Sun. June 26    Miles today: 24.6       Total so far: 800.3 miles!!!!!    Oregon Section E

We did it–just barely, but we did it–crossed the 800 mile mark today!  Thankyou, Lord!  What an encouragement!

It was colder this morning, (only 42 degrees) when we got up, and crowds of mosquitoes were waiting for us.  Gray clouds covered “Irish Rock”, which juts up high above Stormy Lake.  Distracted by dealing with the worst mosquito situation we’ve had yet, we forgot to fill water bottles, so we were short on water when we stopped for breakfast an hour later.  Normally we drink a cup of Emer-gen-C each, plus a cupful of granola with powdered milk.  This morning we only had enough water to make the powdered milk, so we ate the granola and milk under headnets amid a buzzing, whining horde. 

 Later on, we reached pretty little Tadpole Lake, which had nice clean water, and stopped to fill our very empty water bottles, despite the mosquitoes. But in my haste to change out of my warm fleece jacket (because the morning had warmed up) into my raingear jacket (for mosquito protection), I really messed up.  I forgot that I had put my watch OVER the sleeve of the fleece jacket, so when I yanked the jacket off in a tearing hurry to put on the other jacket, the watch went flying, and I did not even notice. 

Dark red & black "Sith" mushroon

Now cooler, and protected from the mosquitoes, we went cheerfully off along a very green and pretty trail.  A major “green component” here are the shining, ribbony clumps of beargrass.  There were also a lot of mushrooms.  Somebody (not us!!) had knocked loose one that I call a “sith mushroom.”  There were many of these along the trail–black and twisted, with a touch of a dark, “evil” red. 

The PCT doing its usual "side of a mountain" thing

At that point, the trail did a lot of contouring along steep hillsides.  Bill and I firmly believe that the PCT should really be called “The PSMT” for “Pacific Side of a Mountain Trail,  because that’s what it mostly does!

Monty by one of the "rockpiles"

At one point, Bill spotted a tiny gray frog–we never expected to see a frog out in the middle of a forest.  The trail went around many rockpiles (thankyou to the trail gorillas who built the PCT through challenges like this!).

Bill in one of the violet-carpeted meadows

I was particularly thrilled by the fact that we were walking through  big meadows carpeted with VIOLETS!! The sweet smell was amazing!   And we passed lakes galore–too many to count–with names like Desane, “S”, Mae, Island, Dumbbell and Camelot. 

South Sister, with clouds closing in

We put in many miles just walking through forest.  At lower elevations, this meant huge douglas firs, but as we climbed higher, it was lodgepole pine and mountain hemlock.  Finally we began to catch glimpses of the “Sisters” mountains.  At about 2:00 pm, we stepped out into a burned forest with a full view of South Sister, then began a 1,200 foot climb of Koosah Mountain.  The clouds were growing thicker and darker, and we were very tired, especially our feet.  But at the top there were amazing views, including one of South Sister  in gathering clouds.  Middle Sister was entirely hidden under clouds, and we never saw “her’ again. 

On the downhill trail now, the temperature really began dropping, and there were large areas of snow across the trail.  But we’re getting better at following trail through snow, and Bill figured out a way to NOT posthole–you RUN across instead of walking!  He’s braver than I am.  When we reached Sisters Mirror Lake, there were only patches of snow, and though the Sisters were all hidden in clouds, it was still a very pretty area.  We were just starting on a crackers & peanut butter supper when along came two section hikers we’d seen earlier.  We talked with them for a little while, and they filled us in on their adventures following the PCT right past Mt. Thielsen.  They said it was really tough, and the only reason they made it through was because they had a GPS, and wore snowshoes.  Hearing their tale made us glad we chose another route!  And they told us that they’d been following our footprints in the snow for quite awhile, and that had made it easier for them, especially coming off Koosah Mountain. 

Setting up camp near Sisters Mirror Lake

They pushed on, and we finished our supper in a leisurely way, because it was so nice to be able to eat in peace with hardly any mosquitoes.  There were a lot of frogs singing and swimming in the lake; could that explain the scarcity of buzzers and whiners?  Just as we finished eating, a light rain began, so we hurried to find a campsite in the “Forest Service approved” area near the lake.  After setting up tarp and net tent, we were glad to crawl into warm sleeping bags. Our feet were aching and tired, but my sore ankle is feeling much better–thankyou Lord, and praying friends!  And we cheered when we did our mileage math and realized we’d crossed the 800 mile mark.  Knowing that helped cheer me up a bit, because I was still very sad about carelessly losing my watch.

