PCT/Oregon Section B

Day 2-  20.25 miles: ascended 4070 feet and descended almost 3000 feet

It was too big of a first day.   My foot was fine, but my knee was aching by the time we finished the day.  I am whooped!

We left Callahan’s after a nice breakfast, hiked along the road to get back to trail. We were both giddy to be hiking the PCT again.   We’ve been chipping away at this beautiful trail for a long time.  We were supposed to start hiking a month ago, but I had a trail running mishap (aka fall) and it took quite a few weeks to heal.  But better late than never!

The day was going really well, until we took a wrong turn and did some serious climbing up towards Pilot Rock.   I kept thinking that I’d read Oregon was mostly flat.   You’d think that would have been a clue, but no, we just kept huffing and puffing upwards.  A PCT thru hiker from Switzerland made the same mistake and alerted us to our folly when he passed us going down.  This little oops was very tiring. 

Thankfully, the actual PCT was mostly pleasant forest walking with openings into lovely prairies.  We often had views of Mount Shasta and of the lowlands below.  Our plans had us only going to hike about ten miles to the first water.  This was going to be a short mileage day.   Well, it was actually 11 miles when we got to the piped spring, due to our ‘side quest’, but it was so early in the day that we couldn’t really decide what to do.   The next water source was listed as 9 miles away, which seemed too far.  A young lady then arrived and told us that there was root beer floats 7.5 miles away and that the trail angels also had water, so we were off to the races.   I’m not sure why we thought 7.5 miles doable, but we did it and made it there before they closed up shop at 6.  Boy did those root beer floats taste delicious.   The conversations were sweet too.  What kind men. They’ve been making floats for hikers from 3-6 everyday since mid July.  They plan on continuing until mid August.   A month of floats and home grown tomatoes, peaches and cucumbers!  We hiked a mile or so beyond the trail magic and called it a day.   We ate nuts and bars, because we were just too darn tired to cook.   

All the thru hikers passed us today like we were standing still.   It was a bit demoralizing at first.   It feels like just yesterday when I walked a bit faster than my slow pace today.   But times change and bodies age and my motto is: just keep moving.  

Day 3: 7.7 miles: ascended 1200 feet, not sure of how much descent 

My knee did not miraculously heal overnight.  Bummer.   The sensation is very minimal though.  

We hiked in early morning mists and came upon a hunter in an open prairie.  He was sitting incredibly still.  No deer insight.   There wasn’t even songbirds singing.   Eerily quiet forest walk, echoes of ‘Silent Spring’ rang in our heads. 

We eventually came to Little Hyatt Lake and I took an early morning swim.   Yes!  It was refreshing and I stayed in long enough to be of some help for my knee.   We then walked on to Hyatt Lake Resort and had lunch and charged our electronics.   We had sent a resupply box of food here as well, because we wanted to have our first two days on trail with lighter backpacks.   We are loaded with six days of food now, with plans to hike on to Crater Lake.  ‘Lord willing and the creek don’t rise.’

We are camped at Hyatt Lake for the night and hope rest helps my knee. It sure can’t hurt.  So far, it is really helping, as I’m having no pain now.  Of course, I am laying flat on my back.  Lol! Tomorrow we’ve decided to have another short day as well, to give my knee or tendons time to improve even more.   There are lots of options for getting a ride back to our car on this section of trail, so I don’t feel too unwise to continue.  

A bald eagle has been circling the lake all afternoon and I’ve grown accustomed to its loud screeching call.  A chipmunk has been fun to watch as well.   He or she, is quite the acrobat.   We were a bit peeved though when he jumped in Hawkeye’s food bag and tried to get his jerky.  Hot showers tonight as we are in an established campground with a nice view of Big Hyatt lake.

Day 4: 9 miles: 900 up and 1500 feet down

Hubby Hawkeye went for a run around the campground and over to the resort in the morning to have coffee and peach cobbler and ice cream.   He was on a mission to find us playing cards since we are planning to hike low mileage days until my knee heals.  He didn’t get any cards, but speaking of my knee, I discovered it is an IT band issue.   I used my neckerchief as an IT relief band by wrapping it a few inches above my knee and tying a knot on top of the IT.   It worked and I walked all day without any pain.   I even ran at one point when some yellowjackets came out of a log we stepped on.   Yikes.  Happy to report neither one of us got stung.  

I have to say it, Southern Oregon along the PCT is a bit uninspiring.   We love walking together, so we are having a good time, but the trail is dry and dusty and water sources are few and far between.   Tonight we are camped by Grizzly Creek, which is basically a bog.   Right behind us is a cold and fast flowing aqueduct.   Our Map App tells us it is poison water though, so we only soaked our feet in it.  We gathered water to treat from the bog.   It didn’t look too great.  Tomorrow we have a 12 mile hike to the next water, so that’s our goal.   

Day 5: 13 miles: 2000 up and 1500 feet down

Another lovely day in the green tunnel.   We were very thankful for the shade today, as the temperature was reported to us by a park ranger to be 100 degrees Fahrenheit.   The ranger appeared out of nowhere with her radio giving the forecast.  She wasn’t on the trail and after talking with us she meandered off in the forest.  Strange.

We are camped near the Brown Shelter now and there is a hand operated pump that brings up delicious and refreshingly cold water.   It is much appreciated on this hot day.   We both washed off the trail dust and are spending our afternoon holed up in our tent in the shade.   This is the only water for a big stretch of trail, so there are lots of thirsty hikers coming through. 

Talking about my knee is tiring, suffice to say there has been no change.   Ibuprofen and my neckerchief takes the niggling pain away.   

Word on the street is that the mice at this shelter are marauders at night.   We will see.  We put our tent up a fair distance from the shelter, but it is an established site, so the little vermin will probably show up.   Last night got exciting when we were awoken by a coyote yipping and howling right by our tent.   I’ve heard coyotes in the distance many times, but never so close.   Eventually our campsite coyote got another to return the call and our yapper’s bark slowly drifted away.  

Day 6: 12 miles: 1200 ascended 860 feet down

Easy walk today to Fish Lake where we will be picked up by a trail angel and shuttled back to our car.   We made the decision because Hawkeye’s inflatable sleeping pad’s seams popped last night and he has a huge pillow on the top and no air in the bottom.   It was quite funny to see him try to sleep on that hump. There is no way to fix it, so we were going to have to go to the Medford REI regardless and with my niggling knee issue we pulled the plug on this hike.   We are planning on coming back out in a few weeks. ‘Lord willing and the creek don’t rise. 

PS- no marauding mice last night.