7/27/2023
Section: Milepost 1980.3 to 1963.1
Total Trail Miles: 976.2
Distance: 17.53 Miles
Moving Time: 08:15 hrs
Elevation Gain: 2795 ft
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Amanda’s back was better today and after a few tentative steps she was cruising in the morning so - spoiler alert, we moved on south today, if a little slow.
The stage today spends the entire time going around the west side of the Three Sisters - 3 imposing mountains smack dab in the middle of Oregon. The path out today leads around the Yapoah Crater before heading south past Minnie Scott Spring. Shortly after the spring, the PCT climbs up to a short pass - Opie Dilldock Pass - on lava rock before descending from the pass on a long series of tiny switchbacks. From the pass the trail progresses west for about a mile before turning back south to run parallel to the 3 sisters. The PCT passes through the Obsidian area punctuated by an excess of it’s namesake in the area as well as a beautiful falls. From there the trail continues south eventually passing by a small lake which is great for swimming before descending into the Mesa Creek valley and climbing out the other side where the stage ends east of Mesa springs.
I tried so hard to get up at 5 this morning but ended up snoozing for an hour. This put us on the trail at 6 with Amanda tentatively trying out her back. No shooting pains today so we proceeded slowely up the initial climb of the day. The trail wound up and eventually flattened out, allowing us to speed up a little bit. Every blowdown was tense, hoping that no sudden twisting re-aggravated her back. We proceeded on and began running into the NOBO’s. Each one told us of a brutal descent we had upcoming on lava rock. Eventually, we got to the top and looked down - honestly, it wasn't that bad, just a bunch of short little switchbacks making their way down. It kinda looked like that famous street in San Francisco that switches all the way down to the main boulevard. We cruised down, talking to a few NOBO’s on the way.
The trail proceeded around the Sisters, calmly climbing and dropping through the old glacial moraine. The lava rock eventually gave up and we were back to loam, but continued to take it slowly to ensure we didn’t push Amnda’s back too hard.
After a while, we came to a spot we had been shooting for, for an afternoon break - a small pond which everyone on FarOut were outraged about because of its pond classification. While small, the “pond’s” setting was beautiful, right under the South Sister and the comments all suggested it should be upgraded to a lake. We agreed as we stripped down to swimware level undergarments and jumped in. The lake, like all lakes in eastern Oregon, was crystal clear and the perfect temperature. We swam for about 15 minutes before getting out and drying off. I found my custom monster mix bag had been torn into by a chipmunk while we were away but, fortunately, i didn’t have much left for the bandit to steal.
We got back on the trail and hiked for another 2-3 hours before setting up camp and settling down for the evening after some focused stretching.
