Sat. June 18   Miles today: 9.2 on the PCT, plus 20 other miles      PCT total so far: 634.1   Oregon section C

"Confectioner's sugar" snow in the morning

This was probably the hardest day we’ve had since we began the PCT on May 11.  But it started off as a great day!  It did rain all night last night, but we were snug under our tarp, and as soon as we started to get up, the rain stopped.  “Aha!” we said happily, “Weather timing again!” It was a cold 35 degrees and the clouds were very low and dark when we began hiking, and the forest floor had a dusting of snow.

  In just a little bit, we came to a junction where we had to decide which way to go.  We could go left, and stay on the PCT, which heads up, up, up to “awesome views” OR we could go right on the Sky Lakes trail, which stays low and goes by a lot of pretty lakes.  Well, duh–that was a no-brainer.  The PCT was shrouded in clouds, there wouldn’t be any views, and we were pretty sure it had been snowed on up there during the night.  So we chose the lower Sky Lakes route. 

"Steaming" lake on a COLD morning

It was so cold that all the lakes were steaming, and there were NO mosquitoes.  The lakes were really pretty, and the terrain is very rocky–kudos to whoever managed to put a trail through.  They had to move a LOT of rocks!  We came to Trapper Lake and Marguerite Lake–wow, talk about beautiful!  Each lake had a dramatic rock cliff/mountain backdrop.  As we slowly went higher, there was more snow on the trail, but never more than a foot deep and never extensive enough to be a problem, since the trail was very well-blazed. 

After taking a bit of time to enjoy specially beautiful Marguerite Lake, we reached the Snow Lakes trail, which would take us back to the PCT in 1.6 miles.  Little did we know what lay ahead, or what we were in for!  The Snow Lakes trail immediately began a steep uphill climb, and soon snow covered EVERYTHING, and it was getting deeper.  We cheerfully kept on, still able to figure out where to go by a combination of the LARGE footprints of a previous hiker, plus the blazes on the trees.

Looking back from the place where we finally had to stop

But then–it began to actually snow, and the snowfall rapidly became heavier and heavier.  The footprints we’d been following were quickly filling up with soft, fluffy flakes, AND it was hard to see far enough ahead to spot the blazes on the trees.  We knew we must be close to the Snow Lakes, and from there it was only .2 of a mile back to the PCT, but we had no landmarks to take a compass heading from because of the snowfall.  I started to feel a bit scared.  Finally, we “hit a dead end”.  No matter how much we hunted around the area of the last blaze, we could not find the next one.  Then I turned and looked back, and my heart just sank.  Our OWN FOOTPRINTS were rapidly filling with snow.  We only had enough food with us for today plus tomorrow  morning, when we’d expected to come cruising in to Crater Lake.  That didn’t give us enough food resources to play a game of “orienteering in the snow.”  Bill was really annoyed with me for not planning on more food, but I had never expected anything like this.  So very sadly, we turned around and went back down to where it was merely raining instead of snowing, and consulted our maps.

A very wet Nannie Creek trail

Looking at the maps, we spotted another possible route–to take the Nannie Creek trail to the Puck Lake trail, and follow THAT one back to the PCT.  So back to the “Nannie” trail we went, and it turned out to be interesting in its own right.  It included a whole set of switchbacks up a steep, rocky shale mountainside.  We got to the area where the Puck Lake trail junction was supposed to be–and oh, bother, we were back in the snow, with snow covering everything.  We could barely figure out where the “Nannie” trail went, and though we looked and looked, we could not find the “Puck” junction.  Thinking, “Maybe it’s a bit farther on” we kept going, and kept looking–all in vain.  Again, if we’d had lots of food, we would have persevered, but now we were really in a bind.  (We found out later that the rangers had deliberately HIDDEN the Puck Lake trail junction, because they have closed that trail and don’t want hikers to use it anymore!!)

