Month: August 2014

Day 135: August 15th

Mile 1989.5 (McKenzie Pass) to Mile 2015

No rain today!

It was a beautiful day without any rain. A welcome change after the three days of being wet.

McKenzie Pass has a lava field on both sides of the highway so it was interesting walking through that. The trail passed through a very large burn area for many miles on either side of Santiam Pass.

We had trail magic at both McKenzie and Santiam Pass. Thanks Chef, Jerry Can, and Blue Fox.

Passed the 2,000 mile mark on the hike today.

I camped high on a ridge near a mountain called Three Fingered Jack.

Mileage: 25.5

Day 134: August 14th

Mile 1967 (Wickiup Plain) to Mile 1989.5 (McKenzie Pass)

Rain.

It rained a lot today. This is the third day of rain in a row and it is getting rather tiresome. At least it wasn’t very cold.

Deb was waiting for me at McKenzie Pass and we went to nearby Lava Camp Lake Campground for the night.

Mileage: 22.5

Day 133: August 14th

Mile 1939.7 (Brahma Lake) to Mile 1967 (Wickiup Plain)

The day started with more rain but fortunately that lasted only a couple of hours. The sun was onlyout briefly, it was mostly cloudy today.

Lots of lakes today. I hiked past Stormy Lake, Desane Lake, Horseshoe Lake, Dumbell Lake, Sisters Mirror Lake and countless smaller unnamed lakes.

The weather is getting cooler too. This evening is the first time I have worn my down jacket in weeks.

Mileage: 27.3

Day 132: August 12th

Mile 1914 (Willamette Pass) to Mile 1939.7 (Brahma Lake)

Deb dropped me off at the Pacific Crest Trailhead at Willamette Pass after spending last night in an RV park in Crescent, OR. The RV park was pretty nice except for the road noise from the nearby highway. We have become accustomed to quiet after so much time on the trail.

Many other hikers are on the trail today. Most of them stayed at Shelter Cove (just a few miles from Willamette Pass) so we all started hiking at more or less the same place this morning.

It rained most of the afternoon, turning the trail into a river.

Mileage: 25.7

Day 131: August 11th

Mile 1902.7 to Mile 1914 (Willamette Pass)

Today was a just short 11 mile hike to Willamette Pass where I was met by Deb. We went to the small town of Crescent to clean up and resupply and relax. We are staying in a RV park here tonight.

I will return to the Pacific Crest Trail early tomorrow morning and continue walking north.

Mileage: 11.3

Day 130: August 10th

Mile 1879.8 to Mile 1902.7

This morning I met southbound thru-hikers Dormouse and Dirt Stew at Forest Road 60 near Windigo Pass. They are carrying one of the new super accurate GPS loggers for the Halfmile Project. It was great to meet them and discuss ideas about trail logging, waypoints, and southbound hiker issues.

A bit less smoky today but the mosquitos were pretty bad, especially around Summit Lake. I pitched the tent a little early as it was starting to rain. Lots of thunder and lightning, but not really all that much rain. Hopefully it didn’t start more fires. Passed the 1,900 mile mark today.

Photo: Thunderstorms near the Pacific Crest Trail.

Mileage: 22.9