Day 106, 34.2 miles!!!

What a day!! My longest day so far in the books!! I woke up at 5am and hit the trail by 5:40am! I think the visit with Claire reset my laziness and tiredness, because I was up and ready to rock! I passed Goatman in the morning at the first lake I came across. He and Happy and Chilly Bin had camped about 1.5 miles past me last night. 

Happy soon caught up and the two of us basically hiked together all day! It’s great to have someone to talk with for a change, the miles really fly by!! At some point some southbounders passed us and told us of some good trail magic 4 miles north of us. That put an extra pep in our step for sure! By 10:30am I had already done 15 miles when I saw this:

Trail magic!!

This magic was so awesome! A hiker named Ducky who hiked the PCT in 2016 and the AT this year, was there with his father. They had beer and sodas and Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, along with some fruit and chips. Also, separate trail angels from Portland, Sparkly (who hiked the PCT in 2016 as well), and her daughter Hannah, had also been set up there, so the two parties just combined forces for one huge trail magic! Sparkly and Hannah were making fresh blueberry pancakes and eggs and had more drinks and cookies and other delights! It was great!!

In the back: Ducky’s Dad, Hannah, and Sparkly

Front: Karma, Ducky, Chilly Bin, and Happy! 

Blueberry pancakes with fresh blueberries!!

More and more hikers poured in as we had our share of pancakes, cookies, bananas, plums, eggs, ice cream, more cookies, and so much more! After about an hour and a half, we decided we should move on. Happy and I and Chilly Bin left with Goatman close behind. We cranked out the next 6 miles in two hours! We passed by an extremely hot and exposed burn area, and we entered the Three Sisters Wilderness!

So hot!!

Getting closer to home!

Around 2pm Happy and I came across a few lakes, and we decided we’d go for a swim in Irish Lake! I had already done 22 miles by 2pm, and Happy 20+! The lake had about 20 feet of deep silty muck before it got deep enough to dive in, but it was soooooo worth it! Once we were past the mud, the water was so clear and cold, with some warmer pockets here and there. It was so nice! Chilly Bin was close behind and also jumped in.

Irish Lake

I later found out that Irish Lake is the halfway point of the Oregon section of the trail! I’m already 1/2 way done even though it feels like I just got here!! Only 205 more miles to Cascade Locks and Portland! After nearly an hour at the lake, we kept on keeping on.

At one point, we met a couple rangers who were removing old campfire rings that were too close to water sources. We talked with them for a bit and proudly showed our trail permits. Doobie (who had stayed at Shelter Cove again last night), blasted past us while we were all chit-chatting. He’s doing a 45 mile day into Elk Lake Resort today! 

I can’t believe I took about 3 hours of breaks and still had my longest day today! The cool thing about today was that I never pushed myself to go too fast during any point. Just slow and steady all day! Because of that I don’t feel as tired tonight as I thought I would after such a long day! My right ankle is hurting again and is pretty sensitive as I write this. I’m hoping that just like last time, it’ll go away by the morning, and I’m also hoping it’s not too serious, as I plan to whip out some more 30’s and maybe even a 40 before Washington! 

Thanks for reading!!