Day 126

Trail miles: 30

Total: 1988.7

Another 30 mile day, but I still couldn’t keep up with the group, who hiked on for another 5 miles. That’s alright because I met a nice duo at camp who worked together for over 30 years, retired together, and hiked the AT together. Now they are trying to finish the PCT. And just like the rest of us, they are finding it difficult now to get places to stay and find rides with the huge influx of displaced hikers from the fire closures.

Today was a bit hillier than a lot of Oregon, but that didn’t matter because we were in the prettiest section of trail. We walked past the three sisters mountains and there were tons of streams and wildflowers. No one was in a hurry for town day today so I saw a lot more of my group. We passed through an area with lots of obsidian rocks and a waterfall. The scenery went from flowery meadows to lava rock from Mars. It was cool to take photos of, but very annoying to walk over. My pace slowed down tremendously to keep from breaking an ankle. Lunch felt rushed, but at least I could look forward to downhill for the next 7 or so miles. I packed out enough water at the lake to dry camp and kept going. At the bottom of the hill, the lava rocks began again. These were much longer. When I got the chance to skip some of it, I did. We crossed a road that I noticed on the map we would come close to again. So I took the road. I found Spare Change, Brad, and Raechel sitting near an almost waterless water cache. Brad called me a cheater for taking the road but was only joking. He said he feels like a dumbass now. I was so proud, but honesty I figured everyone would have done it. Anyway, but more lava rocks to go and a 2 mile hill to make it worse. Up and over the hill I went to the first campsite at the end of the lava rocks. The rest of the group was long gone, headed for the spring in another 5 miles. I wanted to end the day in the break of lava rocks but I wanted to finish them so I wouldn’t have to do any tomorrow. At camp, I met two nice older gentleman from Kentucky who hiked the AT in 2016. They worked together for over 30 years and retired together. That’s a strong bond! Their names are Just Greg and Grandaddy. I could have gone to bed on time but I enjoyed my evening eating mosquito free, using the service, and taking pictures of the sunset. I wouldn’t get much sleep anyway on my broken sleeping pad.