Ashland held me hostage for the whole morning, but more accurately the internet held me hostage. The internet is pretty sweet, it’s easy to spend a long time on it. I also tried to call Osprey but they don’t answer on the weekend. They’ll probably be at PCT Days tho, i’ll talk to em then.
I went hog wild on my resupply. The town miles to the highway were super rough so i was dreading the trail miles in the dense heat. I got some Taco Bell to bolster my spirits. When i got to the highway i came across two pretty girls starting to try to hitch, but in the other direction. Of course a car stopped immediately. They were going my direction and i could tell they weren’t jazzed to take me but they had already pulled over so they picked me up. I worked my charms and they were a lot more chipper when i got dropped off.
My signature hiking style came out very strongly and i spent 5 hours or so under the highway singing and napping. As i was getting ready to bounce a lady pulled over and roped me into conversation. She loosely maintains a water cache and she spent a while reciting the different landscapes and places i was about to pass though before offering her place as lodging and i declined. I did very few miles that day and the next too.
Town days in Oregon have been replaced by resort days, nestled into the shores of Oregon’s many lakes. Way cozier but their wifi is guaranteed to be mediocre or nonexistent, much like cell service in the mountains around them. It is nice to be promised an expensive but delicious meal and a limited and expensive resupply with a rustic ambience tho
People got sassy about south Oregon. Its common burn zones on hot days coupled with long water carrys aren’t the best, don’t get me wrong, but it’s still cool to hike through, i haven’t spent much time in burned up forests before this.
I’ve started flirting with blue blazing. I thought i’d be more ashamed of this awful fact, but the PCT made some crap choices when it came to routing. I elected to not walk out and around a mountain and chose to take a road walk through some meadows instead and it was delightful. I listened to High as Hope and Florence’s pipes whisked me though hot sunny fields. The other two times i went on flat side trails flanked by scores of lakes instead of doing dry ridgewalks. These were correct decisions to make.
Upon my triumphant return to Crater Lake i was struck with tragedy. My wall plug and external battery pack both ran off. Thankfully i still have my usb-c cable, that would’ve been a tricky thing to replace. I also got a box sent to me from a dame down in Florida, but the post office lied about it not being there. I almost left empty handed but one of the employees handed me a box of basic resupply stuff and i obtained a dozen whole wheat tortillas. woo
I took some time to busk up by the lodge on the rim for all the good good smelling humans. I managed to score 20 bucks in not too long so that was rad. A man in a tye dye Grateful Dead shirt gave me some jazz cabbage and a rolling paper, roping me into his federal crime bringing that sinful plant into a national park.
Like so many other hikers i opted to take the Rim Trail through Crater Lake so i could see the lake instead of the PCT proper where you can’t see the lake. really now pct are you even trying to route yourself through the best places. The sunset was bonkers that night and surely my unprocessed pictures don’t do it justice.
Crater Lake also brought me back into Easy Company’s company. I haven’t seen that boi since Lake Isabella and we met eyes in the bathroom as he was washing his hands. I was wearing that red and white fabric thing that i remember what it’s called that he gave me so that was special. He been cranking out massive days for a while, i think i remember he did a 40 to get to the post office for his box. He got caught in the norovirus storm outside of Burney, poor guy. Oh yeah, there was a norovirus plague that struck hikers by Burney Falls. It may or may not have been the spiritual energy of the falls punishing hikers for their destination fever
Easy had a dream to pound 30-35s daily to get to a good spot to hitch to PCT Days and also go to a concert in Portland. We logic-ed that if there’s a time to hike way too much it’s either to the terminus, where every day afterwards is a zero, or on the way to PCT Days, where you’re guaranteed a zero or two to heal and hopefully not drink too much.
The next two days i tried my best, barely scraping out 30s. I had to drag myself away from a few breaks at nice lakes just to keep those miles building. On the third morning i felt like death, my body does not have wont for these monster days back to back.
That third morning i waddled my way to Shelter Cove resort and ate way too much pizza. I also set up and played guitar for a while. A 93 year old guy slowly walked by and lingered to chat and leave me with sage advice: when it comes to life, keep your eye on the donut, not the hole. As i was leaving the resort i stopped by his rv, he was outside with 6 peers. They all told me of how that guy is just chock full of sage advice quotes, locked and loaded with the safety off.
have i established PCT Days i don’t think so PCT Days is a festival at the border of Oregon and Washington, timed out so the main bubble of hikers can walk right into it. It’s in a small town, Cascade Locks. There was a similar fest on the AT, called Trail Days, only Trail Days was near the beginning of the trail near the south border of Virginia. Trail Days was great, during the day there were gear companies set up for us to chat with and get or fine tune gear. During the night in the woods by tent city the hikers got feral. I found myself in a drum circle in a big tent, the floor wet with rain from the day and beer from the night. I found myself on the periphery of a bonfire, hikers dancing around it through the night. good times
I had originally planned to try to hitch up to PCT Days from Shelter Cove. After taking a look at the map i found that the hitch would be more direct from Elk Lake, the resort ~40 miles north. I hyped myself up on pop and hiked on, hoping to get to Elk Lake on Thursday afternoon to give myself ample time to hitch to PCT Days.
I rolled up Thursday evening, having spent a fair amount of time hanging out playing the doctor. Also training up my pokemon team, i gotta fight Patient Zero this weekend. Too late to start a hitch adventure, i got a milkshake instead and sat at the bar talking with the employees about animal killing stories. The crown jewel was the one that involved baby rabbits, a house cat, and also cinderblocks that got a very visceral reaction from the crowd.
I heard rumors of rain to come that night. I didn’t listen, opted to cowboy, and was assaulted in the night. Bright and early i layed out my stuff to dry, but gave up quickly to try to hitch instead.
After not too long a pickup truck passed by that was “full of hikers,” they called out, all sitting inside the cabin, the truckbed full of nothing but backpacks. “Nonsense,” i replied, and i got a 40 minute truckbed ride to Bend, singing the whole time. We were dropped off at a coffee shop by an REI and a lady gave me 17 bucks to get her a cup of coffee so she could stay outside with her dog. I got the phone number of a lady who was driving up to PCT Days and could give me a ride. I got an extra blueberry donut from the lady at a donut shop. I got to sample Jack in the Box’s “brunchfast” menu, their leading horse in the unnecessary portmanteau race. I found out that my wayward box from Crater Lake made it to the Cascade Locks post office. everything was coming up gadget
On my way to the library to wait for that ride, i met another vagrant, Jay. He had a crooked smile but in a more genuine than devious way. We were chatting in the shade about god and stuff when two cops rolled up. I couldn’t read their demeanor, it felt like artificial kindness? They took down my info from my driver’s license, i didn’t ask why. It definitely soured a nice conversation i was having with an interesting dude but at least they were protecting and serving i guess.
We parted ways when the cops identified his awkward hand malady as a staph infection. I made my way to the library and farted around on the internet until my ride showed up and holy cow this is long enough please break the story up here.
-when it comes to life, keep your eye on the donut, not the hole- words i still keep. fine words for this time of metamorphosis, from proper thru hiker to general journeyman
hoo baby this one is looong, i agree.
selferosqui is such a powerful name
slow days and blue blaze? scraping by 30s too? the erratic hiker.
morning hike to crater lake was in the company of Nightcrawler, i bet there’s footy on his youtube of that walk. 4am too early tho i agree.
the word i was looking for was shemagh, that’s the fabric companion i still keep with me. thanks Easy Company, miss you lad
good hitch down to bend. i love truck bed rides.
i do not love being accosted by authorities for sitting and talking.
man i dunno 