Since we camped last night near the RR tracks, I got to see some trains go by before I went to sleep, and one of them was an Amtrak train— on time, if I remember my Amtrak schedules correctly!  Amazing! I had no idea that Amtrak ran so close to Shelter Cove!  Other trains came by later on, but they were all freight trains.  I enjoyed listening to them–camping near a railroad is great! 

At 5:30, I started writing some journal stuff while still inside my sleeping bag, and at 6:30 we packed up and went to the store for breakfast–burritos, muffins, cheese, coffee and juice.  We ate on the porch of Shelter Cove store with a great view of the lake. Bill is definitely feeling better this morning!  He was able to eat (but nowhere near as much as I did).  I was still eating and organizing our data book papers, guidebook pages, etc. for the PCT coming up, and looking through the resupply box and hiker box to see what I might need to buy at the store, when Bill said he’d go hunt for where the laundry was so we could at least wash our socks. 

If I’d been paying better attention, I would have noticed that he was taking his pack with him, including his food bag.  So when I got to the point of inventory-ing the food bags, Bill’s was gone.  Oh no!  So I went off to hunt for him.  I wandered all over the place amid the cabins at Shelter Cove.  One of the employees there saw me and asked if he could help.  He offered me a ride in his golf cart, and we drove around looking for Bill.  No luck.  It was as if he had totally vanished.  I was very frustrated!  All I could do was go back to the store and make a guess as to what was still left in Bill’s food bag.  Based on that guess, I finished my food “shopping” and was loading up my pack when Bill finally came back.

It turned out that he’d been way off someplace washing HIS socks–he’d forgotten to bring mine!  He was annoyed to find that I was “still not finished” with the resupply, and I was very unhappy about not having clean socks!   Grrrr!  I had to take my socks and wash them in freezing cold water in the bathroom, while Bill waited some more.  It did remind me once again, that if you are thruhiking with someone else, and for some reason you have to split up for awhile, be SURE you are both really clear on who’s doing what and when/where to get back together!  I had been so preoccupied with sorting out the resupply stuff that I didn’t pay attention very well. 

It was still a very chilly morning when we started walking down the road by the lake, headed back to the PCT.  Good thing we are getting out of here today, though! Tomorrow is a big fishing derby, AND the start of the “Where’s Waldo?” footrace on the PCT from here over to Waldo Lake area.  Shelter Cove will be a total zoo, I am sure–glad we don’t have to deal with it!  We met Phooey again as we were doing the roadwalk–he was headed IN to the store, and was amazed to find that we’d beaten him to it.  When we told him we took the alternate, he said, “Oh!  So THAT’s how you made it here so fast!”

Once you get across the highway and back on the trail, the PCT out of Shelter Cove is very pretty— it goes by a gentle grade up tothe Rosary Lakes and on to some really fine views. The trail junction signs could use some help, though— they are very confusing!  There were also people out putting up signs for the race tomorrow.  We passed the pretty viewpoint where we ate breakfast in 2005–it has a great panorama of all the Rosary Lakes, plus Lake Odell and Crescent Lake.

Then the trail started going up and down, with some pretty big “ups”.  Bill was feeling better, but still not himself yet. He lagged behind all day, and I often stopped to let him catch up, even though I was not hiking as fast as usual.  In spite of the slower speed, though, my klutz factor still kicked in–I stubbed my toe on a root, tripped, and went flying down off the trail.  I landed on nice soft forest stuff, though, not rocks!  Thankyou, Lord!

The woods along the trail here are very pretty, but the mosquitoes swarm you the moment you stop, and at one point, we got to a junction and couldn’t figure it out.  We ended up on a quarter mile long trail that led to a lake!  Oh well, Bill needed more water, and he had to empty out his whole pack to get at his platypus, since he doesn’t stow it in the “hydration sleeve”.  While he was doing that, I walked back to the PCT and using sticks, I made a “PCT” sign and arrow pointing to the correct trail.

