2150 Miles on the PCT: Crater Lake to Bridge of the Gods

Writing this blog post after the tour is a lovely way to reminisce. I’m so glad I kept a trail diary so I can remember every detail of each day. Now I’m taking you back to Oregon with me!

In the morning, Chipmunk and I woke up to ashes in our tents. We didn’t know what to do: walk and see if the smoke got worse, or return to the road we were close to and try to go around it. The smoke didn’t seem that bad, so I decided to keep going while Chipmunk got back on the road. I walked a couple of miles until I started to feel a little dizzy and then decided to turn around. It wasn’t worth sacrificing my health to travel those kilometers.

I ran into Chipmunk, who told me he saw a message 30 miles up the road where hikers said the smoke was terrible and they were trying to get a ride out of there. We made the right decision! I was sad to miss one of my favorite sections of Oregon, but glad I saw it sooner. They finally took us to Chemult for breakfast and to see if we could get another ride to Shelter Cove. Our waiter was kind enough to call a friend who could take us. It ended up leaving us a few miles from Shelter Cove so we could get a taste of what the smoke was like. It was so thick it looked like fog and the sun was bright red.

When we arrived at Shelter Cove, we met Merlin, Udon, and Dr. Pepper and were able to reserve the last cabin. It was so cute and had the most comfortable bed I have ever slept in. The next morning I was so excited to be lazing around for a few hours, a real treat on a hike. I stayed in bed drinking coffee and sewing my clothes that were falling apart. It was finally time to pack and get ready, so I headed to the hiker tent and restocked my supplies in the small tent. After eating another delicious vegan burger, I returned to the trail alone that afternoon and stopped for the day 14 miles at a nice lake.

I wanted to challenge myself as I was feeling strong, so the next morning I decided to try to make it to a campsite 27.9 miles ahead. I walked through spooky burned sections all day. There were some places that looked like a different planet because there was no new growth in sight. It was disheartening to walk through the same areas as 3 years ago before the fires. I wish everyone could walk the PCT and see the devastating impact of climate change before their eyes.

After finally reaching some live trees, I reached my objective camp. It’s crazy to me how 28 miles was considered a manageable day at this point in the trail.

The next day, I was zooming all day. I clearly remember all the terrain I walked through, especially the wide open views of the Sisters. I met up with Squirrel and Merlin halfway through the day and we swam in an amazing ‘pond’ (to me, it looked like a beautiful alpine lake!). This day was full of magical views and for dinner we stopped at a waterfall. This is one of my favorite parts of hiking: the beauty and simplicity of eating in some of the most stunning places in the world.

I remembered him camping in the same place as 3 years ago among the Pikas on the impressive lava rock. I watched the sunset while trying to spot the little Pikas darting in and out of the rocks, and fell asleep to the adorable sound of their chirps (sometimes chirping in response to them, as one does).

The next day was the infamous Lava Field Day, the time when I was completely unprepared for the first time. Back then, I found out the hard way that I would be exposed all day due to walking through a combination of lava fields and burned areas. This time I was ready! I woke up at 5 and by 5:30 I was already on the move. I went through the worst of the exposed area before the biggest heat of the day, but it was still brutal. Walking on lava rocks makes for slow miles. I was proud of myself for making it to Big Lake Youth Camp at 2:30. This is a great place that usually serves free meals to hikers, allows them to do laundry, and has an awesome indoor area to hang out. Unfortunately, I missed meals for a day. I was still grateful to have a place to hang out indoors!

I met some cool SOBOs (South-Bounders) while waiting for laundry to be done and they convinced me to stay for a «movie night» instead of walking 5 miles. As you probably already know, I love spontaneous changes of plans! We picked up snacks and headed to the designated camping area for hikers on the beach. We ended up watching an episode of The Middle before Hiker Midnight (9pm) and called it a day.

It was so glorious to wake up on the beach and watch the sunrise as I packed up and got ready to head to Sisters. My SOBO friends made fun of me for trying to quietly eat a crunchy bar in the middle of the night when hunger got the best of me. It was sad to part ways knowing we would never meet again, but that’s how things go on the road!

