Fri. July 1     Miles today: 25      Total so far: 873.5      Oregon Section F

A bright sunny morning meant lots of mosquitoes looking for their breakfast–so when we stopped for OUR breakfast, we had to eat it under headnets in the PCT trailhead parking on Highway 20.  Granola-munching done, we headed up on the climb to our first goal–Three-fingered Jack mountain. 

So THAT's what the Sisters look like!

 After awhile we were high enough to look back and see the Three Sisters where we had so much grief a few days ago.  Then we began to run into snow again, but it was melting fast–often turning the trail into a creek. 

"Manageable" snow

 The snow got deeper and more extensive, but we always managed to find our way.  Meanwhile, we had endlessly fascinating views of Three-Fingered Jack, and when we “came around the corner” to the north side–surprise! 

There it is--Mt. Jefferson!

There was Mt. Jefferson, our NEXT goal!   However, most of our attention went to admiring the dramatic north side of Three-Fingered Jack.  Wow!

The PCT took us down into “forest” again (or rather, what used to be a forest–it was devastated by a huge fire in 2003).  We were pleased to see that there were a few signs of regrowth.  Bill was looking at the enormous size of many of the burned trees and annoyed that no effort was being made to replant the trees.  We saw no seedling trees at all–only wildflowers and the beginnings of a few bushes.

Shortly after we passed pretty Rockpile Lake, we met our first real, live, SOBO’s!  (That’s trail lingo for “SOuthBOund thru-hikers”. )  They told us the snow was “pretty bad” at Mt. Jefferson, but after that it was OK.  After a good time chatting, we wished each other “Happy Trails” and hiked on. 

No sense walking the trail when it's a creek

 We passed South Cinder Cone.  It was a very warm day, so the trail frequently was just a “linear lake” of snowmelt.  But as we drew closer to Mt. Jefferson, the snow got steadily worse.  Pretty soon we were losing the trail and having to hunt for it.  (Not again!) 

But by suppertime, we managed to find the trail and ate with a great view of Mt. Jefferson for “ambiance”.  Hiking on, we lost the trail AGAIN, found it, and most important, found a vital trail JUNCTION.  But (grrr, snarl, growl!!) all there was to mark this crucial place was a large pile of rocks and four trails going off into the snow.  There was not a single written sign to tell which was which.  Not even the PCT was marked. 

Hmm, where's the trail? Well, there's Jefferson!

 After much map-consulting, we chose an alternate route (not PCT) which was lower in elevation, which hopefully meant less snow.  It was getting late at this point, the sun was touching the horizon, and it was quite cold, so we didn’t walk too far before making camp by a small grove of trees way downhill from the trail (it was the only flat place we could see!).  And hooray–there were no mosquitoes!  We were pleased with our mileage, considering how much trail-hunting we’d had to do.

Thurs. June 30   Miles today: 1.2    Total so far: 873.5         Oregon Section F

There was no rush to do anything this morning, so we enjoyed our nice quiet camp in the forest.  I decided to do some writing in the dining hall before breakfast, but when I got there, a huge delivery truck had just brought several pallets of food, including frozen stuff that needed to be put away ASAP.  So I volunteered to help, and in the process got a good look at the youth camp kitchen.  I ws totally impressed.  They7 make their own bread from scratch, for example.  We had another awesome breakfast, then had more time to just relax on the beach with my Bible to read, and watch the kids sailing on Big Lake. 

After lunch, we packed up our camp so we’d be ready to go with our daughter from Corvallis when she arrived.  And when she did, surprise, surprise!  We hardly recognized her…she’d dyed her hair blonde, just for fun.  (Normally she’s a very dark brunette!)  We went with her to the town of Sisters, where Bill got new gloves, and we all got ice cream, followed by dinner at “Bronco Billy’s” steak house, because poor Bill was dying for a steak after so much trail food, and then all the vegetarian food at the Youth Camp!  We had a great time talking and visiting, since we don’t get to see each other very often. Our daughter was in the Marine Corps for 4 years, after she finished high school and a year of college.  Then she got a degree in accounting and worked in that field for several years, till she decided she’d rather be doing something to help people more directly.  That’s how she ended up getting into her “new field” of pharmacy.  She’s really good at math, and pharmacy is a math-heavy discipline.  So now she’s back in college, at her own expense, working part time, and pursuing a doctorate in pharmacy. 

It was starting to get late, but on the way back to the Camp, I stopped at a grocery store to get some bleach so I could try to disinfect our Platypus drinking tubes, which had been turning pink–not a good thing!  Our daughter was horrified (Germs!  Germs!) that we’d been using them in such a state. Then we went to a picnic area that had water so I could make a dilute solution to rinse out the tubes.  That done, our daughter dropped us off at the Youth Camp parking lot, and we headed back to the PCT.  We’d only done a bit over a mile before the sun went down, so we just stopped and camped in the woods.