August Highs and Lows

Wow I really can't believe that I as started writing this, I reached the Bridge of the Gods and was about to cross over the Columbia River into my final state of Washington. Even though it is 500 miles long Oregon seemed to fly by but what an awesome trip. I have passed so many amazing towns and unbelievable scenery and will certainly be making many trips back to this state to explore more and more. By now I have traveled 2,155 miles and am down to my final 500 miles of the PCT which is both exciting and slightly sad that the end is approaching. For those of you keeping track that is just 85 miles shy of the distance from Toledo to Los Angeles or, if I stuck to the interstate, far enough to get me from San Diego up to Vancouver, then all the way back down to Mount Shasta! August has been a crazy month for me with tons of new stories so sit back and enjoy some of my highs and lows from the latest part of my hike.

Me at the Bridge of the Gods. Challenging light clearly, but wow, what a feeling!

Low: TIMBER! (Mile 1537)

I had just finished a 30-mile day for the first time in a while and was very glad to finally reach the beautiful Porcupine Lake. I camped with Hamburger who is an older gentleman from Hamburg, Germany, that I had been hiking with for a while. Hamburger recently retired and was ready to tackle the PCT this summer after section hiking the whole AT. The lake was crystal clear and glassey, and I was surprised how warm it was (I was tempted to go for a sunset swim). I set up my hammock like always at the campsite and Hamburger put up his tent next to my hammock. We ate dinner chatted for a bit, and then went to bed.

That night, the mosquitoes would wake me up from time to time, and there was a full moon that shone so brightly at our site. I got up to take a leak and get my water bottle and then went to tighten my hammock straps as they often stretch out in the middle of the night making it a bit harder to sleep. I got back into my hammock and suddenly felt myself slowly falling, and then CRASH! I watched as the tree I was tied to came falling down right beside me. I immediately called over to Hamburger to make sure he was okay after waking him if the crash didn't already. Luckily, he too had missed the tree.When I go to find trees to tie my hammock to, I look for ones larger than 1 foot in diameter, and this one definitely was, but the problem was that it was dead. The tree must have been rotting at the roots which led to a clean snag at the base when I tightened my straps and added my weight. Our guardians were certainly pulling overtime that night because it fell exactly between us and just missing Hamburger's gear lying on the ground. I set my hammock up on another live tree nearby but was so shaken worrying about what if the tree had come towards me like one would have expected, or worse, what if it fell on Hamburger. I eventually just got out of my hammock and slept on the ground. The next morning, Hamburger was good about it saying we can be glad no one got hurt and move on, and that this would make one very unique trail story to add to our collection.

High: Traveling the World in the NorCal Wilderness (Mile 1580-1635)

While I did enjoy all of Northern California, there were quite a few days where I was thinking, "Okay, I get it if you have nice mountains, dense forests, and wildflowers everywhere, but aren't we in Oregon yet?!" Then there was the section where the trail heads west to go around Mt. Shasta and at some points, I even headed south for a good part of the day which really messed with my head. However, I would soon discover the reason the trail headed west: to pass through the most beautiful wilderness sections of Northern California; the Trinity Alps, the Russian Wilderness, and the Marble Mountains.

What a view along the Trinity Alps!

I had first heard of these wilderness areas on one of the online forums and thought people weren't talking about the PCT but their trips to Europe or Siberia visiting places called "The Trinity Alps" and "The Russian Wilderness." It was like these mountains just multiplied in size, and once again, I felt like I was looking down the steep massive valleys in the Sierras except this time, I had all the beautiful wildflowers of Northern California. The Russian Wilderness was actually about 5 miles on the PCT but one stretch I wasn't about to forget. I hiked right along a cliff side that was near vertical yet covered in forest and massive boulders. There were all these streams running off the mountainside but far under the boulders, and I only knew there were streams there because I could hear them below. I hit this spot at the perfect time of day, just before sunset, where I could enjoy the beautiful lighting yet still get past the cliffs to I could have a place to set up camp. The final section of wilderness was the Marble Mountains which may have been the best. Even though this was one of the rare times I was hiking through stormy weather, I think the clouds may have enhanced the beauty of these white marbled peaks. Seeing the marble rock was also quite different from all the granite I saw down in the Sierras, and the pumice and volcanic rock around Lassen. These wilderness areas made that final bit of Northern California worth it and certainly helped raise my spirits.

