7/25/2023
Section: Milepost 1996.1 to 1980.3
Total Trail Miles: 959.0
Distance: 15.84 Miles
Moving Time: 08:00 hrs
Elevation Gain: 3,197 ft
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A month and a half before we started this trail, a very dear friend of ours, who is also one of our co-workers, set foot in Campo, California to begin her own PCT adventure. One of the silver linings of the flip that we did is that we knew there was a chance we would get to see her again and, today, towards the very end - we ran into Amy Lu!
The stage today begins at the Big Lake Youth Camp and proceeds south, rejoining the PCT a mile on. The day crosses over 2 small ridges as it passes the western edges of Mt. Jefferson. As the trail rounds the southern flank of Jefferson it turns due south and proceeds towards Bellknap Crater and Little Bellknap. Here the trail comes upon a massive expanse of Lava Rock as it climbs to the saddle between the two Bellknaps. Once through the saddle the path drops to McKenzie Pass Highway through more lava fields, eventually passing by a trailhead. Once across the highway, the path continues through lava fields, past a turn-off for Lava Lake Campground and makes the final climb of the day to Scott Pass and Little Matthieu Lake. A campground just half a mile past the lake marks the end of the day.
I tried to get up at 5:45 am, but ended up snoozing. You, reader, are probably sick of hearing about my snoozing escapades but I just can’t wrap my head around why it is so hard to get up. The night had pulled drizzle up onto the shore and everything was damp, which was just wonderful because it made the ultra fine black sand stick to everything as we attempted to get packed up. I left the ground tarp outside of the tent - it was a lost cause. The guy who had copied my yoga routine last night was already gone but the other guy who had arrived at the beach with us was still sleeping. We got everything together and tip-toed back to the front entrance of the youth camp where we found a few other hikers milling around and some free coffee. I’m still working on my separation from Coffee but showed some serious weakness in Bend - I love Sister’s Coffee Co. We talked with the others a bit. It sounded like the highly touted free breakfast at the camp wasn’t going to be ready until like 8:30 and we weren’t interested in waiting so we set off around 7:30, headed south.
There is currently a moderately sized fire just east of Eugene, on the western slopes of the Cascades. Not close enough to be a major concern for us but the plume coming off the fire is moving right overhead and has been since yesterday - which sucks. All the more reason to get out of Oregon before we are too deep into August - I have a little more faith in California’s fire response given they are more geared up for it. The trail weaved up and out of the big lake area through mostly younger growth and some older fire sections. Blow-down was minimal which was awesome. Not much of note in this section. We ran into some NOBO’s, the excitement at a hot breakfast clear on their faces. Soon, we were up and over the first 1000 foot climb and started back down. At the bottom of the trail, we turned from speedy loam to lava rock.
Lava Rock is a staple of Central Oregon - I had kinda forgotten. You can go on whole Lava Tube tours here from Santiam, McKenzie and many other passes through the mountain but this was the first real run-in we had had with it on the trail and I gotta say, not ranking very high on the walk-ability. It downright sucks. It’s sharp, it’s uneven and it’s all loose. Amanda and my moving time took a huge dive as we began our second thousand foot climb of the day. An older English couple walked by and I made a joke about how much I loved walking on the stuff at which point the guy said somberly “well, there’s lots more ahead of you,” which I kinda wish I hadn’t heard. We climbed our way up, up and up until we reached the saddle between the two Bellknap’s and took a picture. Out in front of us was, probably, a beautiful view of the 3 Sisters but today it was a hazy mirage of them instead, kinda pretty in its own right but far from crystal clear. Really want to come back down here and climb those. We began our descent, running into a guy on his way to climb the smaller Bellknap and eventually reached the trailhead. Here we found a mostly-empty water cash, so I guess we are back in an area where we need to start thinking about that again and proceeded on Lava Rock down to McKenzie Pass highway.
At the higway we crossed and started making our way up the 3rd thousand foot climb of the day. The going was incredibly slow. Amanda got new shoes and, while they are better than the Altras she had, the sizing said she needed to be a half size larger and she felt as though her feet were swimming a bit. We clamored on and soon came to the turn-off for Lava Lake Campground. Amy Lu had informed us that this is where she was trying to get that evening. We sat and took a break while considering what to do. It was 3 pm and unlikely that she was stopping so early so we assumed she was ahead of us. With no service, it was impossible to check so we continued on. We made our way up the final grade of the day. The trail transitioned off of lava, which helped with our speed but off to our left, massive fields could be seen. I said something like “Wow, I’m really glad i wasn’t here 150 million years ago!” Which, to be honest, wasn't really that funny. Eventually we arrived at the junction for Matthieu Lake trail and continued on the PCT, soon arriving at Little Matthieu Lake which, we were not allowed to stay at. We filtered water and talked to a guy from Palm Springs who said he knew Amy and thought she was behind somewhere. We finished our filtering and continued on down the path. Just as we were beginning to worry I saw a lone figure coming of the trail. I did a little walking stick wiggle in the air and the figure returned the wiggle with a smile. “Think that’s Amy!” I said excitedly to Amanda. It definitly was and there were hugs all around as we excitedly said hi. We chilled on the trail and talked for about half an hour. There are so many stories to tell, especially when everyone has been through the same areas and lots of beta to communicate about the road ahead. We shared each other’s trail names and talked about the horrers of the Sierra. We took pictures with each other and eventually said goodbye and that we would catch-up in the Fall either in the Sierra or back at home in Bellingham and then she was gone. It revitalized us to talk to her though. It’s great to have someone else who’s close out on the trail, even if you aren’t hiking with them. About 5 minutes later we arrived at our spot for the night and set up. The sand was finally, mostly gone as i set it up. We had some Good-to-Go meals, Gumbo for me and smoked chili for Amanda. It’s good but Amanda’s dad is bringing smoked Salmon to Elk lake this weekend and I am excited about that. We talked and ate and eventually turned in for the night. It was a fight to get up this morning so hoping it will be easier tomorrow.
