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).
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| Volcanic rock (foreground) and more bigger rock (background) |
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| 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!
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| Bye Mt. Jefferson |
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| Amazing sunset! |
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| Autumn is here |
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| 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!
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| Crux |
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| 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.
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| Us in the morning in our fancy camp spot |
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| Fancy camp spot in bushes |
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