Day 92 – 23.4 km – Saturday 27.07.2024
Tonight a cat was very active in the garden in Bend and I woke up more often. Nevertheless, I’m reasonably rested and my legs feel better again.
After getting up, we walk together to a supermarket to buy food there for the next few days. On the way we stop in a coffee and have a little breakfast.
After that we sit briefly in the McDonalds and drink coke before we make our way back to the trail.
After some time on the side of the road, a nice driver takes us back to the PCT. Arrived at the starting point, I eat another banana and drink an iced tea. After that I’m slowly running again.
The first meters after staying in the city are always very tedious and accordingly slowly I walk up the mountain in the midday heat. Luckily I only planned a small distance today and so she can cover the few miles quickly. While it’s still going through Deathwood at first, I’ll see more green again above.
In the distance I can see beautiful mountains and in the evening I reach a small lake where I want to stay overnight.
I set up the tent quickly and so I can cook my dinner early and then go to sleep to catch up on the sleep deficit of the last few days.
Day 93 – 50.9 km – Sunday 28.07.2024
The night was very windy and cold today. Nevertheless, I was able to sleep well and so it’s time for the day to rest. After a short breakfast, I start walking straight away and early in the morning we go through a burned-down forest again.
Surprisingly, I also find some snow fields today, which seems somehow suspicious.
After a short climb, I get a first look at Mount Jefferson, which I was supposed to walk around more or less today.
Unfortunately, since my bladder on the foot still causes pain, I don’t walk around particularly quickly, although it’s actually quite easy downhill for a long time through the forest.
At a small river I take a lunch break and meet some hikers there who are obviously not a PCT hiker. With large backpacks, they feel like they can get through the water forever and obviously have problems crossing the small stream.
After the break, a longer climb through a dead landscape follows. Running is not very fun here and it really takes a long time past burned trees. As a hiker who is walking in the opposite direction, tells me a few years ago, the PCTLers were upset about this section, as it only went through green forest for hours without seeing anything of the landscape. I, on the other hand, can’t make out a green tree and would be very happy about a little more color.
Later it continues over rock up and I can always take a good view of the beautiful Mount Jefferson behind me. I really feel like climbing this one, but unfortunately I have to continue walking in the opposite direction.
On the other side of the ascent, there is a longer descent again and there is little interesting to see in the monotonous landscape. Once again I’m on the road in a burned area, which I’m getting fed up with. In between there is also quite a lot of smoke from one of the fires from the area, so I can’t see much at times.
Around half past eight in the evening, I reach a camp at a lake. There I cook my dinner and sit with Garrett. As the sun slowly sets, it goes back to the tent to sleep.
Day 94 – 59.1 km – Monday 29.07.2024
I get up at 6 a.m. and have a short breakfast at the lake before it starts again.
In the morning it goes straight on like yesterday and I’m back in the burned out forest. Unfortunately, I’m noticing the blisters on the foot again today, so things are progressing very slowly for me.
After some time, the landscape changes at least and it’s getting much greener and I’m coming to an Indian reserve, where I seem to have to look after the bears.
But since I don’t find any of these animals today either, most of the time it’s relaxed through the green, which looks nice in contrast to the last stages and the air is noticeably better here. Instead of smoke, I can enjoy the good fresh forest air and in between it starts to rain lightly and I can unpack my rain jacket again, which has not been used very often so far.
In the light drizzle it then goes on through the forest for hours and relatively little happens. Only in the evening does a highlight come when Trail-Magic is available again. At a campsite for people with horses, an older woman has served a lot. There are all sorts of things to make yourself a delicious sandwich. Plus soda, cookies and chips. Since I’m really hungry and it will be my dinner, I eat 4 sandwiches, three cookies, a small bag of chips and drink two cans of soda. Exhausted from the food, I sit around with other hikers for a while and we talk.
Shortly after 6:30 p.m., Garrett and I leave because we want to complete another 10 miles to have lunch at Timberline Lodge tomorrow. There is an all-you-can-eat buffet, which is also known as Hikerheaven among the Hiker. In order to arrive there in time, we cover a few more kilometers in the evening.
With the last evening light, I reach the targeted camp. I set up my tent, brush my teeth and then go straight to sleep.
Day 95 – 37.8 km – Tuesday 30.07.2024
Since the climb to the Timberline Lodge was advertised to me as steep and sandy, I get up at 5:30 a.m. and start at 6 a.m.
At first it goes slightly uphill through the forest and today I am wrapped in clouds. There are always clouds in front of me and next to me and I don’t see much of the landscape.
But I’m making good progress in general and after a few miles the path gets a little steeper. At some point I leave the forest and it actually goes up in fine sand, which is not nearly as bad as it was announced to me.
So I reach the Timberline Lodge around 11 a.m. Since it’s ski season here on the mountain all year round, the restaurant is open today.
