This last week was a good one!! Started off with my amazing mother driving back to the trail at Santiam Pass at 7:30 on Tuesday. I managed to avoid a fire detour by taking the weekend off which was great. The rest of Oregon I was blessed with views of the sisters to the south, and Jefferson and Hood as I headed north. The second day I swung into Olallie Lake resort and ran into Oregon and Camshaft who had both been sidetracked with week long bouts of giardia. At Olallie Lake I spent 1.50 on 2 otter pops... never thought I would see the day. On day 3 of this stretch I did my first 40 mile day!! It placed me about 4 miles from Timberline Lodge at the base of Mt. Hood. There is a great breakfast buffet at the Lodge but I decided to let myself sleep as long as I wanted due to the fact that I had done a 40 which resulted in me not hitting the trail until 8:30. When I finally strolled into Timberline at around 10 o'clock, I was told that a hiker I hadn't met named Noodles had bought all of the hikers breakfast! I was just a couple hours shy but I did manage to get a burger and fries and 5 candy bars from the ski lodge:) For the rest of that day the views of Mt. Hood were absolutely amazing whenever the canopy opened up, and I managed to get myself 31 miles from Cascade Locks, the town right on the Oregon side of the Columbia river. That night I camped with a couple of people I just met, Action and Minor, from San Diego. They were an entertaining duo for sure, and they convinced me to go all the way to Cascade Locks the next day. I ran into them in the early afternoon and they told me they were taking an alternate route by Tunnel Falls, which is a very popular alternate. I, however, decided to stick to the PCT but told them as we parted ways that I would race them to town. Their route was a bit shorter, but I went real fast for me and was very disappointed to see them sitting at a table with their drinks already served when I got to town. However, I did make it in time to get dinner at the Pacific Crest Pub. I had a pulled pork sandwich and enjoyed the company of my 2 new friends, who told me there was a trail angel, Shrek, in town. After dinner, we went and got ice cream then headed up to Shrek's swamp. There were probably 15 hikers staying there, most planning to hang out through labor day weekend. I stayed up for awhile and hung out but hiker midnight hit and the party inevitably died down and we all went to sleep out on Shreks lawn. The next morning I went out to breakfast with Action, Minor, Quest, and Rapunzel. After buying a half pound of fudge for the trail I headed back to Shrek's, packed my stuff up, said my goodbyes and hit the trail. Crossing the 'bridge of gods' into Washington was definitely a highlight!! It is pretty exciting to be in the 3rd and final state! The next 2 days went smoothly, I managed to get 32 miles into Washington, to mile 2187 before being picked up yesterday by my mom, who had driven up to Portland and stayed with friends the day before. I am now off for 8 days in order to start school and head to southern California for a couples shower for my sister and her fiancee. I will be hitting the trail again on September 12th.
This last week was a good one!! Started off with my amazing mother driving back to the trail at Santiam Pass at 7:30 on Tuesday. I managed to avoid a fire detour by taking the weekend off which was great. The rest of Oregon I was blessed with views of the sisters to the south, and Jefferson and Hood as I headed north. The second day I swung into Olallie Lake resort and ran into Oregon and Camshaft who had both been sidetracked with week long bouts of giardia. At Olallie Lake I spent 1.50 on 2 otter pops... never thought I would see the day. On day 3 of this stretch I did my first 40 mile day!! It placed me about 4 miles from Timberline Lodge at the base of Mt. Hood. There is a great breakfast buffet at the Lodge but I decided to let myself sleep as long as I wanted due to the fact that I had done a 40 which resulted in me not hitting the trail until 8:30. When I finally strolled into Timberline at around 10 o'clock, I was told that a hiker I hadn't met named Noodles had bought all of the hikers breakfast! I was just a couple hours shy but I did manage to get a burger and fries and 5 candy bars from the ski lodge:) For the rest of that day the views of Mt. Hood were absolutely amazing whenever the canopy opened up, and I managed to get myself 31 miles from Cascade Locks, the town right on the Oregon side of the Columbia river. That night I camped with a couple of people I just met, Action and Minor, from San Diego. They were an entertaining duo for sure, and they convinced me to go all the way to Cascade Locks the next day. I ran into them in the early afternoon and they told me they were taking an alternate route by Tunnel Falls, which is a very popular alternate. I, however, decided to stick to the PCT but told them as we parted ways that I would race them to town. Their route was a bit shorter, but I went real fast for me and was very disappointed to see them sitting at a table with their drinks already served when I got to town. However, I did make it in time to get dinner at the Pacific Crest Pub. I had a pulled pork sandwich and enjoyed the company of my 2 new friends, who told me there was a trail angel, Shrek, in town. After dinner, we went and got ice cream then headed up to Shrek's swamp. There were probably 15 hikers staying there, most planning to hang out through labor day weekend. I stayed up for awhile and hung out but hiker midnight hit and the party inevitably died down and we all went to sleep out on Shreks lawn. The next morning I went out to breakfast with Action, Minor, Quest, and Rapunzel. After buying a half pound of fudge for the trail I headed back to Shrek's, packed my stuff up, said my goodbyes and hit the trail. Crossing the 'bridge of gods' into Washington was definitely a highlight!! It is pretty exciting to be in the 3rd and final state! The next 2 days went smoothly, I managed to get 32 miles into Washington, to mile 2187 before being picked up yesterday by my mom, who had driven up to Portland and stayed with friends the day before. I am now off for 8 days in order to start school and head to southern California for a couples shower for my sister and her fiancee. I will be hitting the trail again on September 12th.
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