PCT day 86 - mile 1921 to mile 1954

"Well at least now you will have a story to tell" Rob.

It looks like PCT always has something in store for me. The day started very ordinarily, I woke up and rolled my entire household into the backpack while being accompanied by an orchestra of mosquitoes I could barely see in the morning light. I started walking and didn't see anyone until 3pm, it was just myself, mozzies, lakes of various shapes and water quality and an occasional chipmunk parkouring through the blowdown trees.

I was kind of juggling my water around all morning, I found a lake filled the bottles in but then there was a snowmelt stream (a better water) so I would empty the bottles and get that water instead. I've done it a couple of times until during my lunchtime break at 1pm I suddenly realized that I am drinking out of my unfiltered water bottle, I've managed to drink half of it before even realising it, my clean water bottle was gone! I must have left it by one of the streams miles away, there was no way I was going back to pick it up but it left me with only 1 litre of water.

I think it was a mixture of hot weather, being constantly annoyed by the mosquitoes and general tiredness that made me make this mistake, as for the bottle I'm sure someone picked it up from the trail as I did with various candy wrappers, cup lids, gloves and flip flops in the past. It definitely made me realize that I'm getting too spaced out and need to refocus while out here.

This unexpected turn of events made me adjust the plans for the day. There was a resort called Elk Lake along the way, originally I was planning to skip it but I really needed another bottle to get me through to the city of Sisters where I could get a new one. So I went down to the resort, I had to push harder for the last couple of hours as I read that restaurant and shop are closing at 6pm. I've managed to get there twenty minutes before the closure. The shop with very minimal and horribly overpriced items has been already shut but the cashier told me that I can pay for the items at the restaurant.

I was thinking to get something to eat at the restaurant but after paying for the bottle and few snacks I have changed my mind, I had enough food to get me going in my backpack. I went to check resorts hiker box instead, it only had some washing up liquid, a notebook and and an out of date Green Giant rice and cauliflower dehydrated meal. I grabbed the last item and as I was about to leave a guy approached me and asked if I'm a thru hiker, his name was Rob. I confirmed, he could probably see that anyway looking at the state of my clothes and facial hair, we started talking. Rob said that him and his son hiked bits of PCT, that end of Washington section was spectacular and it's something I should be really looking forward to. I told him about my day and said that I'm getting a bit frustrated and tired by the obstacles the trail throws at me every day. He said that I have no choice now but to finish it and with his hands shaking handed me a 20$ bill!

This day couldn't go much more different to what I was expecting it to be but by now I understood that it's the whole charm of being here. Things go wrong and then you get those moments of respite and unexpected kindness from people that know nothing about you except that you are hiking PCT. Only in America one might say - but it's true, it's the land of story tellers, misfits and adventurers and sometimes it all unwraps right in front of your eyes.

After this unexpected detour I went back on trail and managed to find a decent campsite away from widow makers just in time before it got dark. I made myself a dinner mainly from hiker box scavenged items and it was very filling, it consisted of: dehydrated bean and vegetable stew, couscous, olive oil, SPAM and a shredded tortilla. I could barely finish it.

Today ended up being an average day turned bad turned good again. I didn't take many pictures as I was rushing to get to the resort, also walking in a bug net on my head severely limits the photo opportunities I'm able to spot, grrrr.

Mt Bachelor and widow makers:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Appalachian Trail (day 77) - Hikers Welcome Hostel to Eliza Brook Campsite / mile 1816

Image
"After hiking in White Mountain's everything else seems easy" Sue First day in the White's, I can confirm now that terrain here is unlike anything we faced on the AT so far. In the morning I had a coffee and a breakfast muffin at the hostel, surprisingly despite the early hour Tum Tum, Iceman, Yukon and Gutsy were up as well. Weather was supposed to be a mixed bag but we were all determined to climb Mt Moosilauke today. I headed out and started the 4000 feet climb first, it was a long, steady uphill going through well maintained terrain, problems only started at the top. Day was quite windy, combined with the rain and exposed, alpine environment, it became a recipe for a very wet, cold and uncomfortable time. At the top wind was pushing me left and right and rain was cutting across with great speed, I was completely drenched in just few moments. Luckily exposed section didn't last too long and the AT dived into the pine forest soon after. ...
Read more

Appalachian Trail (day 12) - Icewater Sorin Shelter to Cosby Knob Shelter / mile 231

Image
Today could be described in one word - windy. And it was not your refreshing summer breeze, it was the kind of wind that chills your bones and the moment you feel it you want to turn around and go back home, except there's no home and you can't turn around. The food I hanged last night was completely frozen, it was funny to crunch on a solid snickers and granola bars for breakfast. At least it was sunny, I've put all my layers on and started hiking. Trail looked really good, I could see small patches of snow and icicles probably formed last night hanging from the bushes. Later during the day you could see the damage last years hurricane has done, fallen trees, layers of uncovered rock showing that there was not much trees could hang on to beneath, trail was trying to manoeuvre around the blow downs and disturbed earth. I haven't met many people today but I hiked alongside Blazer, a friendly, older American guy. He also hiked PCT, so w...
Read more

Appalachian Trail (day 76) - Lambert Ridge to Hikers Welcome Hostel / mile 1799

Image
Hot, humid, stormy day. My goal was to place myself withing the short distance before the climb to Mount Moosilauke. AT in New Hampshire definitely prooved from the very begining that it means business. The first and second climb of the day:  Smarts Mountain and Mt Cube were steep and rocky, the path was muddy, overgrown and not very well marked, combined with the hot and humid weather I was moving at a snail's pace. Views were quite rewarding though and after the initial struggle trail got easier for the rest of the day. I've seen yet another two bear cubs, no mother in sight this time around which got me a bit spooked. Cubs climbed so high up the tree I could hardly see them from the trail, they were so incredibly agile! I've taken a blurry video of the couple as I thought it was fairly safe to do so, that's 10 black bears I've seen so far on Appalachian Trail.  At one point I took a break  by the road and tried to dry my feet a...
Read more