Stephanie Reighart

Happy three-month trailversary

Miles: 1883.9 to 1914

Mileage: 30.1

Day: 92

Today our PCT journey turned 3 months old.

It feels like it’s been so much longer than that. Campo, California, the nearest town to the border with Mexico feels like a century ago.

And yet, for us this year, our trail journey will be over in 10 days or so. That certainly does not feel real. As much as I don’t look forward to climbing out of my comfortable cocoon of a sleeping bag every morning to face a day of hiking, it’s just as hard to imagine doing something else. This trail has been my life and home for three months.

It’s been a challenging journey, and there are certainly parts I’ll miss, but I am really looking forward to using my brain a bit more and my body a bit less.

Today was the last day Terry slack packed us. Again, we had fine weather and moved at a decent clip.

We took some time in the morning to eat through a box of Bisquik pancake mix. Terry brought real maple syrup from Indiana. No one out here serves real maple syrup.

Because of the pancakes, I didn’t have to eat any of my snacks until after noon.

After a couple of 1,000-foot climbs in the morning, the terrain mellowed out and we had flats or downhills to coast through. And lots of lakes.

There really aren’t many streams running through this part of Oregon. I guess it all pools in the depressions between the mountains.

Looking out across the horizon, I am reminded of the Smoky Mountains. Lush, green rolling hills forever. It looks like someone laid a huge green blanket over the earth.

Terry met us at the proper road crossing and we drove to a nearby campsite. We made dinner and ate leftovers and shared a pint of ice cream.

Slack pack day 2

Miles: 1852.5 to 1883.9

Mileage: 31.4

Day: 91

The second night at the campsite in Crater Lake, we had electricity. We woke up to completely charged devices. Such luxury.

We tried to move quickly, but getting three people organized in the small RV was challenging. Eventually we got to the trailhead just after 8 a.m. We left Terry a grocery list and set on our way.

We started with a climb. The morning was spent hiking under what we later learned was called “the lightning rod of the Cascades.” This former volcano core gets struck many times a year by lightning during summer storms.

The weather has been so nice ever since the storms coming into Crater Lake National Park. I feel so lucky. Even without the RV we would have been able to dry out.

The day was long but we made good time and got to the RV before 6:30 p.m. Terry had started dinner and we soon sat down to a big pot of chili.

I was able to get some cell service on my phone and we all took advantage of the unexpected Internet connection.

Dessert was cookie dough ice cream. And sleeping felt so nice.

Slack pack day 1

Miles: 1830.4 to 1852.5

Mileage: 22.1, plus .5 back to PCT

Day: 90

A change in the pace of thruhiking is always nice. But it can also be a disruption to the regular flow of things. No matter, really. A late start can be worth the comfort of an RV, I think.

On that note, we woke past 7 a.m. All of three of us were adjusting to sharing the small space inside the RV. Getting breakfast together was a game of human Tetris. We headed out close to 10 a.m. after spending 45 minutes or so finishing up Internet things with the wifi at the nearby restaurant.

Terry dropped us off at the side trail to the PCT and we agreed to meet at the visitors center about 4 miles north.

The temperature was moderate and without the added weight of our usual load, I felt like I was flying up the trail.

We got to the visitors center but had to walk around a bit to find Terry. Once we found each other, we headed to the crater.

Terry hiked with us for about a mile, then we shared a snack and she turned back. We agreed to meet in five hours or so 18 miles north.

The trail next to Crater Lake wasn’t the best maintained stretch I’ve been on, but the view was pretty spectacular.

After a few miles, the trail left the crater side and we went downhill for the rest of the day.

The forest was full of dead standing trees covered in burls. I meant to ask a ranger why the trees were so afflicted, but I forgot.

We found Terry in the trailhead parking lot. We had a light dinner and then started the drive around the east side of the lake.

The sun was to the west, so most of the views were pretty glaring. But the closeup view of the Phantom Ship was cool. It is a short spire that sits very close to the edge of the crater and shoots up just above the water level.

Back at the campsite Richard made a fire and we ate many, many S’mores.

Can’t go wrong with this view. Technically, the PCT doesn’t go along the crater, but we thought it would be silly to miss it.

One day to dry between rain storms

Miles: 1807 to 1830.4

Mileage: 23.4, plus 1.2 to Mazama Village resupply

Day: 89

After our longest day yet, I slept through the first alarm. Richard slept through the second.

We got started after 7:30 a.m. but made great progress all morning.

We followed a drainage down the valley and then side-hilled through old forest fire areas for the morning.

After noon, the rain started. We stopped to put on pack covers. As we stood there, it started raining harder. I put on my rain jacket. Then the hail started. It stung as the pea-sized ice chunks bounced off my head and legs and bare, cold hands.

None of it lasted long, but long enough to completely wet us. And I was so dry just moments before.

The wet feet darkened my mood even as the sky lightened. Oh, well. Oregon is supposed to be wet, I hear.

