August 14, Day 117: 1976.5-2000.9
Miles Hiked: 24.4
Gratitude of the Day: I’m thankful for my friends Sarah, Kristie, Erica and April. They’ve made getting to Bend and the hard days worth pushing to see them.
All of our alarms went off at 4am. I got up and started packing up, I was first on trail and was making my way to the promise land of Bend and Sarah and Beer at 4:30 with my headlamp on and a new attitude. The morning was mostly walking through the trees and I stopped to filter water and wait up for Hiccups and Kitty Titty at the water source 11 miles down trail. We enjoyed a break for a bit and then Kitty Titty and I started hiking towards McKenzie Pass, about a mile down trail a forest ranger stopped and starting chatting with us and then asked to see our PCT permits. This would only be my second time being checked on trail. I found my permit right away but Kitty Titty dug through his pack and dumped everything out, he couldn’t find his. He has a new bag and thinks perhaps he left it in the old bag. The Ranger was super nice and ultimately let him continue on but just warned him he should probably print his permit again while in Bend. Hiccups caught up to us and soon the trail changed from trees to lava fields. We were walking on lava rock that’s very similar to the decorative rock people use at their house except a little larger.
It was slow going and difficult to watch your footing. We hit McKenzie Pass and there was trail angels handing out Gatorade, we all drank it quickly and found out the lava field would go on for another 4 miles, how miserable. The sky was full of ash so at least the sun wasn’t beating down on us too much. It was a lot of cursing under the breathe during this section for me because your trekking poles would catch in deep lava holes or you’d be going uphill and every step felt like you were sliding back a 1/2 step.
We finally reached the side trail the the youth camp where we could get water and took another break for the day. At 2pm we just had 5 miles to go to end the day and we’d cross the 2000 mile marker. I headed out and the trail was now a soft sand, not as annoying as the lava rock but still a pain to walk through. The last miles passed quickly and soon I was standing in front of the pile of rocks that read 2000. I took a picture and then walked the last mile to the highway. I was a little early but Sarah was right on time. She picked me, Hiccups and Kitty Titty up off the pass, had cold beverages for us and finally I was done with the southern Oregon section of the trail. Bend was calling out names, tacos at El Sancho and air conditioning. Erica texted and said she couldn’t make it unfortunately because of a family emergency, but Kristie was nearly there and she brought along April. Now it’s time to rest up and soon Oregon will be finished, just 71 miles to go to the state of Washington.
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