I look around a bit at first and then walk up a stick to the dining room. There I meet a few hikers who, like me, want to enjoy the all-you-can-eat buffet or have already used the breakfast buffet. Just before 12 p.m. there is already food. I get 4 plates for different things and then only need an hour to be able to walk to some extent again.
In the afternoon I set off again to walk another 10 miles to the next camp. At first I’m still in clouds here, but they rise over time and so I get a good view of Mount Hood.
The remaining meters are then relaxed downhill and after a last river crossing, where I unfortunately had to walk through the water, I already reach the camp.
Apparently many day tourists or other hikers are on the road here. Lots of big tents are standing around and most people don’t look like PCT hikers. Unlike us, people here all have big backpacks and lots of unnecessary stuff with them. I pitch my tent and cook my dinner. While I eat this, Garrett comes along and we talk for a while before we go to sleep again.
Day 96 – 57.3 km – Wednesday 31.07.2024
Today I stay a little longer and by the time I really get off it’s almost 7 o’clock.
I walk an alternative route that takes me past the Ramona Waterfall.
Then it goes downhill for a short time and then follows a longer climb through the forest. Yesterday a hiker had announced to me that today it should only go downhill, which I can’t see much of in the morning.
After the longer climb, I take a break for breakfast and then finally run down. A short time later I pass a parking lot and am asked by a man if I would like to have fruit. In addition to fruit and cola, there is also beer, which you can drink at 10 a.m.
The man himself had started south from Canada, but had to break off because his hips didn’t go along with a lot of running. Since then, he has been driving the way by car and spends food and drink at PCT hikers in various places.
After a long break, I start again and there is another climb through the forest, where the temperatures are at least quite pleasant. Once at the top, it’s already time for a lunch break and I don’t really make any progress in the morning due to the many breaks.
On the next few miles, the landscape changes gradually and I get a good view of Mount Hood.
Later I can see the first mountains in Washington.
Since the whiskey creek is locked due to a fire, I continue on the Eagle Creek Trail. The first section is very steep and kneels down quite a bit. Luckily it’s only for a few miles and after that the path becomes a little more pleasant again.
It continues through a burned forest and then I soon reach the Eagle Creek.
Here I follow the small river along the valley and can always see beautiful waterfalls.
In the tunnel case, it actually goes through a small tunnel behind the waterfall.
Unfortunately, the path is very rocky and therefore not particularly pleasant to walk. Actually, I wanted to camp here somewhere. But since I can’t find a campspot or all of them are occupied, I’m running further and further forward. At a vantage point with a view of a waterfall, I make my dinner and then walk on again.
At first I thought about camping at the parking lot to the entrance to the gorge, but then spontaneously decide to walk to Cascade Locks, since there are only 3 miles left.
So with quick steps I walk to this small town, which also means the end of my trip in Oregon to buy something else in the supermarket before it closes at 9 a.m. At the entrance to the village I pass the well-known ‘Bridge of the Gods’, with which I would like to get to Washington in the next few days.
Although I’m only arriving at the supermarket 5 after 9, I’m still allowed to go shopping for a moment, so I then walk with an ice cream and a beer in the hand to the campsite in town. There I join the other hikers and drink my beer before I set up my tent shortly after 10 a.m. and go to sleep after 36 miles exhausted.
Day 97 – 0 km – Thursday 01.08.2024
Sleeping is on the agenda today. I get up at 7 a.m. and go to a café. I sit there with other hikers for a few hours.
Since a shoe delivery is delayed, I have to take a break day here today. In order not to get into the tent in the reported heat, I book a room in a motel.
After that I sit around in a room with other people. The group would like to go to Portland spontaneously and I would actually like to go with them. But since I’ve already booked my room, I probably have to have a quieter day here, which is probably good for me again.
We have lunch together and then the others go by bus to Portland. I, on the other hand, return to my room, wash my clothes and take a long shower.
After that I upload things to my blog and pack my food together for the next few days.
In the evening I go out for dinner in a restaurant with ‘One Town’ and ‘Sin Nombre’, which arrived today. Around 8 p.m. I’m back in my room and watching another film. After that I go to sleep in the soft bed.
Overall, it was a very quiet and relaxed day for me. I just hope my shoes will be delivered tomorrow morning and I can then head towards Washington around noon to tackle the last 500 miles to my final destination Canada.
Overview
With the arrival at Cascade Locks, I have actually already reached the end of Oregon. I was able to cross the relatively flat landscape in two weeks and was about as fast as I had hoped.
Tomorrow I would like to cross the ‘Bridge of the Gods’ and thus start my last section in Washington.
I’m slowly becoming aware that the end of my journey on the PCT is getting closer and closer. Meanwhile, only 500 miles separate me from my destination Canada and I’m starting to ask myself how things will continue for me afterwards.
Here is the overview map:
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