Day 117 Aug 13th

Up for the continental breakfast and heading for the bridge at 8am. Felt pretty cool to be walking across the bride and into the final state of Washington! (there were only 3 states.....but, it's the last one!!) Took a few pictures on the bridge and of the "Welcome to Washington" sign on the other side!! Lots of poison oak on the trail (because we are at about 500 feet elevation). We could see Mt. Hood back to the south and Mt. Adams ahead to the north. Extremely hot out, we were sweating like mad, lots of climbing to get up to 4,000 feet elevation and with lots of food in the pack, it felt like slow going. We took a break and everyone had one of Chelsea's "Magic Bars" delicious! Everyone loved them (they were heavy.....it lightened my pack to share them with everyone) Climbed even higher and we could see Mt. St. Helen's in the distance, wow! The top was just blown right off! Walked through some logging areas and were going to camp about 25 miles in, but.....(get this) We came across this man on the side of the trail with 3 suitcases, 1 duffle bag and 1 backpack eating random berries on the side of the trail talking all strange and looking like a lunatic. WOW! The luggage was all torn to pieces, one had a huge hole in the corner, and another the handles were broken off! Someone talked to him and he said it took him 14 days to get there from Cascade Locks (the town we just left that morning) Sooo, after that encounter, we decided not to camp 1/2 a mile away in case he got a burst of energy and caught up to us while we were sleeping.........so we hiked on another 5 miles and camped by a road and creek, it was a long day and we ended it by headlamp, but we felt safe for the night!!! Welcome to Washington state!!

The Bridge of the Gods

This is the bridge we'll walk over tomorrow morning and see those trees??! That is the state of Washington! (not a very nice picture of the bridge, but I'm too lazy to walk over there right now and snap another picture!) It's a pretty cool bridge.

Aug 12th some trail food!

Look at all of our goodies!

Trader Joe's stuff from Neighbor's dad and MJ!

Homeade cookies and bars from Chels and Priscilla! Phone calling cards from Bootz and Bluelight and Chels! Bars from the Fam (that were MIA for 3 months!!!) and Priscilla. Picked up our rain pants for the state of Washington (cause once in awhile....it rains here) MJ has hiked this part of the PCT and we have a gift certificate waiting for us in Stehekin! Yeah! Grammy Peg and Bootz and Bluelight mailed us some cash that we'll spend on.....FOOD of course! The trail is all about food when you get to town, taking in calories that you can burn when walking the next 100 mile stretch. Our diets are terrible and it's great! Ice cream? Bring it on! The more calories the better! Thank you everyone for the packages, we just repacked it all and mailed some ahead to different stops that we'll be making in Washington where you can't really buy food or there isn't a big variety. It's 1pm here and we have the rest of the day to do something that we rarely do and that is RELAX! Ahhh! I'll put up some more pictures while no one is waiting for the computer and that's it!

Neighbor and Tunnel Falls!

Day 115 Aug 11th

Good night's sleep, little chilly. Up early and walking towards town. Basically it was 22 miles of DOWNhill! Cascade Locks is the lowest point on the whole PCT at about 200 feet. We took a side trail off the PCT to town along the Eagle Creek Trail.....what an amazing trail! I'll attatch pictures! We walked behind a waterfall! It was sooo cool! Got into Cascade Locks around 4pm, booked a room at the hotel and then went to the Post Office and picked up 7 (yes 7 care packages!!) Came back to the room and tore into them like it was Christmas! What fun! Bootz and Bluelight, MJ, Neighbor's Dad, Grammy Peg, Chels, Priscilla, The Fam (finally....one of the packages from Echo Lake finally showed up!!) It was just wonderful! Tomorrow we will spend all day sorting the packages and mailing food ahead to the final 4 or 5 stops we have along the trail! Off to bed for me for now!

JZ and Thrust crossing the creek

Another beautiful sight along the PCT!

The Crew! (minus flippy)

From left (in the back) to right.
Neighbor, Slider, JB, Chickety, Thrust, JZ,
Antfarm, Boomer and Swiffer.

Day 114 Aug 10th

Slept pretty good on the floor, the window had to stay open because someone (or a couple someones) had some really bad gas! We went up to the All You Can Eat breakfast and boy oh boy was it great! I had 4 pancakes with strawberries, blueberries, maple syrup and real whipped cream! There was bacon, eggs, homefries, brie, smoked gouda cheese......just wonderful! I left there and felt ill, but we still managed to hike around 21 miles. Started hiking around 9:30 and snapped a group photo (minus Flippy) that I'll be sure to attatch. Hiked under the chairlifts with skiiers and snowboarders heading up the mountain....seems funny to see people skiing in August! But they ski year round on Mt. Hood due to the Glacial snow, pretty cool. Lots of ups and downs, as we hiked away from the mountain, the fog finally cleared and I got a pretty decent shot of the mountain. Camped at Salvation Spring.....11 of us! Black flies were out in force, but we threw on the headnets and had no problems! Only 22 miles to Cascade Locks tomorrow and boy am I excited to be heading there!!!

