Day 87: Putting The Miles In.

August 5th, 2021

Mile Marker: 1810.9

Miles Hiked Today: 35

We woke up early this morning at 5 am and started hiking by 5:30. We didn’t have enough water for our normal oatmeal and coffee morning so we ate a couple bars and set out quickly. The next water was in 8 miles and all that was on my mind was to make it there for my coffee.

I was dragging to say the least. There was the same views of trees and smoke and no views. It felt like I was walking in a loop.

After about an hour of hiking I almost missed this shiny blue rock sitting next to the trail.

It made me smile. That I do. I can do this.

We made it to a gushing spring around 9 and took a while making breakfast and coffee. It felt like a reset to the day. Starting off on a better foot with a little bit more energy.

The trail led to some open sections that kept showing us how heavy the smoke was. It made me feel a little uneasy but I also knew it was because the winds had changed direction and was now blowing the smoke our way.

My fingers were crossed that this was going to change again soon.

For most of the day we had a water carry. From the first water to second was 11 miles and that was where we planned to have our lunch.

We arrived around 1 and I was personally shocked that we had already hiked 20 miles. I knew we were shooting for a big day but dang! We were flying!

We found a nice lunch spot along the ridge that let us embrace the cool breeze blowing through. It felt SO good to have wind that actually cooled us off.

I also made a second round of coffee. Brown Sugar wasn’t messing around today, especially after getting in so late the previous night.

Around 2 we set out again knowing we would be hiking for probably another 5 hours if we kept the same pace.

This water carry was only for 6 miles then we had to fill up from this pond for 18 miles.

18 miles!?!?!?

It was like we were in the desert again but for some reason this almost felt worse. Shouldn’t we be done with this by now? Shouldn’t Oregon have water?!

I filled up 4.5 liters and felt my back breaking. How did I ever even carry 6 liters??

The 18 miles is to get us into town tomorrow, so we needed to carry enough for dinner tonight, breakfast in the morning, and drinking water.

Journey and I had also packed out a little wine box each, one for the previous night and one for this night. Since we had a massive water carry we decided to chug it at the last water stop. We both felt the wine chill us out as we continued on our hike. I had plugged in some podcasts that had me laughing up a storm, so I was thoroughly enjoying myself even though my pack was so heavy.

For the rest of the evening hike, I kept rationing how much water I was drinking but felt like I had this part down from the desert. Relatively speaking, I knew how much I needed for certain things and how much I could have.

We reached 1800 miles today!! Yeehaw!!

Shortly after this sign, I was walking along the trail and stopped dead in my tracks. The trail was bouncing with little frogs jumping off of it.

I almost couldn’t wrap my head around this. But the trail was covered with tiny frogs and I had to watch my step to make sure I didn’t step on them.

I don’t know where they came from but it felt like the frogs were taking over. This picture doesn’t do it justice at all.

The last part of the day we went through yet another burn zone. I always wonder how different these areas would look.

We made it to camp at 7:30 and I was so proud of us. 35 miles and still got to camp at a decent time. Boo yah!

Planner and Conrad have yet to show up but if they fall behind we know we will all meet up in Bend in a few days. Journey has to be in Bend by the 10th so we are pushing the mileage hard.

I’m surprised I have as much energy as I do right now after such a long, continuous day but hopefully I can get some good sleep to do it all over again tomorrow!

Iz and Oz