Snuffy’s 2014 Pacific Crest Trail Journal-Oregon Day 18

We woke up early today and left camp by 5:30 am with headlamps on, hoping to take advantage of the morning cool and the fact that it wasn’t raining. A large moon (the super moon?) glowed in the black grey sky.

We now began a section littered with lake after lake, strolling through the Goat’s Beard tinseled forest. It was nice that this section turned out to be rather flat because of Elizabeth’s ankle and I was glad that she had joined me before Sisters because there were not a lot of notable features in this section. Don’t get me wrong, it would be perfect for a short jaunt or if you had kids. It just doesn’t compare to what we had seen and done before Elk Lake.  This part of the trail lived up to the nickname for the PCT in Oregon: the “green tunnel”.

It gave me plenty of time to continue to roll around my decision about continuing after Shelter Cove, whether to go home with Elizabeth and get my car so I could come back down and do a loop that included the PCT and alternate, whether to go home and then come back in a week after resting, or to just bust out the last 80 (or 70) miles. In order to do that, it would be a commitment of 20 mile days and right now we were barely doing 15 so I must admit it seemed daunting.

We continued to pass more thrus, including two older women hanging out at a lake around mile 1946, finishing up breakfast. They too smelled “medicinal” and talked about swimming in lakes at least 3 times a day. At this point in my hike, all I could think was, “You mean the lakes I have to get my water out of?” I know that swimming in lakes is refreshing and all that, but how do people get their water? What’s the protocol? As we continued to pass hiker after hiker, I couldn’t help to dwell on this thought.

We stopped around 9:00am for a snack and so Elizabeth could rest her ankle, when we were met with more thunder and a sudden hail storm. We moved over to the shelter of trees just in time, laughing as we put our rain jackets on over our heads and packs. It was too warm for sleeves! As we continued on, I knew that a forest fire was burning to the east of us again and we could hear the whirl of helicopter blades in between the cracks of thunder.

In case anyone thinks we don’t notice the little things when we hike these longer miles, here is a video of some ants I could have watched for hours…

About half an hour later, we were approached by a hiker headed north who said that a tree had been struck by lightning right next to him on the trail and had caught on fire. He said that he had run past and it was about 1-1/2 mile ahead of us. Excitement! This is where Elizabeth looked at me as if I had lost my mind. I told her, “Well, we better hustle if we are going to make it past.”

I will say here that the next “1-1/2 mile” was the longest one I have ever hiked (well, maybe not as long as the last mile into Snoqualmie last year on my 27 mile day) and this is where Elizabeth began talking about “A hiker mile”.  For the next hour, we continued to pass hikers who said it was a mile or so ahead. The next hikers said they had called it in to 911, the next hikers said they had tried to smother it at the base (it was no longer burning at the top), the next said it was barely smoldering and after that folks didn’t even mention it.

At mile 1945.05, I was met with deflation as a few trees had wafts of smoke coming from the ground around them. What a letdown after the first hiker’s tale of combustion. I know, I should have been glad we didn’t have to run around a raging fire or turn back to Elk Lake. Really, I am. Kinda.

We made it to Brahma Lake at 1:20pm and the bugs were awful. We had lunch and wrapped ourselves up for a short nap. We knew we could continue on and with 26 miles left from here to her car, we wanted to shorten that distance as much as possible. Elizabeth has started to do the “hiker math”. “If I go this many miles today, I can be to my car/lodge/trail town tomorrow night.” We didn’t think we could do 26 miles, but if we made it another 3 or 6 today, it was that much more possible to be out. The rain and storms were taking their toll and Elizabeth was hiking in pain. I kept telling her I had some pain medication but she was reluctant to give in.

Getting up at 2:30pm and packing up to push on, I stepped down to the lake and looked south. I realized we were in trouble as the dark clouded sky ahead was quickly seeping and whirling in over our heads. I then realized that the temperature had dropped markedly and the bugs had vanished. I looked at Elizabeth and said we might consider setting up a tent and waiting this out because it looked like a good one. We didn’t want to hike on and set up in the rain if we didn’t need to.

I threw up my tent and we crammed it with all our stuff just as the rain began to hit and yes, wind and thunder ensued. Laying there snacking and weighing our options, we decided that if it hadn’t stopped by 5pm, we would just stay here and take 2 days to hike out.

Around 5:30pm, the rain slowed enough for Elizabeth to set up her tent and we got out to assess. We were not alone. There was another tent set up about 40 feet away, closer to the trail and a tall hiker wondering around looking for a place to set up her tent where we were. I greeted her and told her there were other sites up around the lake further as well. When I looked in that direction, I could see at least one other tent already set up. Not used to having so many neighbors I didn’t know, my first thought was, “Where am I going to go to the bathroom?” I went across the trail into the woods and found myself a secluded spot just in case.

After Elizabeth got set up, we had dinner and settled in for the evening in our tents as the rain continued to fall. We were resigned to not being able to hike out tomorrow but, I must say I am really enjoying hiking with her and hope to do it again in the future. I think the hiking bug has bit her, despite this miserable weather.

As I lay there in my tent, I could hear the hiker I had talked to chatting with other hikers arriving at our campsite. It was obvious they were setting up as well, with one about 10 feet to my right. This was a new experience for me and I am still processing how I feel about it. It goes against what I know as normal protocol, if someone is set up at a campsite already, you find another. I could hear them talk about who was already set up here (hiker names) and getting their dinner ready.

They were talking and laughing for several hours and I must admit I thought it was rude. They didn’t know who they were camping next to. Around 8pm, I got up to go to the bathroom and was amazed to see 5 more tents set up in a 30 foot radius around the campsite (for a total of 9). Is this how the “herd” travels? Mind you, this area is filled with lakes and flat places to camp. Part of me doesn’t mind sharing, especially with PCT hikers, but this seems a bit ridiculous. Did my one invitation to the previous hiker extend to anyone else who might come along? What if I had been just a regular Joe hiker and didn’t realize what this invasion consisted of? Is this what it is like to hike the PCT in California? It really gave me conflicting emotions about what I enjoy about hiking on the PCT or in general.

As I got back into my tent, the scale had tilted and I called out to Elizabeth that I would be going home with her when we got to Shelter Cove. Something wasn’t sitting right with me about this experience of hiking when the herd was coming through and with all my other ponderings about the trail coming up, I knew I needed to go home and reassess, even if it was just my attitude.

I don’t know of my attitude has changed but as the years go by and I watch more and more people hike the Pacific Crest Trail, it is clear the further south you go the more social of an experience it it. Not to say that you don’t have some of that in Washington State, but the “bubble” or “herd” is much more prominent in Oregon and California.  This may be changing, however, as climate changes have increased wildfires, extreme snowpack and unseasonal storms are causing more and more hikers to “flip” up to more tame sections of trail causing large groups of hikers to be congregating in Washington.  This year, we witnessed many hikers flipping up to Hart’s Pass and hiking south leading to the “herd” effect where it would not normally occur.

For the continuation of this journey, visit Snuffy’s 2014 Pacific Crest Trail Journal-Oregon Day 19

To start at the beginning, head over to Snuffy’s 2014 Pacific Crest Trail Journal-Oregon Day 1