Low: Pancake Challenge Let Down (Mile 1662)

One of those iconic spots on the PCT is the Seiad Valley Cafe known to all the thru-hikers as the location of the infamous 5-pound pancake challenge. I had read about this in the guidebooks and used this as motivation all the way from Southern California, looking forward to this final small town the trail stops in in California. As I neared Seiad Valley, I scheduled my approach strategically for the challenge. I stopped a bit early the night before so I could hike the final 6 miles of road walking into Seiad Valley on an empty stomach to work up an appetite. The only issue though was I had heard from a south-bounder that there was a note that the cafe would be closed later that week, but he couldn't remember which day though, and I kept praying it wasn't Tuesday, August 21st, when I was due in. Now, mentally preparing oneself for 5 pounds of pancakes isn't easy, and I kind of knew I was destined for failure, but it's just one of those things thru-hikers have to try on the trail. That is why my plan was to do the challenge early Tuesday morning which would allow me to wait until the evening to start the long hot climb out of Seiad. I wouldn't dare doing that climb on a stomach loaded with pancakes to a bursting point.

Didn't want to take a picture of my face here, bummed.

The next morning, I started my road walk without having my regular cold oatmeal breakfast and had to pass up some of the plumpest most delicious looking blackberries I had seen along the road yet. A local guy in a pick-up truck with an ATV all decked out in full camo stopped to offer me a ride but and me and my purist mentality to keep a continuous set of footprints to Canada didn't want to skip over this road walk even if he was heading to the cafe. I pressed on along the river and could see the small community and the beautiful Seiad Valley in the morning sun but had to hike to cross a bridge over the Klamath River. Then I saw my camo-clad friend in the pickup head back my way and my heart froze in despair as he informed me the cafe was closed today. I immediately started to devour all the blackberries around me to mask the pain but was remarkably upset that I would have to forgo the pancake challenge. I moped into town and learned at the store that the cafe's owner had never missed a day, and I hit the first time in 4 years that their family was in town so they shut the store down to go rafting. I sat outside planning my next move for a while debating whether I should just wait here and zero to then do the challenge the next morning or simply head up for this long climb I had ahead of me out of the valley before the sun started beating down on me. Ultimately, I love pancakes and couldn't pass this up, so I decide to head over to the neighboring RV campground to spend the day relaxing and waiting for tomorrow. I was a bit concerned though because I needed 64 miles to Ashland, Oregon, by Friday, August 24th so I could mail my resupply packages for Oregon before the post office closed for the weekend. With the challenge tomorrow, I wouldn't hit the trail until later than Wednesday afternoon which meant I may have to pull a 40-mile day on Thursday to make it to Ashland in time. As I reached the RV site, I met the owner, and he showed me the nice set up they had complete with an outdoor mini-fridge and TV with a DVD player and movie library. As I waited, I opened the fridge to discover quite a surprise: there were freezer bags of leftover pancakes from failed challengers. Inside these massive Ziploc bags twice the size of normal freezer bags were gargantuan pancakes literally the diameter of a basketball and an inch thick weighing one pound each. I figure what the hell, I should do a practice run if I am going to try this, so I grabbed one of the cold ones and slowly started gnawing away at it. After 30 minutes, I finished but my shrunken thru-hiker stomach not used to big meals felt bloated and read to burst. I quickly debated my former decision. As the day passed, a heard of fellow hikers rolled in, and as we were having fun relaxing that afternoon, I may have decided to buy half a gallon of ice cream to finish as well. By the late afternoon,  my hiker hunger was gone, and I was itching to get my feet moving. All of the romanticism of the 5 pound challenge was gone, and I just wanted to get to the Oregon border. So around 6pm, I strapped on my pack, bid farewell to my fellow thru-hikers, picked some more berries along the road of course, and then headed up to the trail.