When we got to Mazama Village in Crater Lake National Park, it was sunny and warm.

The plan was to meet Terry, Richard’s mom, at the store. We ran into each other soon after arriving. We exploded into the RV and Terry was kind enough to make room for us while we made a huge mess.

We all went to dinner at the restaurant across the parking lot, then got ice cream at the store.

Before bed, we went to a ranger talk on the geology of caldera lakes (Crater Lake is a caldera lake).

Terry will be slack packing us the next few days.

But now it’s time for bed.

The trail through old lava flows south of Crater Lake.

In the land of lost items

Miles: 1774.4 to 1807

Mileage: 32.6

Day: 88

It didn’t rain overnight, but the trees dripped their darnedest so the tent was wet when Richard packed it away.

While the rain stayed away all day, thankfully, it wasn’t always sunny. At one point, we were walking through thick enough tree cover that I put my sunglasses on my hat so I could see better. That happened to be during the same stretch of woods where the mosquitoes were horrible. At some point I shook my head violently to repel the buzzing bugs and I must have shaken my glasses off into the woods somewhere. I didn’t notice they were gone until the sun came back out and we were far down the trail. Oh, well.

Once we got into camp, Richard noticed his hat was missing. Not his sun hat, but the toque he sleeps in. Another item lost to the woods. He thinks it must have fallen out of his pocket sometime in the morning before he put on his sun hat.

I hope our items find themselves on new hiker heads who are glad for the free gear.

Tomorrow we get to Crater Lake and meet Terry! Can’t wait!

Richard during our daily sunscreen application break.

Rain, rain, go away

Miles: 1743.5 to 1774.4

Mileage: 30.9

Day: 87

No matter how hard we try, it always seems to take us an hour to get moving in the morning.

Richard’s watch is our alarm. It beeps 10 times. After that we usually make eye contact but don’t speak right away. If one of us closes their eyes and settles back into sleep, that’s the unspoken signal that more rest is needed. The other usually follows suit until the next alarm goes off a half-hour later.

Then the process really starts.

Deflate sleeping pad. Reluctantly slip out of sleeping bag. Stuff sleeping bag away in its waterproof compression sack. Change out of lovely, dry sleeping clothes and into dirty, sometimes still wet from rain or sweat hiking clothes. Roll up sleeping pad. Gather up rest of small items into backpack. Put on shoes and socks. Get out of tent. Finish packing (including taking down the tent). Sort food for the day. Don packs. Start moving.

We usually eat while hiking. This is Richard’s idea. He thinks it’s more efficient than stopping every time you eat. And for him it makes sense because he eats every hour on the hour. For me, I usually don’t care. But some foods are hard to eat while walking. When I want to eat those types of food (ex. granola, spoonfuls of peanut butter, etc.), we pull over. Bars and such can easily be eaten in the run.

Today breakfast and most meals were eaten while walking. We stopped for about 40 minutes around 1 p.m. I took the opportunity to eat some Oreos, which I posit, taste better while sitting.

The rain started soon after that. It came on and off in hour-long fronts. We would have just enough time to get started drying out and it would happen again.

The second round really got my feet wet. Sometimes there is a downside to new socks and rain happens to be one of them. New socks still have their fluff and cushion. This feature is very absorbant. Old socks have had the cushion crushed out of them. The water can’t collect. It gets squeezed out with each step.

I have only new socks right now. Therefore, my feet got very wet hiking in my high-cushion/very absorbant socks.

The sun came out oh so briefly just before sundown. We ate rice as the trees seeped overhead.

In my sleeping bag now, I am in dry clothes but still feel moist. But not too moist to sleep.

Here it comes. Sorry for so few photos today. When it rains, I don’t often feel like it.

A taste of Oregon

Miles: 1726.5 to 1743.5

Mileage: 17

Day: 86

We slept on a pillow top mattress under clean sheets after a soak in the jacuzzi tub.

It felt great. I had some indigestion overnight that I blame entirely on gluttony. I did spend much of my zero eating.

We spent a little time organizing and then walked down the hall to a breakfast of French toast and eggs florentine.

After breakfast, we packed up but didn’t leave the hotel just yet. We sat around the lobby for about an hour and a half enjoying the Internet and electricity a little longer.

We got to visit with our friend, Sun Roof, as he had hiked into Callahan’s that morning.

But with Terry on her way from Indiana to meet us at Crater Lake, we knew we must away in order to meet her on time.

Just as we started out of the parking lot, a Callahan’s employee offered us a ride the mile to the trail head. We gladly accepted.

Once back on the trail, we spent the afternoon watching the dark rain clouds turn to grey and white harmless fluff. The temperatures were warm but not hot. A breeze followed us into the evening.

The terrain in Oregon so far has been relatively calm. I am enjoying the change. Although, currently we’re passing through quite a bit of private property which feels out of place on a thruhike to me. I never liked cutting through neighbor’s yards as a kid and I don’t even like seeing homes from the trail. But I know we have some serious wilderness ahead of us.

