July 5, 2016

Bushcamp (mile 1700.1) to the Callahan’s Lodge (mile 1715.2)

Miles: 15.8 (15.1 PCT miles plus .7 mile side trail to the Callahan’s)

As a request from one of our readers we are adding our total miles walked to each post.

Total mileage walked: 1309.6

Sometimes it is easiest to wake up the morning of a town day. Large breakfasts or the appeal of fresh fruit call our names. This morning however, the coziness of our sleeping bags won the battle.

We braved the cool air and started walking around 6:30 am. We enjoyed the uphill as a way to warm up. So far the weather in Oregon has provided a nice change from the oppressive heat of Northern California. We hope it continues but without rain.

The trail paralleled dirt roads for a few miles. We walked amongst corn lilies in meadows and admired all the flowers. It feels really special to be here at this time of year – the skies are smoke free, temperatures refreshing and the colors of the flowers are vibrant.

At the top of our climb we found 2 lawn chairs and coolers on the trail.

More trail magic!!

It didn’t matter that it was only 8:30 am, we sat down and enjoyed a soda. There is something delicious and incredibly special about finding random sodas in unexpected places. Thank you to whoever maintains this cache.

So far Oregon has been pretty amazing. We have had trail magic 2 days in a row!!

From here it was a long 10.5 mile descent to Interstate 5 and the Callahan’s Lodge. We took our time, winding through open fields and shady wooded areas.

We passed many day hikers out enjoying the flowers and nice weather.

Eventually we came to the Callahan cutoff. Initially Laurie walked right past the sign since, in true Laurie fashion, she was staring at the ground. To her credit, the sign is located much higher than most signs and everyone else in the group missed it initially as well. Everyone except Andy, he looks up a lot.

We followed the narrow path straight down through the forest. The steepness of the trail helped us appreciate the gradual grade of the PCT. We walked past a sketchy railroad yard and down a few dirt roads to the I-5. We crossed under the freeway and finally made it through the double doors of the lodge at 1:30 pm.

Fixie and Cardinal arrived a little before us. Speed, who seems to always arrive at our destination at least an hour ahead of us, had already enjoyed lunch and inquired about room rates.

We discussed our lodging options and opted to share a penthouse suite. We added two rollaways to our room with a king size bed. The jacuzzi tub turned into a great foot and long underwear washing station!

We sat on the patio while waiting for our room to be ready. We sorted through our resupply boxes and organized our backpacks.

Fixie’s partner arrived around 2:30 pm with gluten free and vegan banana bread. Town magic!! We devoured it within 10 minutes. Thanks Steven!

Around 3:30 our room was ready. We showered and piled into the car for a field trip to Ashland.

We got fuel at the outfitter, Andy bought new shoes at the local running store and we all ate dinner at the Ashland Food Co-op. The store was amazing and also a bit overwhelming.

We wanted everything we saw. The highlight of the dinner was the sautéed kale, a normal staple in our diet.

We were still hungry after dessert (coconut ice cream, peach and nectarine) so we ordered a burrito bowl. We are not sure if we should be amazed or frightened by how much we are eating these days.

Once back at the hotel we tried to catch up on blogging before falling asleep.

We love neros. We get the luxury of fresh food, a clean body and clean clothes after an active morning. But we don’t break the bank because we only eat lunch or dinner once.

Tomorrow we start our 5 day trek to Crater Lake. Neither of us have been there and are really looking forward to seeing it.

And we really don’t know what to expect from the trail. We keep hearing mixed things. Will there be lots of snow? Blowdowns? Mosquito clouds so thick one can’t see their feet?

We will find out!

Tonight we are grateful for food co-ops and comfy beds.

July 4, 2016

Bushcamp (mile 1676.8) to bushcamp (mile 1700.1)

Miles: 23.3

We slept well in the cool breeze. It was so refreshing to feel cozy rather than sticky in our sleeping bags.

When we got going, we gradually climbed out of camp. The cool air and our rested limbs made the walking feel easy.

A couple miles from camp we reached our first spring. It is awesome getting cool and clear water out of the little streams that pop up from under the ground. Andy is thoroughly enjoying drinking non chlorinated water. Seriously, he can’t get enough.

At camp we were 12.5 miles from the Oregon border. We had joked that we would meet for lunch in Oregon.

We spent the morning walking apart, sporadically catching up with one another but now as a group of 5 we all have different needs at different times.

Around 11:30 we reached Oregon. Wahoo!!

Speed, Fixie and Cardinal were already there, sitting in Oregon waiting for us.

The moment felt surreal for Andy. Over the years he has seen so many pictures of hikers under this distinct California/Oregon sign. And now he is here himself. It feels really good to know that all the hard work saving money, planning and researching has allowed this dream to become a reality.

Along with the other milestones, this pivotal transition felt like it came with an asterisk. We still have 406 miles of California to complete so we really aren’t done, so it is hard for both of us, but more so laurie, to celebrate the milestones.

