Today’s publication was originally dictated to my phone between July 12 and 18, 2025 on my phone between Ashland, Oregon and the three Wilderness sisters. My wife, Kelly, and his son, Jake followed me most of the week in our minivan. This allowed a very necessary family time and also a command package. Let’s go in!
Day 64 // Miles of trail today: 21.0, total: 1744.2
Slackpacking is amazing. I had a small race style backpack with just food and water and it is surprising how quickly I go without the biggest configuration.
But I’m getting ahead. We started the day in a fun Bagel store called Little House of Bars before they left me where I left it yesterday. I did not take anything more than 1.5 liters of water and approximately 1000 calories of snacks in my small race package. It was very liberating not to have my regular package, which qualifies as «ultralight», but does not approach what I was working on today. I was able to run for more than 50% of today’s excursion. I was able to cover the abbreviated mileage today in approximately 5 hours. Lake Hyatt picked it up, returned to Ashland and the rest of the day involved eating and buying edible with Kelly and Jake. Tomorrow we see how it feels like going a little further.
Day 65 // Miles of trails today: 30.7, total: 1774.9
Feeling slow this morning and trying to psychiéme a day longer than yesterday. It is difficult to take off from the company and the comforts of Kelly and Jake. I ended up being telling myself that I would see them again tonight.
In the morning, the path was quite easy, very flat very executable and minimally technical. Another day of slack packing with the small Woo Hoo backpack! It was a very wooded section, which was great because it meant a lot of shadow on this extremely hot day, but also limited in the views department.
At the mile of 1749 I found the remains of Howard Prairie’s fire, which seems to have burned a handful of acres. When I arrived, the firefighters were taking out some burning pieces and cutting problematic trees. They were very service in terms of guiding me at the short distance around the section of the path that was closed, which rode a tenth of one mile.
The second half of the day passed along Brown Mountain’s flank, a relatively young volcano with a lot of lava rock around him. This stretch had many sections exposed in volcanic rock with very pointed rocks. But I was happy to get my head out of the forest for some views in the afternoon, even the fast one that approached Mount McLoughlin.
He arrived at the 140 highway, or Kelly and Jake planned to meet with me, shortly before 7 pm. As always, I was delighted to see the truck and, of course, my family, waiting for my arrival. Kelly and Jake had established a couple of miles along the way. We drove to the camp, I prepared during the following days and had a tasty warm dinner of macaroni with cheese and hot dogs. After dinner and wearing all my clothes, I stepped on the scale of the bathroom that Kelly had taken out and alarmed me to discover that I had lost 15 pounds. However, it makes sense, since my upper part of the normally non -existent body is so beautiful and more venous than usual. Removed to the Palaciega store, played some games and called him one night.
Day 66 // Miles of trails today: 42.8, Total: 1817.7
He ate a couple of Boats from Lucky Charms and Kelly made me hot coffee before taking me back to the beginning of the path to start shortly after 6 am The plan is to meet with them tomorrow night and during the night tonight somewhere in the south of Crater Lake. As one night is reserved for me, I am using a fast 28 l package, intermediate between my execution package and my standard backpack.
Immediately, mosquitoes are the level of Minnesota. I stained Picardin around the world for the first time of the trip. I also found a small elastic plastic dragonfly with a clip at the end, sitting on the path. I cut it to my bag a) to pack garbage yb) to see if I deter mosquitoes at all.
Throughout the morning and early in the afternoon, I went up very slowly in the Sky Lakes desert. Finally, around 1 pm, the trees around me were thinned and began to have very beautiful views. First of the north face of McLaughlin and weakly of Shasta to the south. And later of Union Peak, Crater Lake and Mount Thielsen to the north. The climb culminated in a chair on the flank of Devils Peak. He had received a good dose of fear, along the way and in distant comments, with respect to the snowfield on the north side of this pass. It turns out that it was not a factor, since I could walk largely on rocks.
The rest of the day was quite soft, in terms of events and paths. I probably spent 10% in the afternoon running. Crater Lake’s approach was another burning area, so it was a bit bleak. I entered the park when the sun stood, found a flat place and prepared my jeans camp. It will be another night of mosquitoes. Taken with them complaining in my ears, but feel proud to complete my second day of more than 40 miles of the walk (the first from the aqueduct in southern California).
Day 67 // Miles of trails today: 31.8, total: 1849.5
Among the camp installed last night, camping the cowboy and knocking this morning, I paid the last sacrifice of blood to the mosquitoes. Your thirst never goes out.
Fortunately, once I moved, they had difficulty staying up to date. The path was also very flat and the temperatures were pleasant and fresh, so he made a quick trip of AM.
The official path through the Crater Lake National Park is surprisingly boring. It is a repetitive landscape, especially given recent fires (more recently last year), and it almost has nothing to do it geologically. That said, it is much quieter and, therefore, I would probably do this again, instead of walking on the edge like most people.
They met with Kelly and Jake for an early snack in the afternoon at the intersection of the path with the 209 highway in the northern part of the park. Seeing your lovely faces, sitting on my butt for a while and eating a lot of food or simply what the doctor asked.