I can only imagine that these plants taste amazing because they have put a lot of work into not being eaten. in fact, they bite you as you walk past.

ZERO!! in Ashland and vicinity

Miles: 1726.5 to 1726.5

Mileage: 0

Day: 85

I can’t believe we did it. We had so much to do today and we got it all done. I really thought something would fall through the cracks or have to be postponed.

So, the backstory is: Richard got a job as lead physician at McMurdo Station in Antarctica. It’s very exciting. That’s what we got off the trail for at the beginning of June. We had to fly to Texas for his interview.

Anyway, this is great news, but also sad news because it means we will very likely, almost assuredly, not get to finish the trail this year. That’s okay, though. This job is a good enough reason for me.

Richard has to be ready to fly to New Zealand and “the Ice” by mid-August. In the meantime, he has been receiving all sorts of paperwork that needs filling before he can go. And, he had to get a physical and dental screening, and blood work done.

As we are getting close to the deadline for all that stuff to be turned in, it all had to happen today. And we pulled it off somehow.

The only thing we had to skip was the all-you-can-eat Indian lunch buffet. Ah, me. The sacrifices I make for my relationship.

As for me, I might still get to go to Antarctica, too. I’ve applied for about a dozen positions but haven’t heard much yet. Still holding out hope, though, and planning how to spend my winter if I don’t get to go. I would love to go and would drop anything for it, but life goes on off the ice, too.

Here’s other exciting news: Richard’s mom is coming out to visit us! We’re meeting her at Crater Lake National Park and we are thrilled for her company.

While Richard and I love talking to each other, it will be nice to add a new brain to the mix.

The hiking plan is still go go as far as we can before it’s time to get off the trail. And with Terry coming out, we might be able to go even faster.

We still have about three weeks (at least) to hike. And we’ll see how things go from there.

Here’s a quick look back at my favorite California wildflowers.

Into Ashland

Miles: 1699.2 to 1726.5

Mileage: 27.3, plus 1 mile to Callahan’s Lodge

Day: 84

Excited to get to town (where there is Indian food and pizza) we got up at 5:30 a.m. The terrain was gentle. It reminded me of Southern California when the grades of the trail were made for horse packers.

If this is Oregon, I could get used to it.

The sky was cloudy. Overnight, we’d gotten some sprinkles on our tent. We were still within the five days of thunderstorms that were predicted, but the temperature was reasonable and we were thinking only of town.

Around noon we ran into Steady, the triple crown hiker who had given us trail magic five days earlier with her husband, Steve. We chatted for a few minutes by more trail magic set out by hiker APB. The sodas he left us were just what I wanted.

From there it was ten more miles of mostly downhill. I listened to Rachel Maddow talk politics to pass the time.

About five miles from the road, the thunder started. It was just rumbling and far away. But then, seemingly without warning, it was overhead, loud and accompanied by lots of rain.

First we stopped to put the rain covers on our packs. Within 50 paces I stopped again to put on my rain jacket and pants — and I never hike in rain pants. I keep them around for standing in the rain or keeping the mosquitoes away at dinner. Hiking in them is too hot.

But the storm dropped the temperatures even more and rain pants wouldn’t hurt, I thought.

We slogged through the water now rushing down the trail. Everything was wet from the humidity or drenched from direct contact with the rain.

new versus old: at the top are the insoles and socks i’ve been wearing for the last 500 miles. below are the new ones.

It lasted about 45 minutes and brought along some hail. But we still had a couple more miles to put in.

This is not a great photo, but I took it during the downpour. We were tired and oh so wet.

By the time we made it to the road, the sky was blue again. We were not dry, but we were done for the day.

We walked the extra mile to Callahan’s Lodge, picked up some packages and headed into town for the pizza we couldn’t stop thinking about.

OREGON!!

Miles: 1668.8 to 1699.2

Mileage: 30.4

Day: 83

We decided to get up early. The storms always seem to roll in in the afternoon. So we wanted to get a few more miles in before they ruined our plans to get out of California.

We were on the trail around 6:45 a.m., a reasonable attempt at “early” for us. It was cloudy and/or drizzly all day.

The sun peeked through the clouds just a couple of times and only stayed for few moments.

The clouds kept it nice and cool, though, and we made good time all day.

In the afternoon, we passed a group of wildfire fighters with the Forest Service parked at a nearby dirt road. About a mile or so down the trail we watched a helicopter drop a load of water on an active fire. Each time the helicopter let the water release from the barrel hanging beneath it, the smoke from the fire would rise again. It was small, however, and we didn’t see any flames.

By 6 p.m., we were in Oregon. After almost three months, 1700 miles and a lot of hard work, we have made it to the second state!

In case you can’t read it, that sign says “Welcome to Oregon”.

My blisters have healed nicely now that it’s not 100 degrees everyday. But we smell. Badly. We haven’t showered since Chester; 400 very hot miles ago. I can’t wait to shower and do laundry!