PCT trail angels

Day 95: Out of Food and Water . . .

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July 21, 2017

Total daily miles: 14.8 miles (14.0 PCT + 0.8 to Mazama Village)

Total PCT miles: 1411.5

Start: mile 1804.5

End: Mazama Village (Crater Lake) (mile 1818.4)

Total elevation gain/loss: 1835.3/243.3 ft

Today was a town day! We hit the snooze button a couple of times… even with the allure of town, it was tough to get up! We normally keep our inReach turned off over night and when we turned it on this morning there was a message from Tom waiting for us. He told us to go ahead and sleep in because he wouldn’t be able to make it to Crater Lake until later in the day. Oops! I guess it didn’t really matter though because we needed to get to Crater Lake by lunch anyway because we were almost out of food. We both had a couple bars and that was it… not enough these days.


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Day 91: It’s Tough To Leave Ashland

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July 17, 2017

Total daily miles: 9.5 miles

Total PCT miles: 1318.7

Start: Ashland (mile 1716.2)

End: mile 1725.6

Total elevation gain/loss: 2270/1159.8 ft

Sleeping in is one of the most glorious parts about hotel stays… even if I’m only able to sleep until about 6:30 before waking up (convinced that it’s actually 10am). Oh well.

We took advantage of the hotel’s free breakfast and 11am checkout time to take our time completing our internet chores and packing up. It’s amazing how quickly town time can pass. After checking out, we started trying to hitch to downtown Ashland so that we could check out the outfitter there (Mountain Provisions) for Altra shoes. We were told by another PCT hiker that hitching around here would be tough, but that there was a bus that ran to the downtown area leaving soon. We headed toward the bus stop and ended up running to catch the bus as it pulled away (and then kindly stopped to wait for us).

Ashland’s public library


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Day 90: Race Into Ashland

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July 16, 2017

Total daily miles: 10.4 miles

Total PCT miles: 1309.3

Start: mile 1705.7

End: Ashland (mile 1716.2)

Total elevation gain/loss: 751/3139.4 ft

We only had about 10.5 miles this morning until hitting the road from which we could hitch to Ashland. When we woke up, it was actually pretty cold for the first time in a long time. I wore my wool beanie for the first several miles — something that I rarely do!


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Day 89: A Magical Oregon Welcome

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July 15, 2017

Total daily miles: 25.0 miles

Total PCT miles: 1298.8

Start: Alex Hole Spring (mile 1680.8)

End: mile 1705.7

Total elevation gain/loss: 4601.4/4524.6 ft

We’ve finally made it out of California and are officially in our second state of the PCT! Took long enough… Oregon welcomed us with open arms and while I may not yet have found the magical easy miles that I was looking forward to, we did find some magic.


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Day 85: Into the Smokey Marble Mountains

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July 11, 2017

Total daily miles: 15.5 miles

Total PCT miles: 1205.7

Start: Etna (mile 1597.2)

End: mile 1612.6

Total elevation gain/loss: 2905.8/2411.1 ft

Sleeping in is glorious! I think I made it to almost 8am this morning before the sunlight hit my tent and it started to heat up quickly. I think that my body really needed that extra sleep!

We packed up quickly and then enjoyed a breakfast of fresh fruit and muffins that we’d picked up from the grocery store. A nice change from fig bars and pop tarts! The pavilion area at the city park really is an ideal spot to hang out and I have to admit that I was surprised how easy it was to get quiet time for myself while staying at the park.  

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Day 82: Breakfast Disaster Turned Lunch Surprise 

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July 8, 2017

Total daily miles: 22.6 miles

Total PCT miles: 1162.9

Start: mile 1547.1

End: mile 1569.8

Total elevation gain/loss: 3470.1/2934.7 ft

Today did not start well. We awoke to a swarm of mosquitoes outside our tent. In my rush to get moving (and away from the blood suckers), I accidentally dumped my Welches strawberry peach drink mix into my chocolate Carnation Instant Breakfast drink (instead of instant coffee). The result was horrifically sweet. I attempted to water it down, but it was still horrible. Just my luck. After attempting to swallow a few swigs, I decided to carry it out to the campground that we’d be passing about 10 miles in that reported had a privy that I could dump it into. Leave no trace!


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Day 78: Fourth of July Push to Castella

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July 4, 2017

Total daily miles: 19.3 miles

Total PCT miles: 1091.8 miles

Start: mile 1479.4

End: Castle Crags State Park Campground (mile 1498.7)

Total elevation gain/loss: 3902.2/4940 ft

We were up and out of camp before the other hikers were up. We immediately stopped to grab more water and then headed downhill to Squaw Valley Creek. The morning was relatively cool and we stayed in the shade for the first couple hours.


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Day 75: Burney Falls and River Swims

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July 1, 2017

Total daily miles: 21.4 miles

Total PCT miles: 1021.0 miles

Start: Burney Mountain Guest Ranch (mile 1407.2)

End: mile 1427.9

Total elevation gain/loss: 3164.4/1725.1 ft

We were a bit slow getting out of the Burney Mountain Guest Ranch this morning (as is typical of our mornings out of town). The allure of some last minute wifi drew us in. Lucky, the Siamese cat, may have also contributed to the delay… We still made it out before any of the other hikers though!

Playing hard to get.


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Day 74: … And I Will Walk 500 More!

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June 30, 2017

Total daily miles: 13 miles

Total PCT miles: 1000.4 miles

Start: mile 1394.3

End: Burney Mountain Guest Ranch (mile 1407.2)

Total elevation gain/loss: 748.4/1468.5 ft

This morning we set off to finish the Hat Creek Rim and get to the Burney Mountain Guest Ranch to pick up our resupply package. My main concern of the morning was the upcoming section of trail through a lava rock field. It’s reportedly brutal on the feet and I’m still recovering from a heel blister I developed a couple days ago (my foot’s protest to walking again after almost a week off trail).


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