It's been decided...

After much thought, we have decided to end our 2014 PCT adventure at the Oregon/California border. Our primary goal was to spend about 4 months in the wilderness and we will have done just that... and that's pretty epic in our book. Unbelievably, we will have walked almost 1600 miles of the trail and gone from limping 10 miles a day to walking over 25! However, to finish the trail this season would take too much of a toll on our bodies, spirits, and wallets. :)
We are so excited about our next adventures in life... And undoubtedly finishing the trail will be one of them. Hurray for adventures!

Bend to Shelter Cove

We made it via bus to highway 20 and got a hitch from Rod Frederick to Sisters and then a hitch to the trail. We hiked about a mile and made camp.
We saw some elk the next day while hiking through the dusty trail. We walked through some beautiful lava flow and checked out a sweet observation tower- Dee Wright Observatory- which has cool peep holes through the lava rock to see all the mountains surrounding the area. We did about 18.5 miles past Small Lake.
There are a lot of weekenders heading back to civilization. We walked past Middle and Small Sister. Our legs are tired. We ate lunch at Obsidian Falls, walked some more until dinner at a small creek. Once full, we started to pack up and heard some thunder. We went around the corner to Wickiup Plain and saw intensely dark clouds and lightening. We quickly found some trees and set up camp- definitely our best pitching job. Luckily it passed by with just some small sprinkles.
Up and out of camp by 7:30am with a little bit of sprinkles as we made our way to Sisters Mirror Lake. The rain has been good for the dusty trail. Yay! We met Ray Estrella (he tests backpacking gear). There hasn't been tons of views and its quite flat. We did a total of 22 miles today... About 1295 trip total.
Left camp around 7:11am. Flat day with cold wind. We did 12 miles by 12pm, ate some lunch and got water at Charlton Lake while chatting with some weekenders from Eugene. It started to sprinkle so we headed on. Just when we needed to eat dinner we ran into La Contessa (Kim) and Zombie (Fred). Fred gave Dangit a new name of Lady Darnetta. :) Kim calls Dangit Darnette. We hiked another 2 miles and made camp.
We woke up in the dark to some rain. Once light enough we packed up... It started to flood under our tarp. 11 miles and we made it to Shelter Cove!! Food!!! And we get to split a cabin with Fred and Kim!

We're still in Bend...

We actually ended up spending several days in Bend. Our next day consisted of eating yummy foods from around town, hitting up the local farmer's market, meeting a couple crazies, getting a motel and relaxing. Our experience during the farmer's market is definitely one worth of sharing... after eating some delicious samples from the local farmers, we decided to rest in the shade on the grass and listen to some live blues music. First we were approached by an interesting fellow who told us that he is a "lone traveler who knows not where he goes". After he left us, we were approached by another interesting man-- he noticed that we were just sitting and enjoying the music so he asked if he could join us. We said yes, of course and we talked a little while with him until a lady police officer walked up and started asking him some questions: "Were you just on Wall Street?" "We got a call from a distressed lady that you have a hole in the front of your pants." "May I ask if you are wearing underwear?" He stated that he would never intentionally show his private parts to anyone but that his pants ripped this morning and he had actually put some duct tape on them. Basically, we had just spent a bit of time talking with someone who enjoys showing his special parts to the world. After that fabulous experience, we booked a room at the Rainbow Motel, went to Safeway from some treats and spent the rest of the evening relaxing while watching Men In Black, Holes and parts of Billy Madison.

What the?! Are those chicken butts?

We woke up the next morning to a bit of rain outside making our decision to stay another night quite easy. :) After eating some breakfast, we made our way to a thrift store where Dangit bought some street clothes from the quarter bin and Ferd found a sweet shirt for his Halloween costume and a new hiking hat (he lost his original one in the thrift store). We made our way to Arby's for lunch and then to Atlas Cider Co. for some free samples-- yum! After doing some resupplying at a grocery store, we got a Dominos pizza and headed back to the motel room for some more r&r and more movies.

Ok... we are definitely going to leave Bend today. It's been 3 days for heaven's sake! Well, it's 4:45pm and we are still here at the library. Bend's Oktoberfest starts today... which is a little tempting, but we are set on getting back on trail. We'll take a couple buses to get to the edge of town and then hitch 40 miles back to the trailhead. :) 

hiker trash trash

Olallie Lake to Bend

First thing in the morning we resupplied at the Olallie Lake Store, made breakfast in the parking lot-- yay for hiker trash-- and hung out with Saint, Freebird and Raven before heading out at 10:30am. It's a little more hilly and rocky than the past 2 days. We've been so spoiled by the flat, perfect trail the last few days. Saint told us that there is still quite a few fire closures between Crater Lake and Nor Cal-- looks like we'll see what happens when we get there. 

