Typical start to my hiking day.  Generally wake around 4.  Think about life and God for awhile and start really moving around 5.  Get everything packed and breakfast done and start hiking about 6.  I am going to do the same 16 miles I did just two days ago and I don’t expect to see much different.  But I do see different and amazing things and remember to take some pictures.   So here we have some early morning sun on the trail at 6:25

A little later at 6:45 I decide to take a picture of a little more of the damage on the trail.

Remember two days ago I got water at a spring and there was no more water for 14 miles.  Well I never did those 14 miles but there was plenty of snow.  So before stopping the night before, I stopped at a nice snow pile and melted enough snow for 4 liters for water.  It is about 8  when I hit Christi’s Spring on the way back it was time to get some more.   Here is Christi’s Spring which I did not take pictures of the first time.

A little over an hour later I notice a peak I did not notice on the way out.  It is Lost Peak.  I tried to research how it got its name but could not find any information.  Since I assume the peak itself was not lost it must have something to do with those that hike around it.  Anyway it was very pretty and snow covered.

About 9:35 I come to one of those damaged PCT places.  This tree is too big for me to go across and two wild on either side to see away around and so I try to make friends with the tree and just go under it.

Only 10 minutes from here I got a view of Fourmile Lake that I had totally missed on the way out.  Magnificent.

 

At 1:23 I am getting pretty close to being back where I started two days ago and have this view of Brown Mountain and I shudder thinking about the lava fields.

I get back to Hwy 140 and my pickup point a LOT earlier than I expected and a LOT earlier than Lenora expected.  She had watched my progress for awhile and was sure I would be much later if I made it at all.  The last 5 miles of the trail is easy and I made good time.  If you remember there is a stream right here and I was able to stop about 1/4 mile before the Hwy and clean up a bit in the very cold water and put on my sleeping shirt which, while not fresh, was considerably better than my hiking shirt.   When I got down to the Hwy there were trail angels set up.  They had pulled pork sandwiches with all the trimmings, drinks of all types (soda’s, water, beer, cranberry juice, mimosa’s).  All the drinks they were keeping cold in the stream.   Fruit, candy and something they called candied bacon which was very tasty.   In talking with them for awhile I learned it was 100 down in the valley and they frequently came up to relax in the shade and to help the hikers that are coming off the lava fields.  She told me that she knew hikers that had taken all day to cross those lava fields and others that came off the lava fields and just quit.  I then told her about my experience and she said that I was not unique at all.  Wait…. what…. I AM TOO!!  I told her that if I was not unique, that at least I was special.  Anyway we had a good time talking for about an hour.  Lenora arrived and met them and thanked them for taking care of me.  Another good day.   So, we are heading up to Eugene and then I am going to try and hike south from that point towards Crater Lake.  The snow reports for the Three Sisters Wilderness is not good and indicate that some of the heaviest snow in Oregon this winter occurred here.  BUT…. I will give it a go and see what happens.

Lenora’s Story:

I’ve been having increasing problems with swelling in both hands and so last weekend we get my anti-inflammatory medicine refilled and I go back up to the prescribed dose.  After a week I do not see any improvement but decide I need to give it more time.

Yes Don arrives sooner than I expected.  It is a 45 to 60 minute drive to the pick up point and at about 2 pm I check the computer and think he has about 5 hours to go based on the time it took him to travel that distance two days ago.  I have a pretty bad headache and so lie down to try to sleep.  In about an hour something wakes me and I check the computer to find there is a message saying “I am here”.  Remember my gratitude to the Inreach gadget yesterday?  Well one drawback can be that if I lost the internet it can take a long time to update Don’s location on the computer and today I was seeing a report from earlier in the day thinking it was updated.  When I see the note I grab the phone, check the map and head out.

Don is not the only member of this team that gets lost, or turned around or just plain confused.  I get off I-5 at the expected exit and somehow manage to get back on I-5 rather than onto the road that takes me up the mountain to where he is waiting.  By the time I notice I am still on the 5 it is a ways to the next exit and so the phone and I start to figure out an alternative route.  That found I set off again, only about 15 miles further from Don than when I left the hotel.  I finally get there very happy to find the trail angels who have helped him get hydrated while he waited.  Once again a good reunion.  When he asks me how I celebrated the 4th I can only offer that I smelled some burned odor of people setting off fireworks.  That was my 4th.  It is now the 5th and Don is back safe and I am a happy camper once again.