Section D is 61.5 miles long and runs from Highway 138 to Highway 58 in Willamette Pass. Section E is 75.5 miles long and runs from Willamette Pass to Mackenzie Pass. August 21st - 25th.
Day 107, 33.4 miles to Six Horse Spring.
Sea Lion and I were the first out of camp and soon crossed Highway 138 which had a pile of Bud Light on the trail. Far from my favorite beer but I'll take trail magic any day! We drank one there and each packed one out for the upcoming highest point on the PCT in the state. We soon could see Mount Thielsen which has a craggy and pointy peak. I checked the Guthooks comments and saw that there is a trail to the top! When I pitched the idea to Sea Lion, she pointed out that we won't be making a 33 mile day if we take this side trail. Then I saw some other comments that it involves rock climbing and it was still smokey out so we decided to add to the to the list of places to come back to. We grabbed water at Thielsen Creek and then made the climb up to 7,572 which is the highest point on the trail in both Oregon and Washington. We had a quick nap and then crushed some miles on the ensuing downhill. We stopped for dinner a few miles from camp and shared a Backpacker's Pantry Pad Thai, which is both of our favorite. We got to camp just before dark and I somehow had plenty of energy, so I made the steep 0.4 trek down to the spring while Sea Lion assembled our house and got dinner #2 ready. As we shared a loaded mashed potato, the rest of the crew began to arrive, as we first would see their headlamps bobbing down the trail.
Day 108, 27.5 miles to Willamette Trailhead.
Most of the gang was talking about taking the Oregon Skyline Trail as an alternate route. I got the vibe they were only doing this because it cut miles off the regular PCT so I was not for it. We hiked down to a dirt road with a big water cache and a small solar powered charging station. Nice touch! We hung out there and then I learned that the alternate route passed by Crescent Lake which sounded awesome. I am down for an alternate route if there is a good reason behind it, like swimming in a lake. So we went down the dirt road and turned off on to the network of horse trails. They were covered in a fine dusty dirt making breathing a bit of a hassle but after several miles, we found a small side trail that led to the lake. There were day use recreation areas about a mile away on either side of us but we had our own private beach. It was well worth the side trip. We washed off in the water and did some sock laundry to get the dust out and then I gave Sea Lion some swimming lessons. Back on the beach, we had lunch and dried out when a boat pulled up and the adults seemed to kick off a trio of little girls to go play on the beach while they remained in the boat and drank. We made some jokes about how they sent an army of children to invade our private beach and had some good laughs. From there we had a 10 mile stretch, passed by a horse camp, and traveled along Whitefish Creek to get to Shelter Cove Resort. The creek had tons of fallen trees spanning across it and I thought it was ashame that the trail did not cross the creek and utilize all of these log bridges. At the resort, there were tons of hikers making full use of the hiker box, hiker tent, charging station, general store, and grille. We got chili cheeseburgers and re-upped on our snacks. We saw that a trailhead a few miles up had trash cans and it was getting late so we planned to stay there. Moose, Midge, Twizzler, Sea Lion, and I packed out some beer, cowboy camped on the edge of the parking lot, and watched a hilarious Netflix cartoon called Big Mouth before bed.
Whitefish Creek.
Many log bridges over Whitefish Creek.
This evil looking cricket tried to join us, he was relocated.
Day 109, 27.3 miles to Stormy Lake.
We enjoyed donuts and IPAs for breakfast and then hit the trail around 8AM. The day began with a long uphill to the Rosary Lakes, a trio connected lakes near the summit. We got some water and continued down the other side to Maiden Peak Shelter where we stopped for a snack. It is a hexagonal structure that is immaculately maintained by a local ski club. It had solar lights, a loft, a dinner table, and a wood-burning stove. I kind of wished that our mileage worked out such that we could have slept there. Sea Lion and I hiked a big chunk of miles together and then I began to peel away cuz I was excited to go swimming in Charlton Lake. However, at the turn off, there was a sign saying Trail Magic ahead. So we went down there to meet Ducky and his father who were hosting it. Ducky did the PCT in 2016 and just finished the AT a little over a week ago. They had soda and ice cream and tons of snacks. So we gorged on junk food before taking a separate short side trail to the lake. Everyone took a food nap but I went swimming. There was a fallen tree that was level with the water so I tried to walk the plank all the way out to the tip. When I got out to dry off, we were gifted a bag homemade chocolate chip cookies from a father and his two boys who just arrived to go kayaking. We all departed to head 10 miles to Stormy Lake and along the way we passed Charlton Butte and a pair of equestrians. One of their horses was terrified of hikers, I wonder if it was the big backpacks, or trekking poles, or smell. We got to camp, ate, and set up before dark which is always nice.