So in the end, we two VERY unhappy hikers walked down to the “Nannie” trailhead, then 6 miles down its access road to a paved road, where I did manage to flag down a passing motorist to find out where we were.  He said the nearest town was Fort Klamath “about 7 miles away” (it turned out to be more like 10!). He also said that the Seven-Mile Trail (another way back to the PCT) was “only a couple of miles away.”  (Actually, it was more like 14!).   Thinking, “Oh, that’s not bad, a couple of miles” we started roadwalking.  Mile after mile went by, and there was no sign of Road 3334, the trailhead road.  We went about 6 miles before Bill finally got disgusted and said, “That’s it, we are going to just stop and camp.  It’s getting late.”

The cows thought we were "way cool"

But the trouble was, we’d left the forest far behind, and were well out in a flat valley full of pastures and cows and farms.  Actually, even though we were feeling really discouraged, we could not help but laugh at the cows.  Apparently they found us irresistably fascinating.  As we walked along, every cow in the herd would follow us, along their fence line, until they came to a crossfence and had to stop.   And every now and then, we’d pass a ranch house. We tried stopping at a couple of the ranches to ask for directions, but nobody was at home.  “I guess they’re at some Saturday night shindig” was the only conclusion we could come to.

So when Bill finally said, “That’s it!  Enough!  We are going to camp!” it meant we two now VERY tired, very sad, very frustrated hikers had to turn around and hike all the way back to the National Forest  where we had stopped some time before to cook dinner.  It was very pretty there, and there were many nice places to camp, but when we had stopped there for dinner,  we found it was loaded with mosquitoes.  To cook dinner without BECOMING dinner for the swarms of buzzing biters, I’d had to wear full raingear and my headnet. 

We had no trouble finding a very nice campsite, set up the tarp and net tent, crawled in, and just plain collapsed.  We’d walked probably 30 miles today and accomplished so little, and Bill was still very unhappy with me for not bringing more food.  I had planned for enough plus a bit of “cushion”, but not enough for 2 or 3 days of thrashing through snow and being lost. I was very, very bummed tonight, and being a girl, I did cry some (it’s a girl thing).  But we did come to one “conclusion of wisdom”–If there is any possibility of snow problems on the trail, BRING LOTS OF FOOD!  We vowed tonight that we will head for Fort Klamath and really stock up before heading back to the PCT!  And we thanked God for helping us to get safely down out of the snow, and asked for help tomorrow.  We went to sleep serenaded by a choir of–coyotes!

Friday, June, 17     Miles today: 22.8 + a LOT of “being lost miles”      Total so far: 624.7

Roadwalking to Lake of the Woods in rain/snowflakes

When I woke up this morning, I looked out from the tarp at–falling SNOW!  It melted as soon as it hit the ground, but the temperature on our little thermometer said 32 degrees.  Brrrr! It was hard to get up, but we knew we had to hit the trail–or more accurately, the road shoulder–to get to Lake of the Woods.  We put on our warmest clothes, AND raingear and headed out, thinking about breakfast at the Lake. 

 But after an hour, we were both so hungry that we just HAD to eat, but WHERE?  We were walking through a mixture of freezing rain and snow.  Then we saw a perfectly dry, protected place under a tree–aha!  Now the trick was while we were still warm from hiking, to manage to gobble down some granola before we “friz”.  And we managed it.  Hiking is a lot more fun when you’re not starving hungry!  And we needed a bit of fortification, because as we were walking along, we were being passed by log trucks, and boy, do they FLY! Hang on to your hat when their “bow wave” hits!

40 degrees + blustering wind at Lake of the Woods

Finally we reached Lake of the Woods resort, complete with snowmobile trails, only there wasn’t any snow–just rain now, and the temperature was 40 degrees.  We headed straight for the grill at the dock–I’m sure I could smell the pancakes from half a mile away!  The wind was whipping the cold gray lake into whitecaps.  Last time we were there, it was August, the air was warm, the lake was blue, and we were swimming!  This time, we were bundled up and headed staight into the warm, cozy grill.  It’s very homey there with couch, rug, fireplace and tables. We tucked our packs in a corner and launched into a “second breakfast” in true hobbit fashion. 

