July 19, 2016

Elk Lake Resort to bushcamp (mile 1972.4)

Miles: 22.4 (20.9 PCT miles + 1.5 from trailhead to PCT)

Our total miles: 1566.1

Our alarms went off at 5:30. Laurie couldn’t open her eyes. She felt glued to the bed. Andy forced himself to get up and turn off the beeping alarm from across the room. We never seem able to go to sleep at a reasonable hour when in town.

Last night we turned the lights off around 11pm but were woken up at 1:30 am by a woman yelling “Natalie, Natalie” and knocking on our door.

We were all tired but ready and excited to get back on the trail.

Bright, one of our blog followers and a fellow backpacker, offered to take us back to Elk Lake Resort at 6:30 am.

While painfully early, we wanted to cover miles to get to our next resupply point the following evening. Plus, there was still a chance of thunderstorms and mornings usually have better weather.

We ate leftover Pad Thai for breakfast and were outside when Bright pulled up right at 6:30.

We chatted a little and then hopped in the car. It is amazing how much we have come to trust and depend on the kindness and generosity of strangers. And even more surprising how strangers quickly feel like good friends.

The drive to the trailhead was beautiful. The top of Mt Bachleor was hidden by fluffy gray clouds. We can imagine living in Bend and riding our bikes on this road someday.

We got to the trailhead around 7:30. The air was cool and the mosquitoes minimal. We expressed our gratitude to Bright, took a few pictures and hiked back up to the PCT via the 1.5 mile horse trail.

As we stepped foot back onto the PCT the swarms of mosquitoes returned. We had our mosquito nets handy so we quickly put them on and kept walking, joking about how they must be spraying something near Elk Lake to keep the mozzies away.

The trail gradually climbed 1400 ft through the trees. As we reached a high point we had nice views of Mt Bachleor and South Sister. The clouds hid the tops of both mountains and gray dominated the sky.

The trail opened into a long tundra after a short downhill. We chased the sun and patches of blue sky, trying to avoid the dark clouds that gathered west and south of us.

We were in awe of the beauty. Patches of green and brown contrasted with the green trees and deep brown rock face of South Sister.

Throughout the rest of the day we wandered between forests, meadows and open tundra. The Three Sisters were prominent companions as we made our way north.

Around 11:45 we passed a beautiful meadow with lupine lining a babbling brook. We had planned on a later lunch but couldn’t resist this magical spot. We sat down, took off our shoes and within 10 minutes Laurie was fast asleep.

We hung out for 45 minutes, bathing in the warmth of the sun. Andy happily ate his butter and jam sandwich until Waldo (formerly known as Derek) caught up with us. We hiked together the rest of the afternoon.

We hiked past small tarns with crystal clear water, bright pink Indian Paintbrush and many other small plants. The Sisters towered above us, providing a great backdrop for photos.

We ate lunch in a meadow, watching the clouds play hide and seek with South Sister.

This section of trail is extordinarily beautiful. With the beauty come the crowds. We saw at least 25 other people today, the most we have seen in 1 day since Crater Lake. It is awesome that this area is so accessible and that people come out to play here.

Around 4:30 we entered the Obsidian Limited Entry Area. We took a very short side trail to a waterfall and admired the shiny properties of the obsidian rocks. They glistened in the sun, as if they too were wet.

We continued along, stopping every 10 or so steps to take pictures. It’s nice hiking at a relaxed pace and not pushing too hard. It allows us to enjoy beautiful days like today.

We ate dinner next to Sister Spring, a really magical place. This is the headwaters of a creek. Water just comes out of the mountain.

Unfortunately the mosquitoes enjoyed this area as well and chomped on us as we munched on our meals. It is really cool to drink and cook with water that just appears from the base of a mountain. It was worth a few itchy bites.

We hiked the last 3 miles to camp in the evening light, walking alongside a lava field with many dead trees. It was beautiful.

We got to camp a little before 7:30 and were in bed by 9. We are all tired from the lack of sleep and 20+ mile hike.

We will sleep well tonight.

Tonight we are grateful for expansive views and magical springs.

July 18, 2016

Miles: 0

It felt great to sleep in a bed with cotton sheets. We woke up hungry and around 7am piled into Karen’s car for a grocery run. Starbucks Coffee and food, other than bars, were too hard to resist.

Our zeros tend to revolve around food, and today was no exception.

Walking through the aisles at Albertsons was overwhelming. There were so many options and yet nothing looked good.

On trail, our options are limited. Life is simple – we eat what we have. We enjoy that simplicity.

We took a moment and tuned into our stomachs. This led Andy to Tillamook butter and Laurie to the cheese aisle.

We cooked nachos in the microwave and topped them with salsa and avocado. Laurie also enjoyed yogurt, granola and strawberries while Andy polished off half a stick of butter with bread and raspberry and apricot jam. Seriously, the chunks of butter looked like slices of cheese.

“Guess my body is craving fat” he remarked through a big grin. He was happy!

Thru hiking is wonderful. We eat large amounts of food without guilt.

We packed up our things, found a cheaper room for tonight and took a family field trip to REI.

This is our sixth visit to a REI while on the trail. Today we didn’t need or buy anything but figured it was a cool place to hang out while Derek bought new shoes.

We spent the afternoon blogging, talking with friends and family and doing laundry at the most tech savy laundromat.

The machines took credit cards and the price went up based on the temperature of the water and other features. Best of all is they had free wifi.

