August 13th
As I awoke this morning at my usual 4am, something in me coaxed me into getting motion instead of simply laying there until 4:30 and I began to get ready for the day. I could hear Elizabeth rustling as well and we managed to be on the on the trail and hiking by 4:45am. I’m not sure if it was because I would say something I would regret to one of the hikers camped next to me or this distant itch in the back of my mind to be at Elizabeth’s car tonight. Of course, I couldn’t say anything because it was such a remote possibility and would put too much stress on the day, but it was there none the less.
We had planned to get to Bobby Lake today (16 miles) and it seemed like a reasonable goal. We were already planning where we wanted to stop to eat first (I was craving Mexican) and stopping in Portland at our favorite place, Cultured Caveman. The first miles rolled by as we dreamed of carne asada and bacon wrapped dates.
From Brahma Lake, to Irish/Taylor, to Charlton Lake, the trail is smooth and flat. We passed quite a few tents before 8 am and stopped a few times for snacks. About this time (8am), Elizabeth finally gave in and accepted some Tylenol 1’s from me. I had been offering since she hurt her ankle, promising her I had enough for both of us since I had not been using them much. Up until this point, my feet had simply been sore and my knee had creaked and groaned a little.
Well, it wasn’t but a short while more down the trail when Elizabeth could be heard saying, “I can’t believe I didn’t take these before!” “What a difference!” We were able to pick up our pace a bit and spent the rest of the morning passing thru after thru who had come up from Shelter Cove in the last day. Some were chatty (Real Time) and others had their heads down and were plowing through. I can even say that this was the first time I saw some real diversity in the hikers coming up from Mexico. We would even pass sets of 5 and 6 hikers who seemed more like a locomotive, with their arms and legs in sync, as we stepped aside for them.
Stopping about noon to dry out our tents and chow down on lunch, we discussed the fact that Bobby Lake was coming up soon and was a little ways off the trail. We knew at this point we would be able to go further than that today, so we decided if the small lakes on the trail had water, we would pass Bobby by and go for a ski shelter that a hiker back at Charlton Lake had talked about, somewhere at the Maiden Peak Trail junction. More hikers passed us, talking about a hot dog bar at Shelter Cove, and Elizabeth was already thinking that would make a good snack before Mexican.
The trail turns steep as you make your way up the last elevation gain before heading down into Shelter Cove and somewhere between mile 1922 and 1920, as we sat to catch our breath, Elizabeth turned to me and said, “We’re going to do this, aren’t we?” I looked at her and smiled, “We sure can.” A little further up the hill, she stopped again to catch her breath, and I agreed to meet her at the ski shelter at the top of the hill, where we would rest before attempting the last 8 miles to the trailhead and her car.
The trail goes flat for a bit before climbing again and this is where the ski resort signage starts, posted high up in trees because of the snow that is normally here in the winter. The shelter was off the trail a bit to the left (if you are going southbound) and there was no signage on the trail itself at the small trail junction. If I hadn’t noticed the signs in the tress, I would have missed it.
Making my way down to it, I was reminded of Camp Urich in Washington by Government Meadows. It was similar, but with a round shape, and benches on the walls all around. A table was set up in the middle with games, and a loft was above. Opening the door, I was greeted by shuffling, and my immediate response was the thought of mice since I couldn’t see anyone inside. I quickly saw the end of a sleeping bag peeking over the edge of the loft, so I quietly made my way to a bench to wait for Elizabeth, around 3:30pm. I took some more pain medication, for the first time hiking, my right shin had started to hurt incredibly after lunch today.
I laid there for what seemed like only a few minutes, thinking about my decision to go home with both regret and relief, when I realized 30 minutes had flown by and no Elizabeth. Had she really been that winded? I went outside to the trail and called her name, nothing. What to do? I went back to the hut and put my things together and came back out to the trail. Good grief, not again. Was she still back on the trail or had she completely missed the cabin and continued on?
After a few more minutes of indecision, I continued on southbound in hopes that she was ahead of me. If she was behind, she would see I wasn’t in the cabin and continue on behind me. However, I hoped she was ahead, that would make us that much closer to HWY 242. As I hiked, I knew I would run into other hikers (after all, there had been scores of them all day long) and ask if they had passed her. But would you guess? I didn’t see anyone for 30 minutes!!
Finally, a hiker approached and asked me if I was Shannon and that my friend was about 30 minutes ahead of me. Whew! The next few hikers did the same and I was so relieved to know she was okay. I cranked up my speed and caught up with her at the first Rosary Lake at 5pm. As we went over our mishap (she hadn’t seen any signage at all and walked right past the cabin), we laughed and realized we were only 4 miles from her car and we would make it (yes, I gave her some more Tylenol). As we passed the next two Rosary lakes (a very nice short distance from the trailhead and a good family hike, I might say), we couldn’t believe we were finishing a 26 mile day.
Our last mile down we passed multiple hikers coming out of Shelter Cove, hoping to make a few miles for the night. I was able to give a few directions to the cabin, letting them know they needed to be looking up as it was easy to miss if you were watching the trail.
With excitement, we made it to her car by 7pm, changed into clothes waiting in the car, cleaned up and drove down HWY 242 to the first Mexican restaurant we saw in the small town of Oakridge (it had a few stars on Yelp). After dinner, we continued west, connecting with I-5 and rolled into her driveway in Battleground around 12:30am. To say we were exhausted would be an understatement. We slowly dragged ourselves into the house, and crashed into beds to sleep off one heck of a finish to our hike.
This is not my first time “losing” a friend while hiking, if you read last year’s PCT journals you will remember I did not connect with my friend Barb at the end of our first day together on the trail. Because of Elizabeth’s and I’s mishap at the ski cabin (and a few other missed connections), we are better at junctions and stops then we were then. We will even leave poles out if we step off trail to use the “facilities”. We also wait at all junctions now.
For the continuation of this journey, visit Snuffy’s 2014 Pacific Crest Trail Journal-Oregon Wrap Up
To start at the beginning, head over to Snuffy’s 2014 Pacific Crest Trail Journal-Oregon Day 1
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