Mt. Hood in the far distance.....

JB and Flippy trying to find the trail!

Ahhh, snow!

Chickety and Mt. Jefferson

other stuff

For some reason, the computer that I am on isn't showing a few of last week's posts (pictures of us at the 2,000 mile mark and pictures from Elk Lake Resort, along with the text.....) Maybe you guys can see it at home and it is just this computer, who knows!

Neighbor found $10 last week and you'll never guess where........in the trash at Crater Lake! Yep! He went to throw something away and there was $10 dollar bill sitting right there! yeah for us!

Day 113 Sat Aug 9th

Up and hiking by 0545, more easy trail miles. The terrain is just amazing, flat, no trees down and we just cruise! By noon we had hiked 20 miles and were on the homestretch for the day! Timberline Lodge was our destination and it was only 5 miles! This is what we thought Oregon would be like! Flat terrain, smooth sailing and big pine trees! We had one spot where we could have seen Mt. Hood from the trail, but it was all fogged in. Reached the lodge around 2:30 or so, chilly, foggy and just plain yucky outside. The group reunited in the Blue Ox (a small pizza pub) where we ate pizza and were just happy to be inside and warm. Boomer is here (he lost the trail the same spot that we lost it a few days back, but being alone, he gave up and had to hike BACK to Sisters and hitched up here to the lodge!!) Yikes! I guess the rain from that storm washed away all of our footprints and he was on his own (really)! So, then Thrust heard that there were rooms available and he jumped on one! Neighbor, Slider, JB, Thrust and I are all splitting a room. I'll be happy to be sleeping on the floor, it will be dry, warm and just wonderful! There is an All You Can Eat breakfast in the morning that we'll all be there for and then we'll start the 1.5 day hike to Cascade Locks (last town stop in Oregon!!!!) So, we'll be in Cascade Locks on Monday!

Day 112 Aug 8th

Didn't sleep all that great, between some people who had a bonfire going and the lightening in the distance it was a short night. Hiking by 6am and found the trail to be amazing! We were lower in elevation now and the "Oregon Muleskinners" maintain this section of trail and it is spotless! I mean, they raked the trail and removed ALL the rocks from it! Wow and someone told us that there are NO downed trees for the next 50 miles! Smooooth sailing for us! Stopped for lunch by a nice cold spring around 1130 and we had already hiked 18 miles! Amazing! Walked through one batch of mosquitos and I used up the last of my 1.1oz can of deet! Then we climbed higher and there was a breeze and no more bugs! Yeah! Things are looking up! Stopped early (4pm) because we were near a campground and they had picnic tables! Whipped up some Chicken Polynesian, then mashed potatoes for dinner. Only 25 miles tomorrow to Timberline Lodge which is the lodge at the base of Mt. Hood. It is funny though, we saw Mt. Hood yesterday, but haven't seen it since, the trail is completely in the woods and all you see are big trees! We were sleeping by 7:45 and then the party started up with the campers, we realized it was a Friday night.....but didn't realize we wouldn't get much sleep for the 2nd night in a row! Oh well!

Day 111 Aug 7th

Slept until 0520! Wow, we were tired! Hiking by 6am, more snow, more trail finding. Had to cross Russell Creek and the book says to cross it early in the morning because the water is milky (so you can't see through it) and it has a swift current.......well, I was nervous, but when we got there......it was still covered in snow! yeah! We took a break there and dried out our gear (tent, ground cloth, sleeping bag, tent fly, etc. it was all wet/damp from last night) Walked though Jefferson Park, what a beautiful area (I'll attach pictures soon) More snow, hiked up a ridge and into Mt. Hood Wilderness and we could see Mt. Hood in the distance, only 50 miles away now! Wow! Hiked downhill (actually slid down the hill on the snow) and past a few ponds, some mosquitos were out, but nothing like a week or so back. Camped at Ollalie Lake Resort (which is closed due to snow damage) and enjoyed the luxury of a picnic table to cook and eat at!!

Day 110 Wed Aug 6th

Enjoyed the continental breakfast again and then caught a ride back to the trail with 2 Outward bound workers. Sky was cloudy and it just felt like it was going to rain. Luckily I had my rainpack cover with me now (just picked it up) and I threw it over my backpack. It sprinkled a bit, but we just kept walking and caught up to Slider, Thrust, JB and Flippy, took a lunch break with them then another break a few hours later when JZ, Antfarm and Swiffer caught up! All together again (except for Boomer who was leaving town a few hours later) Mt. Jefferson is getting closer and it is huge! We saw either an immature eagle or Golden Eagle fly over our heads today, it was a pretty cool sight! More snow on the trail, we came to a large snowfield and basically just lost the trail all together. We all went in different directions looking for any sign of the trail or footprints of others before us.....nothing. Eventually Neighbor found the trail down in the valley below and we were back on track. The amount of snow for August is just amazing! We made it almost to Shale Pond for the night, but the sky had been dark and we had been hearing thunder for awhile now, it started to rain and we threw the tent up quick and jumped inside! Safe! Or so we thought......
It started to HAIL! And it poured like mad and then we realized that our nice flat camp spot was turning into a large puddle........in 10 minutes, it was a 4 inch puddle outside and UNDER the tent! Eeeeek, when the hail stopped, Neighbor jumped out and dug a drainage for the small lake, but in the end, we just had to pick the tent up and move to a different spot! Cooked up some mac n' cheese after the storm was over, it was chilly out, then we jumped in the sleeping bag and slept like a rock for the night!