I took a quick trip to Sisters and visited my favorite place: the local coffee shop. After an expensive resupply at the health food store, I was back on the trail by 4pm. A couple miles later, I received an alert on my phone about an evacuation due to a fire. Since I didn’t have service, I texted Garmin to my mom and some trail friends to see if they knew anything about it. Luckily, it was because of a fire that was far from me. It was definitely a relief! After dealing with that fiasco, I arrived at my campsite after dark and quickly set up my tent.

I started early in the morning and realized it was my 4 month Trailiversary! It’s really hard to imagine being on the road for 4 full months. My trail friends and I joke that we don’t even have weekends off; We usually only have 1 full day off every few weeks. It’s different from having a job, of course, but similar in some ways. Sometimes you just don’t feel like walking. You can’t take days off all the time or you’ll never finish the tour!

This day ended up being the most beautiful views of Oregon yet, with some big climbs as the sun set. I camped among the mountain tops with open views.

The next morning, it started to rain while I was packing my bags. I decided to just wait in my tent since I wasn’t in a hurry. The past few days, I had been coming up with a plan for a fun challenge to do while I was in Oregon. Many people do the 24 hour challenge. After my accidental 24 hour Aqueduct challenge, I was NOT interested in repeating it. I created my own challenge: the Hike your Age challenge! The plan was to walk 16.5 miles the day before the challenge so I could get enough rest, then 34 miles the next day. I arrived at camp at 6pm and ate the blueberries surrounding my tent until it was time to rest up for the big day.

I was so excited to start my challenge that I woke up at 4:50 and was walking shortly after. I zoomed all day despite a bit of rain – I felt invincible! I was so focused on speeding up that I ended up losing my umbrella and some shiny flip flops without even realizing it. Losing my umbrella was devastating, but there was no way I was going back to find it. The trail provides: I had faith that someone would find it and bring it to me. My breaks were no more than 15 minutes in order to reach the target mileage. Early in the afternoon, I met up with Worm. I had completed the 24 hour challenge the night before and was crawling. She said she and Chipmunk were going to camp 5 miles from Timberline Lodge so they could attend the famous breakfast buffet. As we walked together, I was inspired to move forward with them. By the end of the night I was starting to lose strength, everything hurt! We arrived at camp just before nightfall. I ended up walking 38.5 miles that day! I was very impressed with what my body was capable of.

We were excited about the breakfast buffet so we started early. I remembered the hard, slow sand dune section from my previous hike, but this time it didn’t seem as difficult. We met Merlin at Timberline Lodge, who had walked 32 hours straight to get there in one go. He walked 72 miles straight – truly crazy! We stuffed ourselves with endless pancakes, waffles, cakes, and my personal favorite: potatoes. The next priority was to get photos with the Shining Axe, obviously. Then we rested completely on the couches until it was time to grab some yerba mate and hit the road.

We thought it would be an easy 8.5 miles to our campsite, but were immediately humbled by a huge storm. The rain was pouring down as thunder rumbled, and we sped to the lowest elevation point. After getting completely soaked, we reached a slightly steep but doable spot on the side of the trail. We ducked inside our tents, relieved to be (almost) dry again.

I slept until 5:50 thinking I would hear everyone shuffling, but there was radio silence. Since I was already awake, I got ready anyway, thinking they would start to get up. I was ready to leave camp at 7, and still not a peep! I was alone again. When I reached another majestic waterfall, I met Spider and Tumbler. We had met them at the Timberline Lodge the day before. We walked and chatted for most of the day through the mossy forest. When we reached the junction before the Eagle Creek Blue Fire, we split up while I waited for Chipmunk, Merlin, and Worm to catch up.

The day I had been dreaming of for three years finally arrived! We had 19 miles to the Bridge of the Gods. We took the Eagle Creek alternative to see Tunnel Falls, a waterfall you can walk under. It was as glorious as I remembered. With just a few kilometers to go, we were giddy with excitement – ​​the energy was tangible! We had sung: BOTG! BOOT! When the bridge came into view, I was smiling so much it hurt. This is one of those moments that really hit me. I walked from Mexico to the border of Oregon and Washington. Crossing the bridge was surreal. People in cars honked and cheered us in celebration. Finally, we got our iconic image with the official poster.

Still to come: Walking to Washington!