Oregon PCT 2016: Day 4

Mout McLoughlin, here I come!

Day 4 involved a lot more trees and quite a bit of climbing and mosquitoes. I hiked with Kami and Ben, a couple of hikers I had met at the Brown Mountain cabin. They had hiked into the Fish Lake Resort about an hour or so after I got there. The next morning we all had breakfast together and did laundry. While washing clothes, I had a nice talk with a mountaineer who was camping at the lake. He talked about summiting all of the major peaks in the cascades. I told him of my hopes to climb a few mountains during my hike (McLoughlin, Theilsen, and South Sister) and he told me what to expect. Unfortunately, there was too much snow for me to climb the first two mountains.

Hiking partners for the day

On the trail again!

Angry overused calves

We were soon back on the trail hiking around the east side of Mount McLoughlin. As we got higher, the downed trees became a problem again. Only these were much bigger trees. We also saw a few patches of snow, but nothing compared with the snow I would see in the next few days of hiking.

Ugh, more trees

You can see Ben in this picture... big tree!

Initially, I had planned on climbing Mount McLoughlin but we ran into someone coming down from that trail. According to them, the trail was completely covered in snow and they had turned back rather than getting lost. I was not prepared to blaze a new trail to the top of the mountain so I chose to pass this mountain without reaching its summit. Too bad.

Mount Mcloughlin summit trail... another time!

Snow patches

First snow on trail

Trail along the ridge

Looking south toward McLoughlin

As we passed around to the north side of the mountain, we got a good view of Four Mile Lake to the east. It was beautiful but it was also an area well populated with mosquitoes so we hurried on. Between the many trees and my choice to hike at a slower pace with my companions, I didn't make the 25 miles I had planned for. I had been promised lots of snow and danger and made careful choices to be safe and nothing particularly difficult had been encountered. All I had done was slow myself down, only hiking about 11.5 miles.

Four Mile Lake

Where's the trail?

More trees

I camped next to another new hiker an a ridge north of the mountain. He was already in his tent and I got up really early the next day, so we never chatted until later on the trail. That night, wind continually blew over the ridge. I could hear a gust of wind start miles away and work its way up the hill before buffeting my tent... it was a cool effect. I slept very well that night. I had a lot to look forward to the next day when those promises of snow would prove true!

View from the campsite

Oregon PCT 2016: Day 3

Klum Landing

Day 3 began bright and cool and quiet. I hiked about half a mile to the Klum Landing day use area. It was completely deserted but the was an unlocked bathroom where I plugged my phone in to recharge. This put me a little behind schedule, as did my circuitous route back to the trail, but I hiked hard to make up the difference.

Road walking back to the trail

Bridge over Grizzly creek

The first of hundreds of downed trees

Unfortunately for my plans, the trail had some difficulties in store for me. The trail had only recently become free of snow and downed trees were everywhere. It is hard to explain how difficult this was to deal with. There were sometimes piles of trees 4 or 5 feet tall and stretching hundreds of feet in many directions. I occasionally had difficulty finding the trail, which slowed me down quite a bit. It also used up tons of energy!

A small wall of tree branches

Where's the trail?

Another tree wall

View to the southeast

Again, where is the trail?

I trail head that was in the wrong spot at the wrong time...

As I approached the Brown Mountain ski cabin, things cleared up on the trail because it was also a ski trail. It was nice to have a break from climbing over downed trees nearly continuously. When I arrived at the cabin I met some new friends, all of whom I would hike with later. But at the time I was much more interested in arriving at Fish lake before the store/diner closed. I was told by one of my new acquaintances that the restaurant was closed that day. This concerned me because I was planning on picking up supplies there. I figured I would have to hike to the resort and find out who was correct. Either way, getting there by 7 would be difficult. So I took a few pics of the cabin and traveled on.

Ski trail: winter upkeep!

Made it to the cabin

Brown Mountain cabin

Random stuff left by/for hikers

Pretty Tree

Log bridge

First glimpse of rocks

The trail around Brown mountain was hot, dry, and a bit hard on the feet (though nothing compared to the area north of the sisters!). I was feeling tired and trying to locate myself on the trail when I actually came up with a good set of questions for my Geometry class (I teach HS math) regarding orienteering. I arrived at the highway at close to 6:30 and had to hurry to make it to the resort two miles to the west. The clouds of mosquitoes helped me to hurry!

Rocky trail ahead

Nice red rock path

Mount McLoughlin is much closer

Lava flow

Closer

Almost there!

Junction for Fish lake

When I arrived at Fish lake resort, I was TIRED (and yes, that was a yell). I had hiked two consecutive days of about 25 miles during my first two days on the trail. Any experienced hiker will tell you that is kind of stupid. One is supposed to ease into long days and my body was angry that I had ignored such advice. I ate a meal but felt like I would fall asleep before I could finish. I was so tired that I decided to splurge and get a small cabin. My wife had stopped here on her first solo hike, sick and tired, and returned home the year before and it was fun to imagine her experience as I relaxed in a cabin similar to the one she stayed in.
 

The Fish Lake Resort

The Tadpole Diner

Delicious!

My cabin

Sleeping on a mattress!

