 6. Also, we were not murdered in our sleep by spirits of the dead, so that was a plus. Amanda gave me one of her breakfast protein pucks, which were less satisfying than she had hoped. I found them to be pretty good and very filling. We packed up and were on the trail at 7:45, but were actually not the last ones out of the campground.
The trail was incredibly flat. We did a bit of climbing in the morning, but it was almost imperceptible. That’s the thing we have heard and are really starting to believe about Oregon - it is relatively flat, and you can really fly through it. We hiked in relative silence for the first 7 miles. The green tunnel was strong today - there were a few small glimpses back at Mt. Hood and a few forward at Mt. Jefferson, but, other than that - super closed in.
Around lunch, we stopped in a clearing for some food and Amanda and I shared a 100 mg caffeine electrolyte mix which really energized us before continuing on. There are a lot more people on the trail now. It’s crazy I never noticed this while living here, but I remind myself that most of my outdoor escapades were in the Coastal range or the west side of the cascades so I never would have seen all this traffic before but, wow, so many people. We are catching the NOBO bubble of people who started in early April and there are a lot of them.
Eventually, we reached Jude Lake and crossed out of the Indian reservation into Mt. Hood National Forest. Mt. Jefferson was big on the horizon - definitely want to climb that next summer, it’s beautiful. We came to the burn zone. It is one of the worst we have seen on the trail. I remember the Lion’s Head fire. It was started by a Utility company not shutting down some of their lines and I remember the pictures of burned out SUV’s on forest service roads and so many people being evacuated. It was incredibly sobering to see the 3-year-old remnants even now.
We hiked through the burn zone for around 90 minutes before we were delivered to the Olallie lake resort, about 500 yds down a forest service road off the trail. Here we entered the general store and were delighted to find a good assortment of hiker meals and snacks. We made a little pile at the counter and asked if she could ring us up to know where we were. The general store was cash only and we had only pulled 100 dollars out at Mt. Hood. She did, and we found out we were over our 100 dollars. I traded out a hiker meal for some Ramen so I could get two beers, and then we realized my mom was going to likely give us a ride into Sisters on the 19th, so we didn’t even need one of the Mountain Houses which made room for a 3rd beer. In the end we spent around 96 dollars but got everything we could think we needed. We are only 3 days from Bend after all. After our shopping spree we sat in 2 lazy chairs at the end of a dock with Mt. Jefferson in the background enjoying some cold drinks and Otter Pops. It was wonderful.
After our lazy afternoon retreat, we found the little campground west of the General store and put down our tent. We made dinner and then talked with some NOBO’s who were also camping. Eventually, though, not wanted to repeat the snoozing escapades from this morning, we retreated to the tent for a good nights’ sleep.
