Sat. Oct. 8     Miles today: ?? (no maps available)    Finish No. CA section R and begin Oregon Section A

It was cold (30 degrees) but clear and beautiful this morning.  We were determined to do as many miles as we could! Down below us, everything was foggy–Mt. Shasta, of course, rode serenely above it all.  We particularly enjoyed watching the sunrise as we hiked along, since it’s so dark and dim still when we first start out.  It’s so late in the year now that we don’t get many hours of daylight for hiking! 

It wasn’t long before we reached a trailhead which had been turned into a large hunter camp.  Two big black Lab dogs came barking out to meet us, but they weren’t really serious.  We waved our sticks at them and said, “Hi, puppies!” and they left us alone.  Eventually we reached Donohue Meadows–very lovely!  Actually, this entire part of the PCT was like walking through a sort of forest park with meadows and springs and big trees, and of course, cows.  Most of those ran for it as soon as they saw us, but unfortunately, they’ve tramped up most of the springs–Bill did find one nice one to fill his water bottle.  I still had plenty left from what the hunters gave us.

Then around 10 am, there it was–a “Welcome to Oregon” sign!  Hurray!  We were excited, to put it mildly!  I signed the trail register, and besides notebooks, thee were other “interesting artifacts”–an empty flask of whiskey and another (also empty) of rum.  I guess we were expected to drink a toast to our arrival in Oregon??  We settled for eating a Snickers!  The view at the border was very pretty, and the sign said it was 28 miles to Interstate 5. “Let’s see how big a dent we can put in that!” we said to each other.  Bill was having one of his “good” days, feeling much better, and able to hike right along instead of slowly plodding, even on uphills.  I had to really work to keep up with him!  Double hooray!

Of course the PCT just HAD to go up some more, but it gave us nice views down into valleys below.  We met another hiker coming southbound, carrying a sort of long duffle bag.  Was he a hunter, carrying his gun in a bag instead of over his shoulder?  We asked him, and he said with a quiet smile, “Well, actually I’m out hunting BRYOPHITES.”  That’s when I noticed his cap–it said, “Southern Oregon University Botany Department.”  It turned out he was a professor, and was planning to bring a class out here for a field trip in a few days. The professor said he always goes out ahead of time to find everything so he can take the kids right to it.  “And it makes me look like I’m really smart!” he said with a grin.

Some more hiking finally took us to our first crossing of Hwy. 20, where the PCT then goes on a huge “wander” around a mountain.  The views to the north were stunning, and we did a lot of walking through bear grass, where the flowers were dry, but wow–they were almost as tall as I am!  After crossing Hwy. 20 again, we started getting views to the south, including Mt. Shasta, and also a distinctive rock formation we passed on our PCT trek out of Ashland in June.  “Lookee that!  We can SEE the end of our trip!” cheered Bill.

By 4 pm, we could see Interstate 5, too, and felt like we were really getting close to “closing the circle” of our PCT thruhike!  A sign we came to just before suppertime said that it was 11 miles to I-5, so that meant we’d covered 17 miles since 10:00 this morning.  Not bad!  So we gobbled up our very last trail supper (bagels & jerky & dried fruit), then attacked the trail as fast as we could.  Despite some tough going–lots of overgrowth and mudholes–we managed to get about 3 more miles done in less than an hour.  And it turned out we’d both been praying as we walked, asking the Lord for a really nice campsite for our last night on the PCT, and there it was, just after sundown–level, soft, in a grove of hemlocks.  It was clouding up and a cold wind was blowing, so we rigged the tarp and quickly got ready for bed before it was too dark to see. 

We soon discovered that AGAIN we were right near a dirt road–more hunter trucks went by, but we weren’t worried.  Ashland, here we come!  And thankyou, Lord, for helping us get here!  We are MEGA-grateful.