Day 22 (September 7)

After B-grade microwave breakfast burritos and A-plus-grade coffee, fond goodbye to Shelter Cove. Yes it's true that even after getting the stove we've continued to drink Deb's cold instant cappuccino mix in the mornings, so it's tempting to assume that any hot coffee will seem sublime, but no, I'm going on record here: Shelter Cove has very good coffee.

Yesterday we took the scenic route over the raging Trapper Creek to get down to Shelter Cove, but for variety's sake we take the shorter road walk route back. A white car pulls up to us and the white-haired driver asks in a gruff voice: "PCT?" Well, I guess so... turns out it's none other than Lloyd Gust, the very man whom we should have called for a ride out of Sisters! He's giving a ride to a couple other hikers and just wondering if there's anything we need. What a great guy, and he obviously loves helping out hikers. I end up sort of apologizing for not calling him for a ride -- does that even make sense? A funny scene though and I'm sorry I don't have a picture; I just didn't want to put the other hikers on the spot. Probably just being far too privacy-conscious again.

oh dear...

Anyway, southbound again, and hello to the Diamond Peak Wilderness! Looking forward to some beautiful old-growth forests and hopefully even a side trip up Diamond Peak for some good views. Relaxing lunch at Hidden Lake. There's a bit of concern with the weather though: showers predicted late today, lasting for the foreseeable. In fact, steady rain begins around 1pm, so at the first good break in the rain we make an early camp, on the shoulder of Mount Yoran. Hard rain all night.

Day 21 (September 6)

Very cold night, but our many layers are up to the task. (Thanks, Rick!) Ice on the fly. Rosary lakes are still and crisp as we march down to Willamette Pass.

A half dozen northbound through hikers pass in a staggered clump. They were all camped at the Willamette Pass ski resort last night, feasting on pizza and beer. Must confess that this is a little frustrating for me. Hiking the Štefánikova Magistrála and SNP trails in Slovakia last year, we had the delicious convenience of hot meals right along the trail a lot of the time. Food got a little trickier on the less popular trails, but still available every few days. Here, there's exactly one place to get a meal on our Oregon route: the cafe at Crater Lake, which is rumored to be lousy since Xanterra downgraded it from nice fresh burgers to minimal prepackaged sandwiches. Expanding our range to a quarter mile offtrail, we add 3 more sites: the fancy restaurant at Crater Lake Lodge, the bar and restaurant at Timberline Lodge, and this supposedly delightful little pizza joint.

It was a long shot to begin with, since it's only open weekends during the summer, but somehow I couldn't quite quell my optimism. As it happens, we missed it by just a couple of hours (lost, no doubt, to our hitchhiking debacle.) These folks passing us had a little bit of fun that I can't help envying. Deb, on the other hand, much prefers camping chilly and alone by Upper Rosary Lake to being in the valley with the clump. I can see the wisdom in that. Still: pizza.

Further expanding our offtrail range to 2 miles, there are several lakeside campgrounds that will hold resupply packages for hikers. Today we pick up our last package at Shelter Cove, a lovely fishing-oriented resort on Odell Lake, just south of Willamette Pass. They also have a hiker box here, which the passing northbounders had described as pretty flush but is in fact a sad wreck -- trash, empty bottles, and leaky ziplocks mired in a half-inch layer of miscellaneous ooze along the bottom. Deborah does her best to save the food but we cannot face the task of rebeautifying the box properly, which would take about 2 hours and a high-pressure hose.

Still, it's so pleasant here that we decide to check into cabin B for an afternoon of R&R. Shelter Cove has no restaurant, but Deb whips up a dinner from rescued pasta bits and a few pricy purchases from the resort store. I can highly recommend cabin B -- clean and warm, good lake view, convenient to the store and laundry, a nice porch for airing out the airables, a decent kitchen. Also a very cool window blind on the front door, contained between the glass panes and operated by little sliders. Check it out:

Day 20 (September 5)

Cold morning at Taylor Lake. Lots of vacationers out for the holiday weekend, and still a few through hikers.

We pass the terminus of the Eugene-to-PCT Trail near Waldo Lake. Never heard of it, but what a great idea! I love it when cities are connected by trail. And by the way, anyone hiking by on September 22 should buzz into Eugene to catch my brother's show at Sam Bond's Garage at 9pm.  It's only 108 miles from the PCT, definitely worth the detour for you crazy through hikers.

We take a much smaller detour to see the Maiden Peak Shelter, one of the very few shelters along Oregon's PCT.  There used to be a fair number of three-sided lean-to type shelters scattered around, but they've gradually been removed in accordance with a revised wilderness ethic.  Probably they got trashy from too many careless campers. The Maiden Peak Shelter is lovely though, with a big wood stove for heating and cooking, and solar-powered lights to reduce the fire risk of candle burning. It's primarily for cross country skiers -- a sign inside says "the snow is your water source, don't pollute it."

No snow here today though, and we're low on water, so we have to move on. We make a blessed cold camp on the rise above Upper Rosary Lake, in the shadow of Pulpit Rock.

