Pacific Crest Trail: Big Lake- Tinberline

Day 63
1977-1981 (4)
We had root beer floats for breakfast with Coppertone once we reached the highway. We then explored around an observatory .2 up the road while we waited for my friends' parents to pick us up. We found each other easily and they took us to pick up our packages. We stayed at their family cabin and took care of all of our town stuff. The Olympics were on and I was happy to be getting a glimpse of all that has been going on. The 4 of us enjoyed an amazing dinner on the back patio before hitting the hay.

Day 64
1998-2016 (17.62)

I woke up in a cozy bed, cooked myself some breakfast, and packed up for the trail. We made it to the trailhead by 10:20 and celebrated our 2,000 mile marker shortly after. Since I stretched and rolled my feet so much at the cabin, I was feeling ready to go; however, Marissa's ankle was struggling on the rocks and was getting tired from focusing so hard on each step. As we climbed higher through an old burned forest, I could hear the creaking of trees all around me and when the wind began to howl, I grew more and more anxious to make my way out of the trees and behind a ridge. I was having a grand old time enjoying all of the views of Jefferson and the surrounding pointy peaks. So amazing to have a view all afternoon! We set up camp on a ridge line looking at Jefferson but tucked in a nook of trees to block us from the wind.

Day 64
2016-2041 (24.7)

Well, I think we officially got our taste of being in the Pacific Northwest. We both woke up soaking wet around 2 am and got up to set up our shelters. Only to wake up at 5am with our shelters wet enough to be dripping on us. I was worried since my down sleeping bag shouldn't be getting wet and has a few times. I waited for the sun to dry everything out before starting the days' hike. My hands were chilled throughout the morning walk and I was switching which hand held trekking poles with which hand got to be tucked under my armpit to warm up. There were many people today only 2 of which we have been leap frogging with for a while, Fed Ex and Mountain Dew. There were many huckleberries to pick along the way that slowed me down but my biggest "speed bump" was falling asleep next to a creek and not waking up for 40 minutes. The nap was much needed and Marissa woke me up as she had arrived and departed down trail. We did not get to camp until late but caught up to Fed Ex and Mountain Dew. Fed ex had already hiked Washington so he gave us some tips for dealing with the stormy rainy weather. We also talked about the first bare foot hiker we have seen out here...craziness!

Day 65
2041- 2068 (27.4)

I was hoping to get a lot of miles done earlier in the day but I was far too distracted by the enormous huckleberries all around the trail. By 10 o'clock we had only made 8 miles but our mouths and fingers were happily stained purple. There were berries all day and it was hard not to stop; they were so delicious. We thought we were going to push for a 30 mile day when we reached our last water source but after checking the time we decided we would carry enough water to dry camp. We set up camp and enjoyed a slow dinner/ stretch before heading to bed.

Day 66
2068-2095 (26.5)

Today was the first day that I walked in pants and gloves most of the morning because it was so cold. We were in dense (kinda creepy) forest all morning before the trail opened up a bit to a big lake. We came out around a mountain side later on and were directly across from Mount Hood. It can be pretty surprising with these Volcanoes. We see them in the distance and then we get burried in the trees for a while and before you know it the mountain pans out directly in front of our eyes. Super cool walk! We got a cooler full of cold soda at the highway before making our climb up to Timberline Lodge. It seems that the trail likes to throw a curveball our way in the last mile or so into a town. This time as I hurried up the mountain to get our resupply boxes before closing, the trail turned into DEEP beachy sand. I was barely making steps toe to heel and was sliding backwards with each one. We made it just in enough time to get our boxes and pack up our food. We then moved over to the old historic lodge and lounges around in a spare room. We were offered showers by a guest and gladly took them before hiking out at 10:30 to find some flat ground to sleep on.

*From this point foward many of the photos are from Marissa's phone. My phone stopped functioning in cold and began dying spontaneously throughout the day.