Awhile later, I was the one who ran out of water, so Bill waited while I ran down a 1/10 mile side trail to Charlston Lake to fill my platypus.  Turned out there were a lot of people at the lake–it is very pretty, and it’s near a road.  Based on the Where’s Waldo? race signs on trees, I gathered that Charlston Lake is on the race route for tomorrow.  A little while later, we stopped for supper, but Bill had lost his appetite again and ate hardly anything, so I ate it all! 

Then we hiked on for a couple more hours, through a forest fire zone that in 2005 was an awful mess to get through. It’s still a fire zone, but this time we didn’t have to climb over blackened trees and search for some sign of the trail.  The tread is now clear and well-maintained.  It was interesting as we walked along, to observe the differing degrees of recovery in the forest, AND the fact that the forest is just barren tree trunks made it so we could SEE two of the Three Sisters up ahead.  Awesome!  We met two guys hiking along with fishing poles, looking for the Lily Lake side trail.  We hadn’t seen it–all we could figure out was that maybe only the PCT tread had been cleared after the fire, and the side trails were still covered with fallen, burned mess.  We hadn’t seen a junction sign for it, either, but back in 2005, all the trail signs were gone–they’d been burned up in the fire–and the PCT route was literally marked with arrows scratched on rocks.  So all we could tell the fisherguys was, “Good luck!”  A short time later, we met their wives?girlfriends? walking along the trail, too.  We felt sorry for them–I don’t think they will be able to find the lake, which is out of sight to the east.

Eventually we made it back into green forest, and stopped to camp near Riffle Lake.  The mosquitoes swarmed us the minute we stopped, so we had to set up camp while wearing our “mossie gear.”  Since the lake was close by, we went over there to wash our very dirty feet and legs–but it was a fast wash!  The mosquitoes pounced the minute we took off shoes and socks!  While we were setting up our net tent, Phooey came by, and also two PCT SOBO’s.  Once the tent was up, we zipped into it and now we are very comfortable listening to the clouds of mossies whining outside.  We have a great view of the lake with the moon shining over it–very pretty!  Once again, I could only pray like crazy that Bill will feel better tomorrow.

Walk with Aragorn to Minas Tirith: In green meadows crossing many streams

We were a little late getting up because  1) The watch alarm didn’t go off  and 2) I was burrowed into my sleeping bag and didn’t see the sky lightening.  It was 5:35–horrors!–when I woke up.  We packed up as fast as we could and hit the trail.  And Bill was totally on a tear–he took off like gangbusters and said, “See you at breakfast–I’ll stop at 7:00.”  He was soon out of sight.  I just can’t hike that fast, because I’m too klutzy–I’d be falling on my face every 5 minutes from tripping over something.  So I said, “Lord, just put me on Your cruise control”  and I hiked along as fast as I felt comfortable with. 

Bill waited for me just past the Tolay Camp junction.  A whole bunch of thruhikers were camped at the junction itself, but nobody had even ventured out of their tent yet!!  I couldn’t wait for breakfast–I was really hungry.  Our cup ‘n a half of granola & nuts just doesn’t cut it anymore.  I’ve been bringing some stuff to add to it.  Yesterday we had a Danish and granola.  This morning it was a bun with peanut butter plus the granola.   After breakfast, Bill took off, and I didn’t see him till “Snickers break” at 10:30. 

The PCT was in the forest again, and there had been some very nice trail engineering work.  One place in particular involved a sharp bend in the trail on a steep hill, and somebody had done a great job with rocks to make a very secure trail tread.  Very nice!  Trail gorillas are awesome!  A little while later, though, I came to a place where a huge tree had fallen down and left a big hole where the trail used to be.  I had to scramble around it.  Memories came back of our first ever backpacking trip in Lassen Nat’l. Park.  The same problem had happened on a trail in the Cluster Lakes area, and guys were working to fix the big hole.  They were using horses with saddlebags full of dirt to bring in enough stuff to fill the huge hole.  No sign of hardworking horses here, though–I guess eventually somebody will get around to filling in the hole. 