We went to sleep to the sound of rain on the tarp, singing frogs, and even a hammering woodpecker.  Easy, Greenman & Co are probably back down at Elk Lake Resort eating hamburgers and staying dry.  We met them earlier in the day at a trail junction where we all had our maps out and were scratching our heads over which way to go.  The PCT in Oregon, as usual, was not well-marked, and the guidebook trail names don’t match the ones on the trail signs.  Hope they are having a good time!

Sat. June 25   Miles today: 24.1      Total so far: 775.1         Oregon Section E

Our Rosary Lake campsite was windy all night (hooray, no mosquitoes as a result!) and we woke up to 50 degrees and dark cloudy skies.  With packing up done, we took one last look at Rosary Rock across the lake.  The guidebook says it is very popular with rockclimbers, and I could see why–there were zillions of hand and toeholds in the obviously volcanic gray rock.

Wow! An official trail to Eugene!

On the trail, we climbed steadily till we got to an awesome view spot where we could see all three Rosary Lakes plus Odell Lake, and even Crescent Lake!  After eating a great breakfast in such a perfect breakfast place, we continued happily on the very good trail.

Then the clouds moved back,  the sun come out, and  the forest was full of light.  Beautiful! 

Sunshine!

At the trail junction to huge Waldo Lake, I found a post with an emblem “Eugene to Pacific Crest Trail.”  Sounds like something that folks in Eugene would organize.  Good for them! 

Further on, we encountered more and more snow on the trail, but the clear markings still made it easy to follow trail-across-snow.  Then we reached a rocky area where the guidebook suggested a short detour of scrambling over the rocks to our left for an awesome view of Waldo Lake.  We decided to go for it, and wow!  It was worth a side trip!  We decided to have a snack and savor the view for awhile.  

Snowmelt by the trail

Back on the trail, we passed many snow patches, which were melting fast.  And at noon, there was the perfect spot to stop and cook lunch–a clear little stream (water!) plus gravel and dirt over the steam culvert (cooking place!) plus a nice breeze and no mosquitoes. even though there was snow all around us. 

Bill on lunch break (by snow patch)

We were just repacking our sleeping bags, which we’d been airing during lunch, when thru-hiker “Easy” came along.  He liked our idea of airing gear and cooking at noon–said he would try it, too.

Bill on the trail/obstacle course

In the afternoon, we spent MILES walking through the burned, desolate wreck of a 2003 fire.  It was very slow going.  So many dead trees had fallen across the trail that it was hard to know where the trail went.  But some helpful somebody had carved “PCT” with an arrow up on a dead standing tree, and another time, it was scratched on a rock. 

 Because the going was so slow, and there was no wind, there were lots of mosquitoes, so to add to the fun, we had to wear headnets.   Finally the wind came up, the mosquitoes left, and I pushed my headnet up out of the way on my hat, where unnoticed by me, a big gust of wind blew it off.  “Easy” and another thru-hiker, “Greenman” were behind us, found my headnet and picked it up, so when I came frantically tearing back down the trail looking for it, they greeted me with a cheerful, “Looking for something?” and produced the headnet.  “Saved you half a mile, I bet,” grinned Easy.  Ah, true gentlemen!  Thankyou, thankyou! 

The ghost forest--burned 2 years ago

It was late afternoon before we were out of the burned forest.  That fire must have been awful.  We stopped at Brahma Lake for a tortilla and cheese supper, eaten under headnets, while the “rest of us” was wrapped up in plastic groundcloths.  The mosquitoes were literally crawling all over us.  After that, our goal was 6,000 ft. elevation Stormy Lake–maybe there would be less mosquitoes there??  We passed Easy & Co, who had already stopped for the day.  They had a ROARING fire going, and were standing by it.  Hmmm–mosquito defense, maybe?  (we found out later that yes, it was!).

It was really getting late now, and we were tired, but one more challenge faced us–we ended up losing the trail for a little while just short of Stormy Lake, and when we finally reached the lake, we were faced with the worst clouds of mosquitoes yet.  After we zipped into our net tent and had some peace, I calculated our mileage for today, and we were very disappointed.  We thought we’d done 26 miles at least, but it was only 24.  I guessed that going through snow, detouring for the Waldo Lake view, then climbing over all those dead fallen trees, then getting lost a bit had really slowed us down.  The sleeping bags feel good–it’s a COLD night here at 6,000 feet.  I am grateful that I still have my headnet, and thanked God for Easy and Greenman coming along at just the right time.