We had an epic adventure....
Our goal: 130 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail in 7 days.
We almost made it.
We started out Friday afternoon and hiked 8 miles to camp under Mt. Thielsen. We got to camp after dark but in the morning we saw how gorgeous our camp spot was.
Breakfast the next morning. Pancakes with raspberry syrup. Rory was a little disappointed they didn't end up looking like pancakes. Scrambled pancakes taste just as good as whole ones.
Day two we got cocky. We hiked 22 miles. By the end of the day I had blisters everywhere imaginable and my feet had swollen so much I couldn't bend my toes. Rory tweaked his knee and also got a blister.
We camped by a little lake that thankfully had water in it. The section we were hiking through was pretty dry.
Day three we decided to take it easy and hike 12 miles to Summit Lake. There were some amazing vistas. Too bad we were limping so much. We experienced some trail magic along the way. We'd forgotten ibuprofen but a wonderful gentleman gave us his bottle. By the end of day three it took us 3 1/2 hours to go 4 miles. We had been going 3 miles in an hour and 15 minutes. Bad deal.
We got to Summit Lake and soaked our feet and decided we'd better get out while we could still walk. Summit Lake was beautiful and warm and had some really cool dragon flies.
Curried chicken for dinner helped us feel happier.
Blisters. Pictures don't do it justice.
Day four we hiked 8 miles out to a paved road and started hitch hiking back to our car. They'll probably never see this but thank you thank you thank you to Hunter Man, Mr. and Mrs. Harold and company, and Wendy and Lula (the therapy dog) for picking up our dirty, stinky, disreputable looking selves. And now I can cross hitch hiking off my bucket list!
We got back to our car and drove to Bend where we got a hotel and ate ourselves a mini heart attack (courtesy of Pilot Butte Burger). Delicious! We spent the evening soaking in a hot tub and talking to some old motorcycle dudes. They told us not to get into debt. Good advice.
We spent the next day exploring Tumalo and Sisters Oregon where we found tasty tamales and plump peaches. What could be better than a picnic in the park? A picnic in the park while putting your sore toes in the sweet cool grass.
We saw the Dee Wright observatory. It was a little hard to observe because of the smoke. The picture below is of the North and Middle Sisters and Little Brother.
All in all it was a great trip. We were sad that we had to end early but it's probably better than crippling ourselves for life. We made 56 miles in three days and hitch hiked 60 miles back again. We met and smelled some really interesting people along the way and I found out that for the most part strangers are very kind. If you are ever in the situation to safely pick up a hitch hiker please do. You may meet someone intriguing. Plus it's hot hiking on a road.