I also took the time to nurse my leg back to health. I don't blister easily and had no blisters on my feet. However, I think that I touched something like poison ivy while climbing through the trees. It gave me a nasty yellow blister that rubbed against my hiking gator and irritated my ankle. I drained it and let it dry a little before dressing it with a bandaid... it would bug me for days as my dressing was regularly ripped off as I climbed over trees in the future.

Ugly blister

That's what a drained blister should look like!

While eating, I talked with the owners of the resort, who warned me they had heard stories of snow and danger up ahead from southbound hikers. I didn't take the warning terribly seriously. I figured that if someone had hiked south along the trail then I could hike north. It couldn't be that bad, right? Ironically, I also met a trail runner who wanted to get the speed record for the Oregon section of the PCT. I warned him about all of the trees and he reacted much as I had about snow. "We jump over trees all the time." he said... and that was that. It is funny how easily people give advice and how easily they discredit the advice of others. Humans are masters of self-deception. Anyway, we both ended up continuing despite advice to the contrary, and that ended up being more of an adventure than I ever thought I would have!

Oregon PCT 2016: Day 2

Sunrise

Day 2 began with one of the best sunrises I have ever seen! I was so happy that I had not rushed past Pilot Rock in the dark because that section of trail had great views both to the north and south. I really took my time for the first hour or two of the day because everything was amazingly beautiful! It was also my first morning on the trail, so everything was still a little surreal.

Looking over Ashland valley toward Mount McLoughlin

Great breakfast!

Outcropping below Pilot rock and Mount Mcloughlin

After passing Pilot Rock, the trail continued along the south side of the ridge, looking out toward Mount Shasta. Then the trail turned north and climbed higher along the east side of the Ashland valley. One interesting aspect of this section of trail is its bipolar nature. The trail seems to switch continually between a lush northwest forest feel and and an arid high desert feel. Firs turn to pines and turn back into firs over the course on an hour of hiking. It made the day more interesting because there was a LOT of hiking through forest.

Mount Shasta to the south

Wildflowers as trail turns north

Indian paintbrush and Mount Shasta

Mount McLoughlin

As the day went on, it got hot and uncomfortable! I passed quite a few hikers, stopping to chat with them. After about 12 miles, I stopped for lunch. I had tried a new cooking method: cold soaking. This method is a simple one. One must put food and water into a sealed container and let it soak for hours.  I tried this with Top of Ramen soup and the result was a success, although it was strange eating cold soup.

An outhouse is always a welcome sight

Yummy!

Looking SW toward Mount Ashland

Panorama of Ashland valley

Heading up to Hyatt Lake

Pacific Crust Trail

After 17 miles, I arrived at a cool stream flowing flowing from little Hyatt lake reservoir. It was shady and cool so I took a break and relaxed. It was a great break from the hot dry day! While I was resting, a few people caught up with me. One couple, Kat and Conrad, were heading the same direction as me but at a slightly slower pace. They were from England and it was their first time long-distance hiking so Kat asked a thousand questions about camping and the trail to come. I remember them feeling it took them forever to get started in the morning, but they had only been on the trail a couple days. I encouraged them, saying that it takes anyone a while to figure out their packing system and how they setup and take down a campsite, especially with two people. I expect that they felt a lot more confident by the end of the week.  I am happy to say that they made it all of the way to Canada! They have a blog too: alifetowander.com

Nice resting spot

Me with Kat and Conrad

Hello, Hyatt lake!

Hot hike up from the lake

Cool looking burnt tree

Goodbye, Hyatt lake

Hiking NE from Hyatt lake, I climbed over cougar bluff and managed to spook myself a little bit. It was quiet and all of the hikers I passed were staying at Hyatt lake so I knew I would likely not see anyone on the trail for the rest of the evening. I could easily imagine a cougar stalking me. It was a pretty dumb thing to think about, but for the last three hours or so of my hike, that thought was a recurring one.

When I reached Howard Prairie Lake, there was not a soul in the campground. In fact, the bathrooms were locked. This did nothing to help with the spooky feeling of being alone, but I quickly set up camp and had a nice relaxed dinner. I had hiked about 27 miles and slept very well. As I lay in bed at twilight, an eagle landed about 100 feet from my tent. It was gigantic and regal looking. Also, in the middle of the night, I got up to relieve myself and saw the eyes of some predator looking at me from about 75 feet away. The eyes glowed in the light of my headlamp... I was not particularly thrilled about that but acted like there was nothing amiss and went back to bed.

Howard Prairie Lake and Mount McLoughlin

Camping near the lake

Hiking alone is a strange experience. It is easy to imagine threats hiding around every corner. You realize just how exposed you are and that you are not really in control of the world around you. That is humbling. It is humbling to imagine how easily a predator like a cougar could make a meal of you. The only tool for fighting such feeling is faith. I have faith in many things. I choose to believe that the typical predator doesn't see me as prey and so will not attack. I trust that the animals I meet are scared of me. I trust that animals wandering through my camp at night are mostly curious, not looking to attack. Such beliefs don't make me any more in control of the situation. They do not make me stronger. They simply make it possible to deal with my lack of control and to function.

When I hear about people who refuse to live by "blind faith" and insist that they are completely rational, I often wonder if they understand what they are saying. It is my belief that everyone must have faith on some level or they, like little me in the big scary woods, would not be able to function. The question in life is never whether or not faith is something people should have because it remains foundational to everyone. Rather, we should ask ourselves what we place our faith in and why.