My good friend Elizabeth and I just got back from a road trip in Oregon and like the previous post, it had me feeling nostalgic our hikes on the Pacific Crest Trail in Oregon. We drove over Santiam Pass and stopped at the PCT trailhead for a snack.
No hiking on this trip, unfortunately, as she is recovering from foot surgery. But we did get out for a few road side stops I will write about later in the summer. Our trip also had me remembering that I have not finished adding my journal entries from section hiking the Oregon PCT so lucky you, I will be spending the next few weeks sharing them. The website they are currently housed on has become a bit unreliable so I’d rather have them here. Enjoy.
Snuffy’s 2015 Pacific Crest Trail Journal : June 20, 2015 (Pre-hike)
I have spent the last week hiking around with an almost full pack and finishing up last minute details before heading out early next week. The kiddo is officially graduated from high school, and I am not sure how I am feeling about that. We are struggling with where to go from here; the whole respect and responsibility dance of him becoming an adult. It will be both hard to leave and yet a chance for me to step back and let him do his thing.
I hiked up to the PCT again on Wednesday, heading up over Trap Pass and back to Surprise Lake for a 15 mile loop. No snow, gorgeous views. It was fun doing it SOBO this time and having time to go down to Trap Lake for a break. Lots of bugs at Surprise Lake, but not nearly as bad as some I encountered 2 years ago north of White Pass.
Elizabeth and I are still hashing out details and figuring out our water situation for Section D, we are planning to have to haul more water than normal. I decided to buy myself a new toy today at REI because I somehow broke the battery lid on my Steripen. It still works, thanks to a little duct tape. Anyway, I picked up the Sawyer mini squeeze that is so popular, we’ll see how it does in Oregon. I also decided to move from a short sleeve sports shirt to a long sleeve, button down hiking shirt. I am hoping it will provide better sun and bug protection, as well as wicking. Columbia Outlet has some good deals, and fairly lightweight. The collar even has a little flip up to keep my neck more protected. I also picked up another knee support so I will have both knees covered.
I talked to the ranger at Crater Lake and found out I can leave my car up to 2 weeks in the park if needed. I am still deciding the whole SOBO/NOBO thing, it may just depend on how I feel physically after hiking the section with Elizabeth.
Supply bags are organized and I have gone through my pack a few times, gleaning out all but the necessary items. I wish real life was as simple as this!
Snuffy’s 2015 Pacific Crest Trail Journal : June 23, 2015 (Pre-hike)
I got on the road early this morning, with plans to meet Elizabeth at Kyra’s Bake Shop for breakfast on our way down to Crater Lake. It is amazing how easy it is to get through Seattle traffic at 4am, not that I want to make a habit of it.
After our pre-hike cinnamon roll and a few treats for the road, we both set out for Crater Lake via Willamette Pass. As I rolled down I-5 past Salem for the first time since hiking this section on the PCT last summer, it was interesting to see how the landscape was an extension of the volcanic terrain I had crossed over Santiam and McKenzie Pass. Those same lava mounds are carpeted with trees and green grass here, but just as sharp a contrast to the flat fields around them. I wonder if when the wagon trains came over those rocky and barren mountains, they could imagine the fertile farms lands they would eventually inhabit.
Turning on to HWY 58, I soon climbed back up into the familiar pass that we left last year as we ended our Oregon journey. I spotted the famous Lowell Covered Bridge which is a part of this scenic highway, and eventually hit paving construction delay shortly before the turn off for Shelter Cove. We only stopped here briefly to make sure we were on the same page and then continued down HWY 58, south on HWY 97, then west on HWY 138, and finally turning into the southern entrance for the national park.
After asking a park volunteer where to get a backcountry permit and the best place to leave my car, we headed over to the ranger station at the Steel Visitor Center south of Rim Village. There, the young ranger helped us complete a permit and read us the list of LNT she is required to tell everyone (I am assuming). She was especially detailed about how long it actually takes SAR to reach someone and we needed to be prepared to take care of each other in the wilderness. Elizabeth and I just smiled and said thank you. I imagine they must get a lot of interesting 911 calls in the park.
We drove down to where the PCT crosses HWY 62 at the Union Peak TH, left my car and drove back up to Annie’s Restaurant for dinner. One note, the restaurant closes between 10-11am and again for an hour in the afternoon. We had to wait a while for the dinner hour, but they have comfortable rocking chairs outside for relaxing in. The restaurant sits on the road just outside the national park gates and in front of Mazama Village. This gave us some people watching before we went in to eat. The food was okay and like a lot of national parks, the staff is seasonal.
After dinner, we then drove back up to Willamette Pass to the town of Crescent and checked into the Willamette Pass Inn. Super friendly folks and a cute room for the money, we settled in to prepare ourselves to hike out in the morning. I know for most thru hikers this would be a splurge, but our mantra is that “We ARE on vacation”. I posted some pictures of our room so you get an idea, it is definitely designed for the winter season. Even though the temps were in the 90s, he still reminded us about the fireplace. I spent most of the evening exploding and reevaluating my pack, then fell asleep dreaming of this section’s adventures.