I changed my fast package for my career vest during the last 9 miles of the day, without eventing along the soft descent to the 138 highway. After a minor problem about the specific meeting place, Kelly, Jake and gathered, I got a little ice cream, he moved to our place on the east side of Diamond Lake, enjoyed some subjects of Alborner for dinner and called him one day.
Day 68 // Miles of trails today: 58.2, Total: 1907.7
Kelly took me back to the 138 highway and began walking north around 6:30 am was a good cold morning, in the 40s, although the wind direction must have changed during the night and is quite smoked. The plan for today is to meet Kelly and Jake in a national forest camp in Summit Lake after spending a 42 -mile day. Hopefully new shoes get my sore and blisted feet during the day. (Edit: No, still pain!)
I spent a good part of the morning with a Frenchman named Mountain Goat. We met in the shadow of Mount Thielsen, my favorite show so far throughout the Oregon de Trail section. Mountain Goat and I have a lot in common: running, skiing and walking obviously. We did some ran between us on the path, which was wonderful until I left aside with the pieces of runners.
While I stopped, I decided to address the pain derived from a concentration of underpants outside my left foot. These have worsened more and more; Presenting the insensitive and covering the result with Aquaphor provides some relief. I am slowing down, which is frustrating because all the components of the body on the soles of my feet are ready to roll.
At the moment when Ibuprofen’s coup was 🤌. He dropped the pain almost unbearable to barely registering. I started to move well again and catch Mountain Goat again with whom I shared more miles.
Around 5:30 pm, Kelly sent him a text message to inform me that the original plan was not going to work, since the path that leads to the Summit Lake camp is not suitable for the truck. Our support plan was to continue 20 additional miles to take refuge the cove. That will bring the total daily mileage about 60 miles. Oh!
When I obtained this memorandum, I legitimately began to get excited about night hiking. Then, at 6:30 pm, when I passed the Cowhorn mountain, the mosquito pressure increased from tolerable to fucking crazy. It was a legitimate swarm, where each Swat took at least five mosquitoes. They spoken around 8 pm, at which time he wore a complete armor (my rain team and the network with his hands sucked in the sleeves).
I never really give in. There were sometimes in which I would have loved to have stopped the path and lying on earth. But they would not allow it. Throughout the night, if I wanted to get food out of my bag, tie my shoe or pause for anything they attacked.
I also decreased the speed in the Diamond Peak desert, since there were many more snow trips than I expected. Nothing incomplete, but made navigation a challenge (keep in mind that it was black) and slowed me. I would love to see the area during the day. I realized that it was super beautiful for the level of lighting that I obtained from the crescent from 1 in the morning. Finally, I put myself below the snow line and began to navigate again. My mantra became «this is not so bad.» Actually it really helped.
Just before 4 in the morning, I arrived at the digital pin that Kelly had allowed to represent where he installed the store in Shelter Cove. After making sure it was our store, and not that of a stranger, silently I divered and slept hard until 8:30 am
Day 69 // Miles of trails today: 1.8, Total: 1909.5
I took a zero today, relaxing with Jake and Kelly. In fact, we made a couple of miles on the PCT to connect where I left it last night with an easy delivery point for tomorrow. So I suppose that technically today was a Nero. Anyway, it is great to have an ultra relaxed day today next to Lake Odell, eat a lot of good food, soak my feet in a garbage container and hang with 2/3 of the family. I stayed in a small super pretty cabin on the south side of the lake with a 100 -foot restaurant on foot. I relocated my whole team and 2.5 days of food from my little backpacks to my regular hiking package. Tomorrow we separate and continue north.
Day 70 // Miles of trails today: 39.2, total: 1948.7
Kelly Jake and I packed the cabin and conducted until the beginning of the path around 6:30 am I made a group hug and said goodbye, which is always difficult, but it comforts me to know that this is the last time we will have to do this before finishing this. I continued the long walk to Canada and began the long trip back home.
Today’s path was the Oregon section par excellence. Floating, non -technical and wooded. The lakes that crossed out the landscape were particularly beautiful, especially the Rosary, Lagos and Lake Charlton, where I got a great magic of trails (the same pleasant boy: «Ducky’s dad», like a donmore cabin!). It is difficult to believe that at this point I have already walked a little more than half of Oregon!
Charlton’s posterior stretch to Lake Irish was completely burned last year and was bleakly beautiful. Through the carbonized telephone posts that extend towards the sky, there were fantastic views of Mount Bachelor, Broken Top, the three sisters and the slightest glimpse of Mount Washington. Not seeing a single mosquito during this section raised it to a climax of the day.
I kept rolling in the afternoon, with a minimal discomfort of the foot and a maximum psychiatric. I felt so good to walk without pain and enjoy my surroundings. It was installed around 9:30 pm in Dumbbell Lake. It was my first night camping with others in a time, so I tried to prepare in silence. I closed my eyes feeling excited to spend time next to the three sisters tomorrow.