Low: A Couple of Close Calls (Miles 1666-1672, and Mile 1673)

Picking up right where my last low left off, I started to climb out of Seiad Valley to notice a bit more serious of a situation than missing a pancake challenge; a forest fire. Now, my timing was great making this epic 5,000 foot climb out of Seiad in the cooler evening air. However, about halfway up the ridge, I looked across the valley to the west and saw a huge cloud of smoke rising up from a smaller patch of trees within the forested mountainside. As I surveyed the scene, I could also see the helicopter whirling in with buckets of water to try to contain the damage. I did a quick scan to assess my risk and saw that this fire was not on my ridge nor on a ridge that would eventually reach the PCT's route. From my knowledge, I knew fires tend to move up with the wind and with the fire on a different ridge and the wind blowing slightly away from me, I figured I would be pretty safe. My immediate concern though was how soon the forest service would shut down this section of the trail. I half expected to see rangers coming down the trail at any moment that night. I decided I needed to push it forward and try to make it over the next ridge (away from the fire) to set up camp to both avoid the smoke and any forest service reroute. As I kept moving, I started to see even more and more impressive views over the valley in the sunset. I never like to see a forest burn down but still I must admit it creates one of the most beautiful sunsets with all the clouds. It was crazy too because I could see into the smoke as it got darker and actually located 6 isolated flames along the other ridge. I was glad when I crossed over the ridge line I was on and got away from the potential danger of smoke from that fire. 

Incredible smell, but glad I was far away!

However, little did I know, as I continued down in the dark that the fire would be the last of my worries. Just over the ridge was a small bank called Kangaroo Springs which was a good place to get water, and I was hopeful to find a decent campsite. When I am hiking with a headlamp through forests, a good spot is always tough to find because I have little peripherial vision an can only see directly in front of me. Eventually, I came across a spot I thought looked promising and shined my light up to check it out. I saw a pair of eyes staring back at me and initially thought nothing of it (must be a deer who was hanging out there possibly knowing hikers camped there and could lick up salt from their pee, which deer love to do). I moved towards the eyes, and they moved back a bit but still stared right back at me. This is when I began to realize the eyes were flat in the front of a face of a predator not on the sides of a face as is more common with prey species such as deer. I also noticed that when the eyes moved to a new position, I didn't hear a sound. I have begun to notice the noises animals make when they move: deer have a more graceful da-dum, da dum from their front legs then their back legs while bears I've run into make such a racket tearing through the woods. However, I've heard that mountain lions will never make a sound even when the ground is littered with sticks as it was by Kangaroo Spring. At this point is when I realized I may possibly be staring down at a mountain lion. I immediately grabbed for my whistle and gave off a few whistles and boldly inched a bit closer to the sire I had been looking at and again the eyes moved back a bit as I advanced but wouldn't even flinch as I whistled at it. This is when I realized this site probably wasn't the best site and decided to push on to the other side of the springs and let these eyes stand their guard. I hiked over there and then again searched for the water source and a place to set up my hammock. I wasn't finding any good spots when all of a sudden I look back to see those two eyes staring me down again. At this point, I am convinced that I am being stalked by a mountain lion and do not want to camp anywhere near the spring because I'm clearly not wanted. However, I couldn't help myself from staring into those piercing confident looking eyes of the beast and just feeling the power of its presence. Eventually, I gave in and rushed on down the trail constantly looking over my shoulder and made sure I wasn't being followed. I ended up camping out on a small rocky patch just on the edge of a ridge between some manzanita shrubs for a not so comfortable night sleep. However, I again was blown away by the beautiful sunrise over the smoke-filled valley thinking how fortunate I was to make it through the night unscathed. 

What a sunrise though...glad I woke up to see it!

High: Fish Lake BBQ (Mile 1780)

It isn't too many times on the trail that I get to run into one of my friends I had before the PCT, but I was very fortunate that one of my college friends, Caroline Nash, was living not too far from Klamath Falls, Oregon. Luckily, we were able to coordinate a meet-up that ended up working out perfectly. She picked me up and drove me over to Fish Lake where we when swimming in the warm lake water, drank some awesome Oregon beer, and even BBQed up some shish kebabs. It was so much fun seeing one of my old friends when I've been out on the trail with a whole different community of people from anyone I had ever met before. It was great to hear about how she has been doing and share my summer stories thus far with her. While getting fresh veggies, savory meat, and tasty bears is wonderful on the trail, nothing beats having my friends come out to visit while I'm on the trail give a great pick-me-up just hanging out reminiscing about old times. This was such an exciting little part of the trail, and I returned to the PCT later that evening feeling full, content, and even a little bit tipsy. 