Day 19 (September 4)

Today we hike past dozens of high lakes, some large, some pretty, some tasty. Dumbbell Lake is the first. It just kinda very slightly looks like a dumbbell on the map. A lot of these lakes seemed to be named by their birds-eye-view shape. Boot Lake is pretty good, Questionmark Lake bizarre but believable, Horseshoe Lake is a real stretch, and S Lake looks more like a Z at best. But I'll be darned if Puppy Lake doesn't look exactly like a cute little puppy. I really wonder if the cartographer took some liberty with that one...


Most of these we don't actually get to see from the trail, though. Our favorite is Stormy Lake, but we ended up camping a little further at Taylor Lake.


This end of the Sisters Wilderness shows a fair bit of damage from the bark beetle but looks to be recovering well, with lots of new pines springing up.

In the mean time I guess I sprained my ankle just a tiny bit somehow. I don't remember it, but you can't argue with (a tiny bit of) pain and swelling. Feels good-as-new after an expert wrapping.

Day 18 (September 3)

Another beautiful hot day in the Sisters Wilderness. We pass a lot of horses (rather, we stand aside and let them pass us) on the dusty hills west of the Rock Mesa lava flow. One big group has about 6 riders and 12 pack horses; they're going to make a pretty serious camp somewhere.

Lunch at Sisters Mirror Lake, in full reflective splendor:

A huge grey ten-point buck crossing the trail just behind us -- maybe an elk? I've only experienced elk as lasagna, so I'm not sure.

If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound? Of course it does, anything moving in a non-vacuum makes a sound, and even if you could suck all the air out there'd still be the sound of the tree hitting the ground, which would travel through the earth. I know I'm making a lot of assumptions here, but I stand by them.

Deb's pretty cautious about our campsites whenever we're in areas of sick forest, pushing on dead trees and rating their root structure, lest we be crushed by an errant lodgepole. Thousands of downed trunks, including some real giants, attest to the possibility. Today for the first time we hear one crash down not too far behind us. We do not head back to investigate.

Despite the heat we make good distance today, 18 miles. Had actually planned another mile and a half to get to Dumbell Lake, the next known water, but happy to stop a little early after finding a small stream that's not on the map. Back to using the cookstove as it's cooling off a little now: red lentil soup with fat cous-cous for dinner, warm and elegant.

Day 17 (September 2)

Nothing but the best weather for us as we triumphantly return to the delightful Sisters Wilderness. A little snow left on the Sisters, but none to hamper us. Flawless clear blue sky. A great day for watching contrails.

We've hit the trail at a moment of magical transition from mud to dust. I don't know what you call it, but it's perfect.

The flow of northbound PCT through-hikers seems to have dried up. Not too surprising since they'd have to be really fast to make it to Canada from here before the Washington trail is snowed out, and if they were that fast they'd be further north by now, since they all
start at about the same time.

A sign informs us that we're passing through the Obsidian Falls Limited Entry Area. Taking a closer look at the fine print on the back of our self-issued permit, it looks like we need an additional government-issued permit to be here between Memorial Day and Halloween. Oops. My pre-hike research did not turn up this complication; I'd read that travel along the PCT in Oregon was free and clear. So we quickly tip-toe through, no lolling about at lovely Obsidian Falls or snatching any of the gleaming obsidian shards.

By the day's end we're so warm and sunny that we shun the cookstove, back to cool meals for us, and another delicious cous-cous cake hanging in the bag for tomorrow's breakfast.

Day 16 (September 1)

A beautiful day to get back to the trail. Both the actual weather and the weather forecast are looking calm and bright.  Now, we could have tried to arrange a ride from the hotel, or we could have called renowned local trail angel Lloyd Gust, but even with the road closed due to fire it was so easy to get a ride down from the pass to Sisters... it'll be a breeze to catch a ride back up! The westbound drivers will be falling over themselves to see who can get us first! Ah, not so...

I hate hitchhiking, especially while hiking, which is why I never intended to visit Sisters in the first place. But here we are, aping foot-powered self-reliance but begging for a ride. We're all clean and fresh, though! And the Oregoneons are so friendly! Deb can do small talk in five languages! No luck, it's just 3 solid hours of being judged and rejected, quite disheartening.

We've walked half of the 15 miles back to the trail before a couple of nice young men from Washington finally honor our hail. They're heading out on a hike themselves, the Obsidian Trail that circles the Three Sisters. Thanks, guys!

And so it happens that 72 hours after our initial camp at South Matthieu Lake, we're back in the exact same spot.  Hoped to get a lot further today but too much time walking & thumbing.

We can still make out the outline of our tent in the dirt. One thing has changed though: we're cookin' with gas! Our stove is "Primus" from Sweden. It's on the heavy side, so I imagine it was hand-forged from raw ore by some beefy Swedish blacksmith to whom grams feel like milligrams. We enjoy our first hot dinner (mashed potatoes and black beans, courtesy of the Big Lake Youth Camp hiker box) and hope for a snow-free morning.

