7/31/2023
Section: Milepost 1931.6 to 1918.6
Total Trail Miles: 1020.7
Distance: 18.81 Miles
Moving Time: 06:48 hrs
Elevation Gain: 2283 ft
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Today, we got some epic trail magic from a few people who have been doing it for a long time - it was epic.
The path today leads in from as far as Ray was willing to take the truck back up the epically bad forest service road to Irish and Taylor lake. From the trailhead at Irish Lake, the PCT leads past Taylor lake and heads up and south through some very recent fire - the same fire that caused a lot of the 2022 cohort to skip this section all-together. The section eventually crests at Charlton Butte before descending through more bad burn to Charlton lake where the trail magic was waiting. The trail crosses near the west banks of Charlton lake and climbs around 1000 feet around the twins before descending to the “Eugene-to-Pacific-Crest-Trail” junction where it ends in a small little jaunt to the banks of Bobby Lake.
We woke late today. The alarm was set for 6 and I snoozed until about 6:30. We eventually got up and, unlike yesterday, started breaking everything down. No slacking today. By the time we were getting things organized Ray and Sandy were up and making coffee in the percolator. We had coffee and Amanda worked on putting the excess resupply box together for a second resupply that the Porters could send us down the road while also taking what we needed to get to Crater Lake. After that, we walked down to the resort because Sandy said the breakfast they had had there the day before was excellent but, alas, it was closed on Monday so we turned around and headed back to the camper. There, Sandy broke out some smoked salmon and smoked Gouda and we ended up eating like kings anyways, getting good and full despite the closed resort kitchen. After eating, we loaded up our bags, did a walk around the campground and headed out. Ray returned us to nearly where the Porters had driven to the day before which left us about a 5 mile approach to the trailhead. We hugged and took some pictures and said goodbye to the dogs before watching Barney pull back onto the terrible road and head east. Amanda and I did our warm-ups and headed off in the opposite direction.
We walked surprisingly fast up the road, given the return to normal heavy bags and the really silty surface. The fire had been hot here and the ground was accordingly ashy. We made the 5 miles in under 2 hours and turned back onto the PCT. I really dislike approach hiking, it's a lot of work for not really progressing on the main goal which is hiking the PCT.
About a mile or so of walking in peaceful green trees along Taylor lake soon gave way to Armageddon. The fire in 2022 was still very fresh and this section of the PCT must have been extremely hot because there was nothing left alive and the trees were extensively burned - down into the roots in some places. A very bleak atmosphere to walk through for sure. We carried on at a blistering pace and at one point a SOBO hiker had to get our attention to let us know there was a Y and we had taken a different way than where he was coming from. We talked to him for a little while and he was excited to inform us that there was trail magic about 3 miles ahead at Charlton lake and it was really good. We told him thank you and continued on at an even quicker pace, wanting to get there before it left.
We came upon a few more hikers who told us about the trail magic and eventually the trail started to drop around the Twins. Green trees could be seen up ahead and, eventually, we reached them and started meandering down through them. We crossed a much nicer forest road and were excited to see a van and Subaru - but no trail magic. Further on we went and soon came upon a hand painted sign of a genie which stated “Trail magic this way.” Not long after, we found it. 3 hikers and a middle aged couple waited for us, beckoning us excitedly to come in, which we were happy to do. This was “Ducky’s Mom” and “Ducky’s Dad,” two trail angels from Eugene who had been doing this since their son had done the trail in 2016. They had had to pick a different location last year because of the fire but were happy to be back in this area. They had sodas, hot dogs, chips, grapes and Oreos and were fantastic to talk with. We talked with them and the other hikers. Some more NOBO’s showed up as we were eating and we talked with them as well. According to Ducky’s Dad, they come out about 3 times a week and try to have about 70 hot dogs and 50 drinks available a day - this is good beta for Amand and I who want to do this next year. Eventually Amand and I signed the guest book and the bench the Ducky’s Dad had made and bid adieu.
We decided to head for Bobby Lake, which was about 7 miles away. We broke out the mosquito nets that Sandy had brought, happy to get a respite from the bugs in our face. Along the last 7 miles we excitedly told every hiker we crossed paths with about the trail magic but other than that, hiked in relative silence keeping our speed up through the whole thing. At one point we stopped so Amanda could get a picture of me in front of the Waldo Lake sign. Eventually the turn-off for Bobby Lake came into view and we took it, Amand found a nice French pocket knife on the ground after the turn and about 10 minutes more brought us to the lake.
Bobby lake is gorgeous - maybe one of my favorite camp sites. We made ourselves busy with the typical chores. The mosquitos weren’t terrible and the nets helped. I did my exercises and then skinny dipped in the lake, removing all of the dirt that had accumulated on the silty road that day. We ate some Ichiban noodles and eventually turned in for the night looking forward to what we think will be a long consistent stretch of hiking in August.