High: Trail Magic Bonanza (Mile 1830, 1852, 1878, 1912, 1997)

While Oregon may be known for its nice, well maintained, and flat trail where I have been able to fly through the beautiful forests and lakes, I also began to view the state as the place with abundant trail magic. After an awesome afternoon with Caroline by Fish Lake, I kept getting spoiled by strangers the whole way up through Oregon. The first was when I got into Mazama Village by Crater Lake. One of the former trail angels, Sleeping Bear, who I had already met multiple times on the trail as he supported his son, Nowego, had rented out a site where thru-hikers could hang out. He offered us some beer and pop, and even later cooked up some hot dogs and sliders for everyone to enjoy later that night. He has supported so many hikers along the way in addition to his son, and we truly cannot thank him enough. 

The next magic came during my final 30+mile waterless stretch just after Crater Lake. After Mad Dog and I exited the national park, we were so happy to find some pop and snacks offered to us my Wired, one of the crazy hikers who pushed through the ridiculous amount of snow last year. I had actually followed her blog, and it was so cool to finally meet her in person and hear more about her trip last year and how things have gone after finishing a thru-hike (which I still don't think I'm ready for). After departing, Mad Dog and I didn't have to wait more than 24 hours for our next trail magic from an amazing family in an RV at Kelsey Valley during the reroute. After being forced off the PCT down a terrible mosquito-ridden stretch, it was awesome to meet this super friendly family with his little kids who offered Mad Dog and I some delicious pasta salad, burgers, milk, and s'mores over a campfire. It was also so nice of them to invite us dirty thru-hikers over and it reminded me of all of the fun times I had gone car camping with my family as a little kid. 

Just when we thought we had gotten more trail magic than we deserved, Mad Dog and I got hit with the mother load of trail magic awesomeness. I had gotten into Shelter Cove thinking I would grab my resupply, take a short bit of time off my feet, and then return to the trail. That changed when I ran into Larry, a former PCT thru-hiker who went for his 2nd trip this year but had to get off the trail and return to Portland. He ended up giving me a ride over to a restaurant where he took one of the guys he was hiking with, Christian, to eat. When I got back to Shelter Cove after dinner and was about to take off, I ran into Mad Dog who had just seen a sign left by 2 trail angels who had hiked the PCT in 2010, Hops and Dodge. They offered to let us stay in their cabin which we weren't about to turn down and even gave us a ride over to the cabin. As we rolled into this ski lodge development, I couldn't believe my eyes as we parked in front of the 3 story log cabin they had rented out of a few days for thru-hikers to crash at. Not only that, but it was their last day and some of the previous hikers left a ton of beer and food which Mad Dog and I had to finish. Hops cooked us some hamburgers and we swapped stories from the trail and other adventures all night. We even got to watch Indian Jones and the Temple if Doom in HD before I passed out in a plush queen-sized bed all to myself. As I enjoyed cooked eggs for breakfast and driven back to the trailhead, I couldn't believe how lucky I was to get spoiled so badly while on the trail. 

What a place!! Thank you Hops and Dodge!

However, it didn't end there because I still had to meet one of the post popular trail angels, Subway Steve, who had been helping out hikers since Campo. Steve was following his wife, Steady, who had completed a PCT Thru-Hike and comping back to do much of it again this year. I got into the picnic table where he was set up and first was offered a pop, then a whole 6" Subway Sandwich, then some chips, then a fruit pie, then a cookie, then some fruit, then some chocolate; it never stopped! I followed the thru-hiker golden rule though of never turning down food offered to me and was incredibly grateful. Steve was so nice, he even made sure I left with another Subway Sandwich. He and his wife made such a sweet older couple and I can only hope I grow up to be someone like Steve someday helping out so many hikers. 