On Koosah Mountain

Day 15 (August 31)

Deb feeds the llamas by the hotel pool

The Ponderosa Hotel is in the northwest corner of town, and features a llama farm on one side and national forest thick with bold mule deer on the other side. It's a sweet place.

We've got some business to take care of in Sisters. After yesterday's snow storm, we've decided to gear up just a tad. No big outdoor gear store here, but we find most of what we need scattered around town: a stove (heavy! Sad to bite the bullet, but we feel like the warmth is worth it) at the little outfitter store, a large metal mug (since we don't have a cookpot) at the Bi-Mart, first-aid restock at the drug store, gloves at the bike store, tall wool socks at the shoe store. The selection is a limited, but it's still more appealing than trying to get to Bend and back.

The town itself is very cute. Struggling in the 70's, they re-invented themselves as old-west-themed tourist destination spot, to great success. They host rodeos, quilting shows, fairs, etc. Building code requires that everything must be "western style" which means a lot of log furniture, wooden siding and stepped facades. Pretty good barbecue brisket to be had, as well. It's well situated for hikers, skiers, cyclists, and other tourists. We weren't planning to tarry here, but it's been a pleasant tarry nonetheless, if a little pricey.

Today the weather's warming up, and the forecast calls for at least a week of good weather starting tomorrow. At the ranger station in town, the fire risk meter has been downgraded from "extreme" to "high" -- delightful! We hear that Highway 242 at McKenzie Pass is open again, so people can get over to Eugene now. Good news, since my brother's playing a show in Eugene on September 22nd, and I hope the good people of Sisters see fit to make the trip. (He'll be in Portland the night before, and in Davis, CA the night after, hard-working rocker that he is, so there's got to be something convenient for nearly everybody!)

Walt warned us that only fools and newcomers believe the weather forecast, but we've waited long enough and we're determined to give another shot at getting through the Sisters Wilderness, slightly better equipped this time. Tomorrow we'll catch a ride back to the trail and give it what for.

Day 14 (August 30)

Woke to gentle rain that felt rather tenuous. In fact, as we broke fast on couscous-pudding-cake (a brilliant invention of Deb's that soaks and forms while hanging in the food bag overnight) the rain becomes gentle hail, and then gentle snow. Puzzled but undaunted, we pack up and march on.

Yes, Lianne, you can still get snowed on in the Sisters Wilderness in August! In fact, this snow is serious. It doesn't let up, and before long we're ankle-deep. Following the trail becomes a bit of a challenge, but it looks like there's a pair of southbound footprints in front of us, so that's a little reassuring.

A couple hours on, the snow is asserting itself as a real problem. In our lightweight boots and pants (no, Deb's not in the dress today), we're just not equipped for this. Taking shelter in a copse, we weigh our options: plowing forward, making early camp to try to warm up and dry off, or a retreat back to the highway.

Suddenly, from the next copse, we hear a voice.  Turns out it (and the footprints we've seen) belong to a local hiker named Walt, the "pistol-packing pastor," who'd planned to hike southbound for a few days but is now facing the same choice as we are. The snow storm is not letting up, so we decide to head back to the road and try to get a ride to Sisters to wait out the weather. Three hours of pathfinding, plodding, and hitchhiking later, we find ourselves in downtown Sisters, chilly and disoriented but safe. This town has a very nice public restroom, and I've never been happier to have an electric hand drier at my disposal.

Checked into the Best Western Ponderosa... nice place, and they even have a computer with an SD-card slot! Finally I can post some pictures.

Day 13 (August 29)

One impetuous pine in the lava field

Rainy night, clear morning -- wet tent, boots, socks, etc. We proceed through yet another burn zone, though this one quickly gives way to a vast field of lava rocks, courtesy of the craters Belknap and Little Belknap on either side of the trail.

If you think Oregon's nothing but a dewy green paradise, you're wrong. I may have mentioned the dust, the acreage of dead pines, the frequent fires and charred pines sticking up like a forest of toothpicks. Now the lava -- Oregon's got active volcanoes and lava seeps too, and the trail goes right through. This stuff looks pretty dormant thought.

Approaching the observatory

We reach highway 242 at McKenzie Pass -- this road goes right over the lava field, twisting around the big mounds of black rock.  Just down the road is the Dee Wright Observatory, where we stop for lunch. A strange site, at first glance it looks like a medieval ruin.  It's a little tower made from the volcanic rock, with windows for observing the mountains, not the stars.

From 242, one can go west to Eugene or east to Sisters -- except not Eugene because the road is blocked with a fire closure about 100 yards west of the trail. As the ranger had told us, the PCT is out of this closure zone, but just barely.

Luckily we're well supplied and don't need to go to town at all, so we plunge right back into the lava on the south side, which before long reverts to the dewy green paradise we all know and love. We camp above South Matthieu Lake, in a spot with some shelter from the wind. Delicious pad-thai-with-chicken-something for dinner, refreshing despite the chill and wind.