Around dinner time we walked a quarter of a mile to Dang’s Vietnamese Restaurant. While living in San Francisco we loved ethnic food and were very grateful to find something other than fast food or pizza.

After a delicious and filling dinner we stopped at Grocery Outlet on the way home in search of ice cream. Their selection was small but they did have Tillamook ice cream.

We bought a half gallon of vanilla bean and Derek bought a pint of Ben & Jerry’s peanut butter and banana frozen yogurt.

Laurie was very excited when we returned to the room. She sat in bed with a tub of ice cream in her lap, blueberries by her side and a huge smile plastered on her face.

We ate until we could eat no more. Then after fifteen minutes we ate some more. We finished the cartoon. Not sure if we should be frightened or proud.

Today was a Tillamook kind of day. Butter, cheese and ice cream. Really, we can’t think of a better way to spend a zero in Oregon.

Tonight we are grateful for Tillamook dairy products and Vietnamese food.

July 17, 2016

Brahma Lake (mile 1930.8) to Elk Lake Resort (mile 1950.1)

Miles: 20.3 (19.3 PCT miles + 1 mile to Elk Lake Trailhead

Our total miles: 1543.8

We woke up early hoping to escape from the campsite before the mosquitoes woke up. Unfortunately, this wasn’t possible.

At 5:20 when Andy opened his eyes and gazed up at the sky through our fly-less tent he could already see them buzzing around and landing on our tent. Darn!

We packed without urgency, making sure we were both fully covered before exiting the tent. Laurie wearing 2 pairs of gloves and her head net tucked under a fully zipped and hooded raincoat.

We left camp at 6:45 am. The mosquitoes followed us wherever we went. Laurie quickly began to roast in her rain pants and raincoat but was hesitant to take them off in fear of being eaten alive. Eventually, she succumbed.

After all, we are in their habitat.

Whenever we stopped to look at a map or talk to other hikers the mosquitoes swarmed. They weaseled their way into our head nets and munched on us through our gloves, pants, shoes and shirts. Laurie’s strategy was to keep moving.

We weren’t moving as fast as other mornings but without many breaks we had covered 14.5 miles by lunch.

Based on a suggestion from Letha, the hiker we had met the night before, we took a side trip to Mink Lake. It was a beautiful deep blue lake but there was no easy access to the water, at least on the side we hiked along.

We had planned to meet Karen and Derek here for a break before going our separate ways. We left a note for them on the junction signpost and walked on to Porky Lake. We both appreciated the creative lakes names.

Unfortunately, Porky didn’t have any good spots to rest and the mosquitoes quickly found us when we stopped for more than 10 seconds, so we continued on.

There were campsites at Dumbbell Lake so we figured at least we could find a place to put up the tent to dry and eat out of the range of the mosquitoes.

Boy were we in for a treat!

Dumbbell Lake was clear and beautiful! We found some rocks to sit on and within 20 minutes both Derek and Karen joined us.

The sun played hide and seek amongst the clouds. Laurie wavered back and forth about going for a swim. Andy offered to push her in, but she opted not to take him up on the offer.

We relaxed for over an hour. Finally around 2:30 when the sun escaped from the clouds, Laurie decided to get in the water.

It felt marvelous.

We finally laced up our shoes around 3pm. Apparently we were in no rush to walk the remaining 10 miles to camp.

As we hung out at the lake we admired the building thunderheads above. They were beautiful white fluffy clouds but unfortunately the products of these clouds is not as beautiful. Well, at least when you are hiking.

We said goodbye to Karen and Derek since they were going home and to Bend, respectively. As we walked we heard a few claps of thunder. We were walking through a forest so it was difficult to assess the changing weather patterns.

As we neared the Elk Lake cut off Andy checked and found he had service – 50% chance of thunderstorms and rain predicted for tonight and all day tomorrow.

Rats!

The area we had planned to camp tonight was on a ridge at 6500 ft – not ideal for a thunderstorm.

Additionally the next section of trail is supposed to be beautiful and we didn’t want to rush through it with our heads down walking through rain.

So, we changed gears.

We would play it safe and go into Bend for 2 nights to wait out the storm. Laurie has heard wonderful things about Bend and was excited to see the town for herself. Andy likes adventure and was excited to avoid being wet for 2 days.

We set up our tent next to the trail to wait for Karen and Derek in a bug free shelter.

We shared our new plan, made sure there was enough room for us in Karen’s car and trotted down the trail after them.

Just as the trail entered a burn area we turned off for a one mile downhill walk to Elk Lake Resort.

We piled into Karen’s car and drove to the resort. We were startled at the number of people milling around. Being in a car didn’t feel weird but being around so many people did. It is fascinating to witness what effects us nowadays and how.

After calling family we drove 30 miles into Bend. As we dropped into the valley the clouds darkened and it started to rain. We saw multiple rainbows as well as beautiful views of the Sisters and Mt Bachleor.

We had dinner at Cascade Lakes Brewery and got a room with 3 queen beds! Who knew this even existed?

We showered and snuggled up in cozy cotton sheets.

When we woke up this morning we didn’t expect to be sleeping in a bed tonight. It feels good to be free to make these spur of the moment decisions. It is also unfamiliar territory for Laurie, who lives a well calculated life.

That is what this adventure is all about – challenging us to grow and learn.

Tonight we are grateful for beet salads and a new trail family.