PCT Day 84 – Maiden Peak

8.2 miles, near 1914.4

• Biscuits and gravy for breakfast was decadent and salty. I had some leftover pizza from yesterday at 11 because I thought we were hiking out, but that didn’t happen until 230.

• Someone thought mimosas was a good idea, then that turned into 7 more bottles of champagne. I was watching all this happen, deciding I did enough drinking yesterday.

• When we did leave, it was all uphill out of camp and my hiking mates were feeing the champagne. Always fun to be punished with a climb after a day off.

• We passed the lower, middle, and upper rosary lakes, then climbed higher above for an obscured look through the trees.

• Made it to a ski cabin for the night. There’s a nice table and chairs to hang out downstairs and a big loft upstairs to lay down our sleeping bags. Leaving the mosquitoes outside.

• We packed out some wine from shelter cove, gotta keep this party rolling. A couple hikers setup their tents outside, but 6 of us slept in the loft. Still a little room upstairs and nobody downstairs for the night.

PCT Day 83 – Shelter Cove

15.0? miles, near 1906.6

• Picked up some deet wipes at windigo pass yesterday, left by the water cache trail angel, they’re kind of like wet napkins treated with deet. Now I can wipe my cheeks before using the bathroom in the morning and minimize the mosquito bites… and here you thought the PCT was all smiles and unicorns.

• Passed through a horse camp, just a normal campground with hitching posts, but you need to have a horse if you want to camp there. Lot of big trucks and horse trailers.

• Played some more DnD to pass the time as we walked along the river. We made it to the resort by 1pm, perfect timing for lunch.

• Ordered the hiker special cheeseburger, drank many beers. We did coin laundry and took 3 min coin showers.

• We hung out on the porch all afternoon and ordered dinner. Yardsale asked for a can of beer, god fumbled it then tossed it to her, she cracked it open and poured it over his head. Guess she thought he was micropranking her with a fizzy can and she didn’t appreciate the trick.

• I setup my tent in what I thought was the free PCT camping area, a big open rocky area. Nobody else had setup their tent yet so I was flying blind. A bunch of others found spots tucked away in the forest, so god helped me move my stuff without totally breaking it down. Later I noticed 1 bent pole, assuming it got a little stressed during the move.

• Watched the sunset and shared stories by the fire pit with other hikers.

PCT Day 82 – Skyline Trail

16.5 + 5.0? miles, near 1878.3

• Rough time for morning poopers, clouds of mosquitoes ready for me. It was my worst case scenario coming to life. I need some deet, asap!

• It’s pretty warm today, but still lots of mosquitoes. Guess there’s not enough direct sun and wind to scare them away.

• Carrying a lot of water from yesterday, we’re in a dry stretch for a while longer.

• We took a break in a burn area, a nice spot above the mosquitoes with some cell service.

• Filled up water from a cache at Windigo Pass, then decided to take the “Oregon Skyline Trail” alternate route, which will save us from the snow on Diamond Peak and shaves off 7 miles to our next stop at Shelter Cove. It’s a little weird because we’re now off the normal route and guthooks app can’t help us find the trail via gps, although the trail appears to be on our garmin maps in case we get lost.

• We role played some DnD to pass the time and eventually stopped to camp around 7pm. There’s some kind of bird that keeps making really loud and eerie calls, like a dinosaur? A real barky boy. Or maybe it’s Bigfoot throwing his voice?

• We listened to an audiobook on Bradley’s phone “The PCT will break your heart”, it’s a weird mix of diary and smut from one hikers experience 5 years ago. It’s the source of a lot of memes and inside jokes for us.

• Not exactly sure on the mileage for today because we don’t have good mile marker data on the alternate.

PCT Day 81 – Tipsoo Peak

19.9 miles, near 1861.8

• Woke up to a cooing and chirping chipmunk, couldn’t tell if it was a bird or what at first, just a few feet from my head in a tree.

• We hiked past a smoldering fire just off the trail, likely a duff fire started by lightning a few days ago. We used as much water as we could spare to douse hot spots, then called the forest service to report it. No flames, but definitely hot with potential to get worse.

• We got to a major road and had an opportunity to get a ride to diamond lake resort, but decided to hike on through. Too soon for a break like that. (Wow look at us being good hikers!)

• It was all uphill in the morning. We stopped for lunch on the north side of Mt Thielsen, the mountain looming large above us.

• It got even more difficult in the afternoon. We trudged through thick snowfields and followed footsteps in the snow through exposed areas, then traversed smaller drifts in the forest.

• We reached a river flowing from the mountain with a sketchy snow bridge. The water was flowing pretty fast, but we didn’t have any issues. (Actually, the issue is my water filter flow and how awfully slow it takes to fill a liter)

• The snow slog continued uphill through clouds of mosquitoes. We navigated more snow drifts with 16 miles of water on our back.

• We hit the PCT high point of Oregon (and apparently Washington?) at 7560 feet. All down hill from here boys.

• We made dinner when we got to camp, but couldn’t eat it before taking refuge in our tents from the mosquitoes. 730pm and no plans to leave the tent until morning.

• We have some cell service from our spot on the ridge, which is always nice. There’s also a nice view to the east, partially blocked by trees.

PCT Day 80 – Grouse Hill

11.7 miles, near 1841.9

• We ate breakfast and got ready for the 9am trolley to take us the 5+ miles to rim village. There was a sign on the info board saying the trolley wouldn’t be running today, but nobody in the store knew anything about this, cool. The trolley came on schedule anyways ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ The rim village store didn’t have deet either.

• We hiked a few miles around the lake before Twinkle and Nibbler told us they were bailing out, getting off the trail for good. This was a surprise, we were all sad. We said our long goodbyes and 4 of us continued hiking.

• We moped along and took a break to play some cards and drink some leftover beers.

• We crossed paths with Yardsale’s friend “Beerback” and stopped to talk a while. He and her hiked the desert together before she flipped north with us.

• The trail continued north away from crater lake and flattened out with lots of places to camp. We picked a spot next to a meadow, hoping for a breeze to keep the mozzies away. This strategy didn’t work and we were in bed before sunset. Their buzzing is audible outside the tent and the crickets are chirping extra loud and high pitched.

• Camp is definitely a little depressing without our 2 friends, but it’s still nice to have a good group of 4.