August 7th, 2021
Mile Marker: Unsure 🤷🏽♀️
Miles Hiked Today: 34
We woke up this morning to a still, quiet, windless morning. It was peaceful as we watched the sun start to creep up behind the mountains.
These quiet mornings are my absolute favorite way to wake up.
The peaceful feeling only lasted for a short while as Journey and I had started walking down the wrong trail. 🤦🏽♀️
Since we got to camp late we didn’t notice that the trail split into two different directions. We had gone further down the wrong trail to a camp spot, so when we woke up, we figured the trail kept going that way.
I had hiked down for about a mile and felt like something was wrong. I saw many foot prints going the opposite direction and I remembered reading some comments about the trail turning and not going downhill. Once I opened up the Guthooks app it showed me off trail.
I was fuming, I felt so dumb for not realizing earlier and not looking before we left camp. Luckily Journey was a little bit behind me so that I could tell him to turn around too.
I hiked the mile back uphill frustrated mostly because we were already planning for a 35 mile day and this was adding on 2 extra miles that weren’t PCT miles.
I decided to go ahead and plug in my headphones and listen to music to change my mood. It was what it was and there was no point in being mad about it.
We arrived at a beautiful, cold water source 2 miles down the PCT.
From there we realized we had a 22 mile water carry. Damn it! Today didn’t seem to be going my way. It quickly seemed that today was going to be one of those days where I put my head down and hike.
I filled up 4.5 liters of water, plugged in my headphones, and hiked.
After a few hours we reached the tallest point in Oregon at 7,560. So much lower than California!
While we sat here eating some snacks, we started talking with a couple about the trail. Almost instantly I knew I recognized them from somewhere. Finally, it hit me. One evening while working at REI in Kansas a couple had come in and said they were doing the PCT. They were originally from Pennsylvania and were road tripping to the start of the PCT and stopped in REI for a few things. They had an earlier start date than me so I wasn’t sure if I would catch them.
I then asked if there was any chance they had road tripped to the start and if they had stopped in REI in Kansas. They instantly realized who I was and we were all ecstatic. I also was impressed with my memory and remembered that their names were Julia and Ryan. It was such a surreal moment and helped elevate my mood. Maybe today wasn’t going to be so bad after all.
I unfortunately didn’t get a picture of them but what a small world!!
I hiked on for a few hours and stopped early for a lunch. The heavy pack and heat were making me use more energy than usual.
After eating, Journey and I laid with our feet up on a log to rest. It was then that I realized how delirious I am becoming with the little sleep and big miles.
I stared up at my dirty feet and thought about my sister and how she has, for my entire life, called my feet “Gorilla Feet”. I busted up laughing continuously and felt like I couldn’t stop. You know those moments when you are so tired everything just seems hilarious, that’s exactly how I was feeling.
Even better was when I was able to send a video to my sister of this occurring. It had me in a fit all over again.
Eventually we hiked back out and I turned on a podcast to pass the time and help keep my eyes open.
We made it to the next water cache which made our total for the day so far 24 (26 with the off trail miles) and it was already 5 pm. We decided to eat dinner and charge up our electronics. This water cache had everything we could need!
From this cache we had a decision to make. We could take the new PCT trail or the old PCT trail. The older one cut off 8 miles of the new PCT trail but we were told it’s a nice trail and there was trail magic midway.
After some discussion of what we wanted to do, we decided to take the old PCT instead.
From our dinner spot it was 10 miles to the trail magic spot. We weren’t sure if we could make that before it got too late but set out with two other hikers named Smokey and Tigger.
I also saw 2 other hikers who I met on day 3 and haven’t seen since. The trail works in mysterious ways!
We hiked for a few miles and saw a lake off to our right. I decided I wanted to go step in and wash my legs off before we got to camp.
Journey had asked if where I was sitting was muddy and to me it appeared to be pretty solid.
Journey started to walk into the lake before I had my shoes off and I heard him yell out. I was in a laughing fit all over again. Journey had stepped through the mud which wasn’t solid at all and had sunk down into it with each step.
Maybe this wasn’t the best lake to be going into after all. Whoopsieee! 😂
We hiked on after drying off and decided to set up camp 9 miles in. It was getting dark and we were exhausted from the day. 34 miles was good enough I’d say.
Once again, I can’t keep my eyes open. Sleep time!
Iz and Oz
Izzy + Ozzy 