High: Sleeping on the Rim (Mile 1835)

Clearly one of the high points in Oregon is when the trail skirts the edge of the iconic Crater Lake. Much of the hiking through Southern Oregon is a bit lacking in magnificent views (although Sky Lakes Wilderness was nice) and is still quite hot. I had never been to Crater Lake and am always excited when I get to see a new National Park. At Crater Lake, many hikers will send a resupply box down to Mazama Village at the base of the mountain 4-5 miles from where one is able to actually see the lake. As I mentioned before, I received some awesome trail magic from Sleeping Bear down at the campground but his campsite really started to overflow with hikers. When I thought I was done hiking for the day, I started chatting with 2 hikers from New Hampshire I had met previously, Dyno and Zumi, and they put in my head the idea of sleeping on the rim of the crater. While the National Park Service only wants people to camp in designated campgrounds, they heard that park rangers will often turn a blind eye to thru-hikers since we normally just crash wherever while on the PCT, which was enough to convince me because I figured what good was it to sleep down here in a crowded campground when I could be up looking out over this national treasure. 

I convinced Mad Dog, Dyno, and Zumi to join me and we all departed together at 6 that evening. Now, I know that Dyno and Zumi hike really fast and I some how got in the mood so I started pushing myself to hike as quickly as I could up to the top of the crater. I kept thinking we were almost there, but it was a long steep climb and I was moving at max speed up that mountain with Dyno and Zumi right behind me. Finally, we reached the top where a car over look was, and I got my first taste of that beautiful lake lit by the soft reds in the sunset with the waters giver off a deep purplish color, what a sight. I was amazed how there were only about 10 tourists here at this major lookout area to catch the sunset. We ended up starting the hike along the rim to get just far enough from the paved touristy area but not too much further since we were tired. I ended up setting up my hammock on two trees right under the stars illuminating the massive lake. Then I got to lie there and take in the sunrise the next morning. We all packed up quickly in the morning as the sun rose and went back to the tourist area to see the end of the sunrise without anyone noticing where we camped. I was actually shocked how nobody was up here to watch the sun rise. As I hiked the rest of the miles that morning and climbed up one of the peaks along the crater to get an even better view, I was so satisfied with my decision to push it up to get to the rim the night before.

Low: My One Regret (Mile 1857)

Coming out of Crater Lake, I was hiking once again with Mad Dog, and once we started coming down the other side of the rim, we could see this extremely pointy looking mountain off in the distance. We weren't sure if the PCT crossed it, but it turns out in Oregon, the PCT stays right on the ridge of the Cascades which took us straight to the crazy jagged peak of Mt. Thielsen. After getting more trail magic from Wired, ending the long 30+ mile waterless stretch from Cater Lake, we camped by the base of the mountains. As we set up camp, we could feel the winds mounting, the clouds drawing in, and even notice some heat lightning off in the distance. I set up my hammock without my rain fly but somewhere around midnight, I could feel a couple sprinkles, so I quickly threw the fly up over my hammock to stay dry.

We woke up to a light sprinkle, and Mad Dog and I thought we could sleep in a bit and it'd go away, but that didn't work. We packed up in the still sprinkling conditions but as we started hiking, we began to experience I believe our first light rain on the whole trail. I put my umbrella up and rain jacket on and was impressed at how effectively this worked. We kept climbing Mt. Thielsen and could see that sharp pointy top just beckoning us to climb up there. We finally reached the side trail that would take us up the ridge and had to make a decision. While the thunder and lightning had stopped last night, it was still raining and we knew the wind would only get worse and worse as we climbed. With slippery conditions, the cold wind, and the potential for more thunder plus lightning and probably most concerning was the lack of extra warm clothes to change into after getting soaked, we passed up the opportunity to climb this impressive peak. We pressed on just a mile or two dropping down far below to Thielsen Creek running off to the side of the mountain. I stopped to fill my water and was simply shocked how in the course of 5 minutes the sky turned from a grey light rain to a bright blue sky and Mt. Thielsen was now bathed in sunlight. We were not about to backtrack after coming down much of the trail, but the rest of the day, we kept staring back beating ourselves up from not taking the opportunity to climb it.

Here's the super bummed face...