Rosary Lakes.
Maiden Peak Shelter.
Charlton Butte.
Day 110, 31.2 miles to camp.
A weird cold front or something rolled in during the night and blew mist in off the lake. A drop on my forehead woke me up and I freaked out, jumped out of bed, hastily tossed the rain fly on the tent, and woke the others. Moose did the same but Twizzler decided that 4AM was close enough to her usual wake up time so she packed up and left. It was super cold in the morning and the mist was dancing on top of the lake which was fascinating. We hiked in the cold for a bit until the sun came out of hiding and shared some heat with us. We dried out some gear and then continued northward. I passed Island Lake and got a laugh of how it appeared to be more of a small pond with a smaller pile of rocks forming te "island." Sea Lion and I then popped out at the Elk Lake Junction and were punched in the face with a clear view of Mount Bachelor. The smoke had cleared! I looked left and saw Broken Top Mountain and some of the South Sister. We hiked up to a view point of South Sister and took a break to soak it in. We then flew down the other side and stopped at Sister Mirror Lake to have dinner. It had a great angle for sunset but it looked like some smoke was rolling back in from that direction and it was hours away. We continued on trough a long field that aimed right at South Sister which provided more amazing views. Middle Sister soon came into view and then we did a final dip down to a stream, which was dry, and then up to a pond where we gathered water and set camp. The still water provided a perfect reflection of South Sister and I braved the freezing temps in the middle of the night for some star photos of it. The moon was full which is not conducive to astrophotography but I was just happy to have a clear sky. The smoke has rendered my high-aperture pretty much useless for the past month.
"Island" Lake.
Mount Bachelor.
Broken Top.
South Sister.
Day 111, 28.6 miles to Big Lake Youth Camp.
It was even colder this morning, 25F, and I was glad we put on the rain fly to help trap some heat. We woke up early planning to knock out some big miles and make it to Big Lake Youth Camp in time for dinner. Sea Lion and I bundled up to hike through the cold morning air while also in the shadow of Middle Sister. I looked forward to getting my warm clothes back at Cascade Locks. I shipped them ahead after the Sierras since they would just be dead weight in my pack. We soon reached Obsidian Falls which was exactly what it sounds like, a big waterfall over jet black obsidian. I took some photos then met Sea Lion upstream to filter some water. We continued on through the start of the long and dreaded lava fields, crunching over sharp rocks that shredded the last breath of life from my shoes. Remember the Golden Staircase in the Sierras? At one point we hiked up the opposite of that, tons of switchbacks over loose rocks. Aside from the terrible hiking the lava fields had a creepy beauty to them and it could've served as a great film location for Mordor. We soon reached Mackenzie Pass where we caught the very end of a trail magic, we got the last two beers and last two slices of pizza. We then had a final stretch up and over some more lava rocks, dropped down through a burn zone, and then skirted around the edge of Mount Washington. We arrived at the Big Lake Youth Camp at 5:50 and dinner was served at 6. They have a hiker cabin with showers and laundry, wifi, free camping, and let hikers join in all the meals. It was one of best donation-based places we stayed. A hoard of hikers did their best to eat everything but the kitchen is used to cooking for hundreds of kids so food was in no short supply. I set a sunset timelapse looking out over the lake and then we hiked down to the hiker camp area, behind the machine shed.
Bundling up for 25F. Sea Lion shared a glove with me.
Obsidian Falls.
Stairway to hell.
Through the lava fields towards Mount Washington.
