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.