Low: Reroute Blues (Miles 1875-1980 and 1912-1929)

Northbound hikers have arguably had one of the easiest summers hiking up the PCT this year, but the one setback has been all of the fires on the trail and their associated reroutes and detours. I was lucky and slipped by all of the California fires which shut down parts of the trail near Belden, Lassen, and Seiad but wasn't so lucky up here in Oregon. I remember reaching Mazama Village to find my first reroute map of the Butte fire up past Mt. Theilsen by Windago Pass which was a long reroute bypassing 15 miles of the PCT. Luckily, the forest service had found alternate trails instead of making hikers road walk. However, the map they provided was terrible and since thru-hikers only have maps of the PCT, I had to make due with what they provided. I reached the closed section of the PCT to meet a forest service range putting up read tape and who was a bit angry at some earlier thru-hikers who apparently decided to hike the closed section (I heard of quite a few people doing this for various reasons; they may be just ultra purists not wanting to miss a part of the PCT, they may not want to listen to the forest service's caution because for some closures the fires aren't on trail and only a small section of the closed trail is actually smoky so the trail has to be closed for liability sake, or they are just your typical PCT rebellious type who doesn't need to follow anyone else's rules. Any hiker would clearly be lying if they said they didn't see the closure because the rangers actually put up tape blocking hikers from crossing the trail.

Mad Dog and I headed down the reroute which was nice since it had water at first when we had been hiking through some dry sections but we soon found this to be more of a curse than a blessing as we entered mosquito paradise. There were some of the worst bugs we had in a while and the valley was just covered in misty fog by this creek so it was prime real estate for the bugs. Luckily, we got to camp by the Kelsey Valley Forest Service Campground  where I am always amazed how these car campgrounds manage to stay bug free when they are just a few feet off the trail. We both cam in with a swarm of bugs following us, and I was able to sleep without a bug net. The next morning we climbed out of the valley then up to a dirt road along the re route taking us further and further from the PCT. I was surprised how I don't like taking any shortcuts along the trail but when I am on these detours, I'll gladly take the quickest path to get back to my beloved PCT. We passed some south-bounders who recommended we bushwhack up to the ridge of Sawtooth Mountain where we can easily find the trail the reroute takes while passing a couple of miles of road walk. I was convinced even with our sub par maps. The directions from the south bounders were great, and we rejoined the trail no problem. I wouldn't really call it bushwhacking either since the forest was wide open, and I probably ran into about 4 bushes the whole mile we were off trail. From there, it was a simple hike back to the PCT with one reroute down.

Just after finishing that last reroute, I was very disappointed to get to Shelter Cove to see more red tape for the section I'd have to enter after grabbing my resupply. In Shelter Cove,  I was so fortunate to meet this guy Lenny who had printed off a map of the reroute which was very helpful showing all the nearby trails. He cautioned me of a third closure though, up by Mt. Jefferson, that was 35 miles of road walking to bypass 10 miles of trail and could potentially get worse as it had back when he thru-hiked in 2006 where hikers may just have to hitch up 40 miles or so to hike back to the PCT which was for the Bobby Lake fire that was surprising because the forest service had rerouted the trail to along a paved road. However, there was a trail just one mile out from the road running parallel, and I was no dummy and hate walking along a road (which is probably the most dangerous part of a PCT hike anyway), so I made my own reroute on nearby mountain biking trails I saw on the map that was great. It was only slightly longer than the 17 miles of PCT I missed and gave me some beautiful views of Waldo Lake, Oregon's second biggest lake. However, when I returned to the PCT, it was really frustrating to meet all of the other thru-hikers who hitched their way up the reroute. I know everyone has to hike their own hike but it was hard to feel happy about finishing the reroute when so many hikers hitched their way through, and I think this is when some purists tent to get nasty and judgmental of those who skip ahead. What made matters worse is then I talked to the other hikers who just ignored the closure and stuck to the PCT: they said there were no signs of a fire at all. The fire crews were just cleaning up the area and were angry at hikers hiking through the closed section but even admitted they'd be opening up the section again in a day or so. So that makes the second reroute even worse when the original hike itself wasn't that bad. However, every low has a high within because as I got up to Santiam Pass, I was so happy to discover the 3rd most terrible of all the reroutes was now open to thru-hikers so I didn't have to worry about anymore detours after Mt. Jefferson.