Day 109 Tues Aug 5th

What a great night sleep in the motel! Ahhhh, the pillows were awesome! Enjoyed the continental breakfast and then ran to the PO to mail some stuff forward (and picked up a postcard from Stinky and a letter from Gram and Papa)! Thanks guys! MJ, we forwarded your care package ahead to Cascade Locks because we already had too much food and didn't want to have any more to carry for the next stretch, but it'll be waiting for us in 100 miles!! Thank you! Then we decided to just relax for the day. The rest of the crew was spending the extra day in town and we enjoy everyone's company, so we booked the room for a 2nd night and actually relaxed! Neighbor went in the pool and hot tub. We walked downtown and I ate 1/4 pound of Peanut butter and chocolate fudge! And they have llamas on the property, so I got my picture with one! (thinking of you Grammy Peg!) Chels called the room and we talked for over an hour and a half! Wow, we needed that though! Good quality sister time in Sisters, OR! :) Around 7pm, JZ, Antfarm and Swiffer showed up and they stayed with us for the night. Nice relaxing day.

Lava fields.....fields of lava!

Mt. Hood on the right

In the far distance is Mt. Hood!

more snow!

Slider coming across a snowfield in the Three Sisters Wilderness on 8/3/08

2,000 mile mark!

Slider, Thrust, Neighbor and I.

2,000 mile mark!

Slider (with his external Jansport pack that WILL make it to Canada, even if he has to drag it behind him), Thrust, Neighbor and I!

Day 108 Aug 4

Up early, pink sunlight reflecting off the big mountains in the distance was just beautiful. We could see Mt. Hood in the far distance. Mt. Washington and Mt. Jefferson were there too, closer and with snow. Hiked down to Rte 242 (which was closed for construction) and through more lava fields, lots of black rock to twist your ankles on. Cruised right along, hiked through a burn area where there were purple lupine everywhere and it smelled like grapes. Around noon, we crossed the 2,000 mile mark! Yeah! Neighbor, Slider, Thrust, Flippy and I were all there taking pictures! Then 1 mile later, Neighbor and I took a left turn to the Big Lake Youth camp where we had mailed ourselves some food for the next 4 days. We got our box, sorted through stuff and were going to stay there but they don't let people stay anymore, so we decided to hike on a few more miles to Rte 20 and hitch into the town of Sisters. Yeah, town! So, with fully loaded backpacks, we hiked to the highway where cars were flying by and within 2 rides, we were in the very touristy town of Sisters. The library was only open for another hour or so, so we went right there and caught up on stuff. We have not had internet access since Ashland (30 trail miles into Oregon) After that, Neighbor made a few phone calls and got us a room at the Best Western, it wasn't cheap, but it includes breakfast and we are here now (internet in the common room) We showered and there is a grocery store across the street that we bought some food at and we are calling it a night! We will stay until about 11am tomorrow and head back to the trail. 4 days to Timberline Lodge (where we mailed ourselves a food box) and 2 more to Cascade Locks (which is the LAST town in Oregon!!!) Washington state, here we come!

Day 107 Aug 3

Nice warm cabin for the night was wonderful and we got to sleep in! We left around 0630 and boy was it cold out! Back up the hill, nice view of South Sister, nice breeze and no bugs! Our luck was changing! Took a nice break by a creek with Slider and Thrust, ate some snacks and we were feeling good! Started hitting the snow patches a little ways after that, more downed trees to climb over, but that's just part of the trail. Took another break by Obsidian Falls, tons of obsidian rock all over the place (black shiny lava rock that looks like glass). Good amount of snow after the Falls, we lost the trail once but found it quickly, suprised at how much snow there really is out there that hasn't melted from last winter! Then we hiked through some lava fields, what a change of scenery, past Middle Sister and The Husband. A beautiful area, breezy and just wonderful hiking (I love Oregon again) :) Camped where there was a breeze, a few bugs found us, but nothing like a few days ago. Camped with Thrust and Slider and Flippy came along later (he got all turned around this morning and ended up hiking 8 extra miles when he climbed over a downed tree and then hiked 4 miles BACK the way he had came!) 27 miles today was pretty good with a later start!