The PCT kept contouring around mountainsides to the road at Windigo Pass, where there was a nice water cache, left (according to a note there) by Lloyd Gust of Bend, OR.  The note had a phone number with, “Call me if the cache is running low.”  Well, it WAS running pretty low, but we don’t have a phone.  Bill was waiting for me, since it was Snickers time,  so we just topped up our quart bottles, had our snack, and left the PCT for the alternate route we did before, which goes via Crescent Lake to Shelter Cove.  Why do we like this alternate route?  Well, 1) It is 7 miles shorter    2) It has lots of water    3) It is low enough to be out of snow problems   4) It goes straight to Shelter Cove–no backtracking on the road   5) It actually is the original PCT route, which followed the Oregon Skyline Trail   6) It goes past several very pretty lakes.   Need any more reasons?   I think that’s plenty!

The alternate begins with a short roadwalk to the Oldenberg Lake trail, and we met a carful of guys who stopped to talk and were amazed that we’d walked all the way up from Mexico!  The Oldenberg Lake trail goes nicely up and down through Oregon Desert type forest, and it’s easy going.  When we stopped for lunch, though, Bill just bonked.  He didn’t just sit down and rest–he totally collapsed, and could barely manage to eat.  It took quite awhile before he felt strong enough to go on, and he was no longer on a tear, way out ahead of me, but was falling behind and having a very hard time going up any hills.  I was very worried.

The trail passes several pretty lakes, notably big and beautiful Crescent Lake, where our route led through the horse camp.  We stopped to reload on water and have some bug juice, and Bill collapsed again.  He just lay on the ground and looked very pale.  We sat there for some time before getting underway.  At our afternoon Snickers break, he could not eat, and felt very nauseated.  By now, to put it mildly, I was extremely concerned, and the trail didn’t make it any easier–all uphill.  Bill was only able to plod along. 

Finally we got to Diamond View Lake, where other backpackers were swimming.  It was a very warm afternoon–oh man, did I wish I could jump in the lake, too!    By suppertime, I was starving hungry, but Bill could only drink some Emergen-C and nibble at a little piece of sandwich.  I ended up eating BOTH our sandwiches plus all the other odds ‘n ends in the food bags, since we have a resupply at Shelter Cove.  I am so grateful to be feeling strong again–bring on those uphills!  But I am still skin and bones, and can’t seem to get any weight back on.  And as I walked along the trail, I kept praying and praying for Bill.

He finally said, “Don’t wait for me–just go on as fast as you want, but stop at 7:00 and we’ll make camp there.”   As it turned out, though, the trail was all downhill, and he was able to keep up with me OK.  We were out of the Oregon desert stuff and back into regular green Oregon forest–very shady and pretty.   It got even prettier when we reached Trapper Creek with its lovely cascades and beautiful clear water.  “Maybe we can make it to Shelter Cove after all,”  I said.  “Maybe the store will still be open.”  So we walked as quickly as we could, following the very nice trail that sometimes travels high above the creek and sometimes winds along right next to it.  By 6:50, we were at the railroad tracks, and headed straight for the store…which had just closed.  Oh well.

So we retreated into the woods on the other side of the railroad tracks, to set up our camp.  On the “backtrack”,  I stopped and talked to  a couple of guys with four horses, who were sort of lounging around by the road.  Turned out that they’d just finished a 150 mile RIDE on the PCT, and were waiting to be picked up.  They said that they’d had a great time! 

We found a nice flat campsite with soft duff, and a view of the railroad tracks, because I was hoping very much to see some trains go by.  Bill was looking better, and said he was feeling better, too.  I hope so!   Oh, how I hope it’s not giardia again!  I am so grateful to the Lord for helping us make it to Shelter Cove.

Walk with Aragorn to Minas Tirith: In green meadows crossing many streams