High: The Places the National Park Service Missed (Miles 1965-1989 and 2139-2155)

Ever since I was little, I thought the National Park Service had managed to capture all of the most beautiful scenery across the US, but out here on the PCT, I've discovered that is clearly not the case, and they missed a few spots. One of the places I think everyone needs to see for themselves is the beautiful Three Sisters Wilderness. The Three Sisters are 3 massive that stick out of the Cascades just to the west of Bend, Oregon. This area is not only covered with these 3 beautiful mountains, lush meadows teaming with wildflowers and creeks, and beautiful mirror ponds reflecting the beauty of the area but are also a geologic hot spot. All along the Three Sisters are fascinating flows of lava rock that cover the trail, and the contrast going from forests to lava field is simply unbelievable. Also, tucked within this wilderness is Obsidian Falls, a beautiful waterfall surrounded by a field of obsidian rock. It was so awesome hiking along seeing the ground sparkle from all the glossy black obsidian reflecting the sunlight. However, the best part of this section was when I went a bit out of my way to go over and climb South Sister, the first of the 3 mountains I encountered. Up at the top, I was lucky to get a hazy-free day and could look north and south and see the other 2 sisters, Mount Washington, Three-Fingered Jack, Mount Jefferson, and even just make out Mount Hood in the distance. This area was certainly well-known by the locals though because I probably passed more people in one day out in this wilderness area than I had in Yosemite. I'm definitely coming back to check out more of this beautiful wilderness. 

The other area that simply blew me away was the Columbia Gorge, most particularly the Eagle Creek Trail. The Cascade Mountains meet the Columbia River at the Washington and Oregon border to form a natural waterland littered with waterfalls and beautiful mountains abutting the deep river valley. Emma and I took the the Eagle Creek Trail down through this section which was technically an alternative to the PCT, but anyone would be crazy to pass up this trail as it passes so many waterfalls and breathtaking cliffs down the Eagle Creek gorge. Best of all is Tunnel Falls where the trail actually travels back behind a waterfall. The entire trail itself has been blasted into the cliffside, and we were just walking along the edge with 200-foot drops to our left at all times. Not only were the views phenomenal, but we picked the sweetest, juiciest, and plumpest blackberries I've ever tasted in my life and just filled my belly all afternoon long staining my fingers purple. This was such an amazing way to finish off Oregon, coming down to the Bridge of the Gods over the Columbia River, and I certainly want to go explore more of the falls nearby someday soon.

High: Hiking with my Photo Manager (Miles 2107-2155)

I have mentioned before in my blog how none of this would've been possible without my awesome friend Emma transcribing many of my posts (including this one) and posting my photos as I'm off in the wilderness. She even came out to visit me earlier on the trail in Yosemite when she came out West for her own unplanned vacation. However, from the start of my adventure on the PCT, we had planned for her to hike 50 miles of trail with me outside of Portland from Timberline Lodge to Cascade Locks at the Oregon and Washington border. She couldn't have picked a better section with some of the best views of Oregon along this part.

Emma and I at Glen Aulin in Yosemite

We met up at the beautiful Timberline Lodge where earlier that morning I had stuffed my face with their delicious breakfast buffet. We toured the incredible old lodge built as a WPA project in the 1930s and then headed out along the massive ravines cutting up the sides of Mount Hood. The next morning, we got to check out the beautiful Ramona Falls cascading down a cliffside and continued down through beautiful streams filled with lush ferns and spongy moss truly making us feel out in the Pacific Northwest. We ended that day with my first views into Washington and hit a breathtaking panorama just before sunset where we could see Mount Saint Helen's, Mount Rainier, and Mount Adams all looming off in the distance. The third day on the trail, we headed down the unbelievable Eagle Creek Trail and at the bottom, sampled the best berries on the trail before making it to Cascade Locks. However, the vacation wasn't over because the next day we drove into Portland and got to check out that awesome city for the first time. We got to hit up some of the amazing micro breweries there along with many food carts, and I found the city to be very livable and somewhere I may want to settle down. I had so much fun with Emma on the trail and was so happy she could make it all the way out here and find me out in the woods. It was clearly a great treat to end Oregon with her, and I can't thank her enough for all the help she has put into this blog as well. I figured she had to come out and see it for herself after posting about it all summer.