Snuffy’s 2015 Pacific Crest Trail Journal : Bring on The Bugs
Elizabeth and I were up and out the door at 5am, driving the 8 miles from our Willamette Pass lodging to where the PCT intersects HWY 58. I’ll note here that I also managed to spill something on my shirt before even making out of the hotel room. Not a good sign.
It can be a bit confusing to know where to park here, but having been here last year; we already knew where to leave the car. At the crossing, there is a TH at the end of a short road on the north side of the highway, behind an area for road crews. Although it says PCT trailhead on the road, the signs as you enter all say No Parking. You have to drive over gravel and what looks like piles of beauty bark to a parking lot and vault toilet on the right.
We parked on the other side of the highway, however, where there is a large parking lot on the southern side of the road before you head down towards the actual Shelter Cove Resort. We left her car here last year without problems and decided to do the same thing this year. It is much more visible from the road and feels safer. The trail starts at the far west end of this parking lot.
We were hiking south on the trail by 5:30am, but per my norm, I realized I didn’t have my watch (must have altimeter) and I ran back to the car making our start time closer to 5:45am. It wasn’t long before we were passing a viewpoint of Odell Lake, with early morning sportsman out trying to find their catch of the day. Our goal was to get at least to Summit Lake and see how we felt before carrying on. As per my experiences last year, the water is scarce here and often dictates the day’s plans. One has to decide if she will camp at a water source, or load up on water and “dry camp” further on.
Between Shelter Cove and Summit Lake, mosquitos rule the trail and make their presence known most incessantly. The familiar terrain of small lakes and ponds lends itself perfectly to their ideal breeding ground. Any pause in hiking leads to an orchestrated flash mob of the latest Top 40 of Buzz (SWOYC). It was hard to stop to eat, drink and pee, so we kept things moving.
Although Elizabeth would disagree, I was at least grateful that there were no biting black flies. I still remember that nightmare from my Washington section. I am really loving my long sleeve shirt at this point, and with a head net, I found that DEET was not necessary.
We stopped at 10:30am and threw up our tents for a reprieve from the bloodsuckers. It was lying here in our tents that I came to the realization that things were going to be a bit complicated on this trip. While both reading our Half Mile maps and comparing with the app, I could see that something was wrong. Before heading out on this trip, I had downloaded the latest app and checked the website to what the updates were for this year BUT what I didn’t realize was that because Half Mile hiked this section last year and thus had more up-to-date data, it meant that the mileage listed on the maps was changed. I didn’t reprint the maps from last year, SO my maps did not match the app. Not a major catastrophe, BUT it made things interesting as far as our communication.
We both had the 2015 app, but she had this year’s maps and I had last year’s. It appeared to be a difference of about 8 miles in the section we were in. Not a biggie, just subtract 8 miles, right? Well, let’s just say that when talking about where we were and where we wanted to be, we often confused each other as one of us might be talking about the maps and one about the app. And for those of you who know, hiking it southbound means subtracting as it is, and then remembering to subtract another 8 miles meant we often were not on the same page. I would have been fine just ignoring it all, but Elizabeth liked the reassurance of knowing exactly where we were and how far we had to go. Let’s just say I scared her a few times with either too many or not enough miles in my calculations.
We passed a few section hikers and two thru hiker couples who said that due to time constraints, they has skipped parts of Northern California to get to Washington by a certain day. We were hot, trying to drink enough water and unable to eat due to first day nausea. We would drink at least a liter at each creek (camel up) and carry 2 liters to the next source.
We reached Summit Lake by 3:45pm and found it empty and quiet. Not sure if we were just stopping for dinner or not, we threw up our tents again so we could eat in peace. It was not as buggy here as we thought it would be; we were able to enjoy the lake unmolested.
The lake was beautiful as the sun set but water was less than ideal as there were dead fish afloat. I was glad to be trying out my new Sawyer Mini. It was a little more complicated than my Steripen but the thought of filtered fish water was more reassuring. Since our next water source was about 16 miles away, we decided to stay the night here and take it easy on the first day. Getting in the miles before the heat was going well, but as soon as the day heated up the miles fell off.
I was experiencing a little pain in the joints of my big toes, I’m guessing from what I learned last year that would be my bone spurs talking. I also realized another item left at home; my spoon. Having left it in a bag of trail mix from a day hiking trip, I guess will be using the “horse trough” method of eating on this trip. It turned out not to be a problem, I mostly ate snacks due to the lack of water in between stops. I spent the evening washing my legs and feet, taking notes and filtering water, ending with some tent yoga while listening to the wind come down through the trees towards the lake and drifting off to sleep.
On a side note, there was evidence of mountain bikes and cigarette butts on this section of the PCT. A little frustrating, especially because it is so dry and the tire marks clearly did not stay on the trail. Reminds me that some sections of the PCT are so much more accessible than back home.
If you are interested in reading previous journal entries from my section hikes of the Pacific Crest Trail in Oregon, you can head over here: Oregon PCT
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brings back all the bug battles and early trail mornings! ???? Summit Lake sounds peaceful (minus the fishy water). Can’t wait to read more of your PCT journal entries!