Well-stuffed, the next thing to do was shop at the store, where I bought more food to supplement what we’d mailed to ourselves at Hyatt Lake.  (The Hyatt Lake store doesn’t have much).  A man at the store (the resort owner/manager, maybe??) warned us of the danger of hiking on into such cold, stormy weather, and urged us to rent a cabin–“Only $95 a night”–till things improved.  We knew the resort was probably really hurting for customers (they had a big fishing tournament scheduled for tomorrow, and probably hardly anyone will come), but we declined politely, and headed out into the rain. 

View of "The Great Meadow"

I was looking forward to seeing the Great Meadow north of the lake, and was not disappointed.  First you come to a pretty marsh complete with yellow waterlilies, then the Great Meadow itself was COVERED with wildflowers.  Awesome!

START OF OREGON SECTION C

By crossing Highway 140, we entered “Section C” of the Oregon PCT guidebook.  We did have some trouble finding the trail on the other side, then we REALLY HAD trouble following the trail once we found it.  We were literally going in circles on various other trails in the area, and getting more and more frustrated, till finally we figured out that all the trail signs here are tiny strips of board nailed WAY up high on the trees, and the trails themselves are not always obvious or easy to follow.  We probably wasted a good 2 or 3 miles of hiking up wrong trails before we finally got solidly on track with the PCT. 

The sun's coming out, and the view is worth cheering about!

But wow!  After a longish climb uphill, the PCT rewarded us with amazing views.  We could see most of huge Klamath Lake, and many beautiful mountains.  Up top where we were, it was all rocks and cliffs, AND it was about time for lunch AND the sun decided to come out!  It was the perfect place to dry our damp gear on all those nice rocks, plus cook up a pot of food.  And just as we were loading up to go on, back came the clouds and the cold.  We had to stop a second and thank God for the gift of such a great lunch break!  That is one of the things I really like about being a thru-hiker.  Nothing can be taken for granted; you really are depending on God for things as basic as water to drink, a dry place to sleep, and He not only takes care of those things, but also gives much more–like a bit of sun just when we needed it, and awesome beauty to admire.  I guess if we were atheists or agnostics, we’d just call it “serendipity” or “luck”, but in view of the obviousness that God is real, we rejoice that when these things happen, we can say, “Thankyou, Father!” and give the credit where credit is due.  I used to be an atheist, for the simple reason that to recognize the evidence that God is there, would also involve having to acknowledge Him as the Creator and King of the universe.  I liked running my own life my own way, and since “my way” was quite successful (outwardly), I could conveniently ignore the core of selfishness that was the source of everything I did.  When I finally did have the guts to meet God,  He showed me how over and over again He had reached out to me, to show me He was real and He was there, but I had equally determinedly pushed Him away.   So now, it is a wonderful thing to be able to turn to Him when we’re frustrated and lost on the trail, AND to be able to thank Him for the many joys of this trail!

Bill admires simple, elegant engineering

We hiked on to Four Mile Lake, where again we had trouble finding the right trail, and wasted a bunch of time hunting for it.  But it wasn’t all in vain.  We got great views of Mt. McLoughlin and a chance to cross a very interesting dam spillway.  Bill was impressed with the simple but clever engineering on the spillway for controlling water output.  (Basically, it involved stout planks dropped into slots.)  After finally figuring out where we were for sure, and which trail would get us back to the PCT, we passed several very pretty lakes that reminded me of the ones in Lassen National Park, one of our favorite backpacking destinations. 

Snowpatch on the trail--not good!

 And oh, the wildflowers!  Sometimes the trail was actually lined with tiny little yellow and white lilies.  And there were lots of mushrooms, too–all kinds, sizes and colors.  Snow patches became more and more numerous, but never enough to be a problem.  It was a cold afternoon–45 degrees,–when we found a dry patch under a tree near Long Lake to eat our supper of crackers and cheese and dried fruit. 

A little bit more hiking, and finally we reached the PCT again!  It was time to celebrate!  We did a couple more PCT miles before hunting for a campsite–not easy to find!  But before it really got dark, we found a somewhat flat place on some nice soft duff under a tree.  It was VERY cold, which meant NO mosquitoes, hooray!  And just after we’d finished setting up the tarp and getting our gear sheltered, it began to rain again.  Wow, talk about perfect timing!  We made sure to thank the Lord for such a gracious gift of “weather timing”, both tonight and at midday.