We both continue to think and talk about this as we walk. Why is it so hard to celebrate the nearly 1300 miles that we have walked? Why does the order matter? Oh brains, why do you make it hard to feel accomplished?

We congratulated one another, took celebratory pictures and decided to hike on given there was no shade and it was still too early for lunch.

We didn’t get far though. About a half mile up the trail we came upon a sign that read “PCT 2016” and pointed to the left.

Trail magic!

Talk about a warm welcome to a new state! Ed had an amazing setup which included watermelon, cold sodas, hot dogs, chairs and much more.

Laurie felt so happy and was so surprised that she almost cried tears of joy.

We sat in the shade, chit chatted, ate and drank til our hearts were content. We must have been there for at least an hour.

Since we still had 10.5 miles til camped we pulled ourselves away from Ed, Rio (his dog) and the Pinnacle Bar and Grill and continued on.

Thanks Ed for the delightful treats. You are awesome.

We climbed a gradual hill, talking about Ed, his trail magic and commenting about how we had everything hikers could want at a trail magic stop.

After we crested the hill, the trail was gentle. We walked passed more bear grass and fields of wildflowers.

After hiking up and around a tricky snow patch, we cruised to the 1,700 mile marker.

Congrats to Speed and Fixie for having walked this far!

A tenth of a mile later we reached camp to find Speed already done with dinner and his tent set up.

We all sat around and talked as we ate. It was really enjoyable to be outside without any mosquitoes around.

After dinner the temperature kept dropping, which led all of us to retreat to our tents. We’ve chosen to sleep without the rain fly again tonight. The breeze is going to feel wonderful.

We decided our trail names of Silver and Saver were not playful enough to match our personalities. Now that we are in a new state and nearing our halfway point we have changed our names to Shuffles and Dribbles. We will let you figure out who is who ☺

Tonight we are grateful for trail magic and new states to walk through.

July 3, 2016

Bushcamp (Mile 1655.8) to bushcamp (mile 1676.8)

Miles: 21

Our alarm went off at 4 am. It was still dark.

At 5 am it was still too dark to see the poison oak plants clearly and we didn’t want to take any risks.

So we sat, fully dressed, inside our tent hiding from the mozzies and waiting for dawn to creep into our foresty area.

At 5:45 we were walking. Speed, Fixie and Cardinal had taken off around 5:15 am.

The trail climbed but the cooler morning air and shade made it bearable. The poison oak was abundant but there were only a few places where we attempted to contort our bodies to avoid contact.

At 3,800 ft we saw our last poison oak bush and the day greatly improved.

We walked through a burn area with Fireweed and Mountain Lilies. The flowers are a true highlight of this section. There always seems to be one beautiful flower that makes the poison oak sections feel worthwhile. Today, that was the Mountain Lily.

We caught up with the rest of the group when they stopped to get water. We had enough and we all continued on together, marching one after another up the hill.

The climb never really ended but got much more gentle after a few miles. The rest of the morning we hiked up a small hill then dropped into a little valley and gradually climbed up again.

We were suprised and wowed by the green ponds and grass amongst the rock and sand. Around every turn there was more beautiful scenery. This trail is truly amazing.

We stopped for lunch at 11:30 at Cook and Green Pass. We chatted with day hikers and campers and secretly hoped for some trail magic.

We spread out in the shade and relaxed. Shoes off, minimal bugs and cooler temps made for 5 happy hikers. Laurie, Fixie and Cardinal took luxurious naps. Turns out food bags make excellent pillows!

Around 2 pm the sun had shifted and we got ready to hike on. Two mountain bikers came over to chat and offered to house us for the night near Ashland. The generosity of strangers continues to amaze us!

It was hot as we began our last 1500 ft climb. The scenery was still beautiful but Laurie struggled with the heat. She kept her head down and played the alphabet game to keep her mind occupied.

Around 4:30 we got to a spring only 3 miles from camp. We filled our bottles for the night and tomorrow morning and hiked on.

We talked as we walked, which always helps the miles go by faster. Cardinal is starting medical school at UCSF and is moving into the neighborhood that Laurie moved out of. We talked about favorite restaurants (a dangerous topic on a thru hike with no good Vietnamese food in our forseeable future) and other neighborhood highlights.

After climbing over 15 downed trees in the last half mile, we got to camp around 6 pm. This is the earliest we have made it to camp in a while and it made us giddy.

We enjoyed happy hour with nuts, cheese and DANG coconut chips. We all made dinner and enjoyed the feeling of being sedentary after a long day.

The air turned cool and then cold as the sun dropped towards the horizon. We again, got the best spot since we have the largest tent and two people. Thanks Speed, Fixie and Cardinal for being so generous!

It is now 9:15 pm and we are cozy in our sleeping bags listening to the birds sing.

Tonight we are grateful for trail naps and cool nights.