We had cowboy camped in the woods of Big Lake Youth Camp last night, and woke up this morning to everything WET— fog was all over the lake and us! Oh well— we headed back (at 6am) to the nice warm laundry room at the camp, where I put our very grubby socks to soak, and explained to Bill how to wash them once they’d soaked awhile.  Then I went off and took a “thorough” shower, trying my best to wash off  the ground-in dirt on ME!  But no matter how hard I scrubbed,  I just could not get the dirt off the bottoms of my feet.  I wondered how far some of that dirt has been travelling with me??  I finally gave up, dried off, bundled up in all my warm clothes (it was a bitter cold morning) and dashed back to the warm laundry room, where I worked on finishing up journal entries. When I went to see if our socks were done, I discovered that they were still just soaking, and Bill hadn’t washed them at all.  Sigh. 

But we managed to finish up the socks, and get our damp sleeping bags dry in time for breakfast– a fabulous all-you-can eat feast, and the friendly cook came out to eat with all us hikers. When we were all just about done with our first round of food and were thinking about going for seconds,  he asked, “Would anyone like some ice cream?” There was a collective gasp of delight followed by a chorus of “Yes, please!” So in addition to everything else, we each got a great big ice cream sandwich!  And then we still went off for seconds on the regular breakfast food, till we were stuffed to the gills.  We enjoyed talking with all the hikers.  One guy was thruhiking SOBO with his dog, but had decided to skip the “lava horror walk” since it would be too hard on his dog’s paws.  He volunteered to join the work party at the Youth Camp today, as he waits for a friend to pick him up, then drop him off at a different point along the PCT.

We went back to the laundry to collect our now clean and hopefully dry gear, and found the BLYC laundress had arrived to work on the Camp laundry items.  She was a very sweet lady, and we had a good time talking to her for awhile about the Lord and about how different people react when they find out that you are serious about following Christ, and when you (gasp!) actually try to tell them about how to know Him.  She said that yesterday there were 10 thruhikers at BLYC, and they all wanted to do laundry, so she just laid aside all the camp laundry and told them, “Go for it!”  She in effect let them take over the laundry.  “It was really strange, though,” she said.  “The hikers stayed in the laundry room and the art room next door ALL DAY.  Usually hikers go out to the lake for a swim, or hang around on the porch.  I guess it was just too cold to do that.”  No kidding–it was still a very cold morning!  Brrrrrr!

We loaded up on water— one of the SOBOs warned of “no decent ontrail water for 30 miles!” and headed out. Just before Santiam Pass, surprise! A cache full of what I guess is the official Oregon thruhiker cache drink— Pepsi. Then on into a burn zone, which was there in 2005.  Regrowth has been very slow.  There were lots of wildflowers, but only a few small pine trees.  Very sad.  The PCT launched into a  big climb up to 3-Fingered Jack mountain with awesome views of the 3 Sisters and Mt. Washington to the south of us.  We met some more very clean backpackers who were heading OUT of the mountains.  I guess they didn’t stay IN the mountains very long, or they’d have been grubbier!

Finally we were up high enough to have views of Mt. Jefferson, and as the day progressed, those views of “Mt. Jeff” got more and more impressive!  One of the fun things about the PCT in Oregon is seeing a magnificent peak on the horizon, then watch as it gets closer and closer.  We were still hiking in “burn zone”, and everything was ashy and charcoal-y.  I was very glad when we reached an unburned, green “island” where we could stop for our Snickers break!  The trail was often very rough, and had a lot of fire zone litter on it–pieces of burned bark, small branches AND even some snow patches!

Finally we were up on the shoulder of 3-Fingered Jack, and from that point on, the trail is absolutely awesome!  The views are fantastic.  Far below us were green meadows at the foot of “Jack”,  the massive “Mt. Jeff” lay just ahead, we were out of the fire zone, and the day had finally warmed up enough that we weren’t shivering!  When we reached Rockpile Lake, we decided to stop and get water, and there was Phooey, taking a break.  “I’m tired,” he said.  He’s been doing 30 mile days, too, trying to get to Cascade Locks in time for Trail Days.  We all agreed that Trail Days had better be good, considering the effort we’ve been putting out to get there!

It was wonderful to be getting closer and closer to Jefferson Park.  I love the “high alpine” feel of this whole area. All the plants, trees, etc and the very dramatic mountains make you feel as if civilization is far away. We ate dinner on a saddle with a great view of Mt. Jeff.  At 7 pm, we were still on a long contour along a steep mountainside, and I began to worry about finding a place to camp before dark, but awhile later, we spotted  a small grassy hollow.  The wind was blowing hard and very cold, but down in the hollow it was rushing overhead instead of blowing right on us.  We put up the tarp (for dew protection) and the net tent so we could sleep in peace, with no mosquitoes.  The sound of the wind in the treetops was very soothing.  Our only concern is that we are both smelling some smokiness in the air–it seems to be coming from the south and west of us, so we should be OK up here on the PCT.  Jefferson Park tomorrow! 

Walk with Aragorn to Minas Tirith: Left Paths of the Dead and reached the Morthond Vale waterfall

Tags: 3 Sisters, Big Lake Youth Camp, Fingered Jack, Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Washington, Santiam Pass, Three Sisters