We saw Mt. Jefferson up close and personal today a we walked around the this impressive volcano-- wow! We camped about a mile from Milky Creek in the trees, made a small camp fire and headed to bed around 9pm (that's a late night for us now).

Volcanic rock (foreground) and more bigger rock (background)

Three Finger Jack

Fat Knee is still fat but it's getting smaller and his hurt knee is feeling stronger. We crossed Milky Creek and walked up and down several hills today. Lots of burn areas. We can smell fires in the distance-- the PCT is the fire line for the fires. Hiked about 23 miles today and it sure felt like a long day... probably because of all the burn areas. The day ended with some amazing views of Three Fingered Jack and of rolling mountains and a red sunset to the west. We'll be in Bend tomorrow morning!

Bye Mt. Jefferson

Amazing sunset!

Autumn is here

burn areas everywhere

It was just a 6-mile hike to Hwy 20 where we stuck our fingers out for about 3 minutes and got ourselves a ride straight to Bend- Thanks so much Denny! It's was our longest hitch... 40 miles! Denny dropped us off at the REI where we picked up some maps Pongo sent us (thanks Pongo!) and replaced Ferd's tattered sungloves. Before heading into REI we bee-lined it straight to Jimmy Johns and devoured a #9 with peppers, no mayo-- one each! Yum yum! 

Crux

Just making some hikes on the beautiful Bend Ale Trail

After REI, we decided to section hike a more daunting trail... The Bend Ale Trail. Our first stop was the famous Deschutes Brewery, then Crux, and finally Boneyard. For dinner we ate at the most delish Thai restaurant, Wild Rose... it was so dangit amazing! Thanks for the recommendation Patagonia employees.

So we've been trying to get in touch with our friend Brandon and/or his parents who live in Bend to see if we can get a place to stay, but had no luck until around 8:30pm. Sadly, by that time it was too late. So, instead of a shower, fresh clothes and a comfy bed... we made our home inside a little cave type thing in a giant bush next to the river in Drake Park. Not sure if we felt more like actual homeless people, teenagers drinking in secret, or little kids in a super sweet fort.

Us in the morning in our fancy camp spot

Fancy camp spot in bushes

Timberline Lodge to Olallie Lake

After we updated our last entry, we checked out and took a shower before getting the lunch buffet again! Yum! There were new things to choose from... food is so exciting for us. We ran into Hippo and Thirsty again- they left last night and camped a mile or so from Timberline Lodge but came back in the morning because it was so windy. Everyone was talking about it. After eating lunch, though, we decided to venture out into the wind. We can't afford to stay another night here. We covered up intensely with as little skin showing as possible.  

After about 11 miles of hiking, we camped next to a restop near Hwy 20. While searching for a stealth spot to camp, Dangit heard Ferd exclaim, "What the?! I think I was just stung by something." Dangit looked around and saw a swarm of flying critters near her feet-- perhaps ground wasps. Without missing a beat, she looked up and said, "Yep... looks like some bees or something." We quickly ran away. That's the second time Ferd has been stung by a critter on this trip. We decided to set up camp in a more conspicuous area, set up the tarps because it was still quite windy, eat a snack (we were still really full from the buffet) and hit the sack.

hiker trash part 3

Ferd icing Fat Knee

 

Little Crater Lake

 

Ferd's knee is HUGE! His other knee is still a little weak and now he has Fat Knee to deal with as well. We stopped by Little Crater Lake and ate some lunch... Ferd also took the opportunity to ice Fat Knee in the 34 degree water. We passed a lot of dirt roads today and ate dinner by one before completing a 20 mile day and camping in the forest-- we triples checked that there were no wasps where we set up camp. Lots of huckleberries to eat. Yum. 

Fat Knee

The next day we hiked 23 miles to Olallie Lake, which is amazing! We walked through a recent burn area where it was still smoking. 

walking through our first recent burn area

 

The trail was super flat so the day flew by and before we knew it, we were at Olallie Lake's food shop by 7pm. We got some Oreos and some sugary drinks and talked with some other hikers-- Freebird (who has hiked the PCT 2 times, the AT 3 times and the CDT 1 time- woah!) and Raven. Then, we headed back to Head Lake to make camp.