Start point
Unlisted Site at 2072.1
End point
Timberline Lodge Campground, mile 2099.6
Miles hiked
27.5
Wilderness area
Mount Hood Wilderness
Mount Hood National Forest
Warm Springs Reservation
The day on trail
Big day! We’re getting to see a feature and then I’m heading to Timberline Lodge campground. Ketchup is going to camp out a few miles behind me and meet me in the late morning.
She took off a little before me. I knew I had a marathon-plus day ahead of me so I couldn’t dilly dally much.
It was a really well marked trail.
Just really, truly guided. Signs everywhere.
Even an entrance.
It was also so flat. And so well marked. I think it was so well marked because we were in both Warm Springs Reservation and Mt. Hood National Forest. Both are well maintained and popular areas.
There was even a bench. A big ol’ Flinstones style bench.
Another sign.
And a really cute slime mold!
I got to Timothy Lake, which was just…huge. More than I was expecting.
I wanted to jump in, but with Leukotape on an open wound, I didn’t want to have to take the time to remove the dressing, clean the wound, and redress it. It’s just a lot of time which I didn’t have. Which is a damn shame because a good skinny dip in a mountain lake is always where it’s at.
Oh well. Just gonna keep going on this perfectly manicured trail.
Seriously. It feels like day hike trail, not backcountry trail. Which is fine, there’s going to be some of that. It’s just surprising when it happens. You don’t have to really think much about where you’re going. And it’s nice to not have to think. I can do a mental check in. Just kind of go over my body. Back is doing well. Legs are good — no chafe or pains. Neck is fine. Even my toe is doing well. The LITHA method for my blister is so good as to be unnoticeable.
And then I got to the side trail for Little Crater Lake, where Ketchup was waiting for me, for our lunch spot.
This place was so cool. It was a small little hole with perfectly clear water.
There was a family there with a young child who had a tantrum and threw a Croc into the water, so there was a pink Croc just floating around with a frantic mother and a terribly upset father trying to corral it with a stick. It floated around, oblivious to their desires, guided by the gentlest of breezes ignorant to their wants.
They eventually got the floating clog without falling in.
Shortly after that, who showed up but someone from my non-hiking world — Janelle. Janelle is a childhood friend of my ex-girlfriend. Her and her mother stayed with us for a couple weeks after Janelle had a medical crisis and needed hoer mother’s support but couldn’t be at her home because of its distance from the hospital. She was there with her girlfriend, whom she’d been dating for a while now.
It was a little awkward, but it was really cool to catch up. I didn’t expect it at all, and neither did she. It’s really weird how small this world really, truly is. Even in the back country, miles away from any city, you can still see someone from states away without coordinating it.
Ketchup and I had lunch and reminisced, We are dreading splitting up at Timberline tomorrow. We’ve grown really close and fond of each other, and the hike will definitely change after this. You have to hike your hike, though, and neither of us can do that without splitting up.
I think this is going to be an important lesson in the future.
We took off from the lunch spot, having watched the Great Croc Chase of 2023 and caught up with Janelle and her girlfriend.
Almost immediately, there was a log with huge shelf fungi.
I think Oregon’s biggest draw for me is its mycology.
And then I found the absolute best sign I’ve seen on the PCT yet. Perhaps in my entire life.
A Yeti danger sign. Since I was passing it, I turned it to low, because the danger of running into this Yeddie is now lower since I’m booking it.
There was an animal bone in the dirt.
And the trail just winded around hills and mountains, hardly changing elevation.
Until we came to an incredible view of Mt. Hood.
I drank it up, but not too long because I have a lot of distance to cover still.
There was evidence of a trail runner.
That’s definitely not a hiker bottle, not any kind of hiker.
Ah, that’s why. It’s close enough to a city, Government Camp, that people bop over here and enjoy this trail network for small bits of time. How lucky they are to live so close to this trail!
Ooooh, it’s a river crossing warning!
I’m kind of glad I missed dramatic river crossings in the Sierra this year, though I do want the challenge. I’m comfortable in water, too. I remember crossing Cache Creek outside San Francisco. That wasn’t quite raging, but it definitely wasn’t beginner level.
I know I’ve had a few interesting crossings, but nothing where I had to ford the river. I guess, not since Whitewater in California, at least.
There was a road to cross.
And it had a little cell service. I checked my email and got confirmation from ULA that they thought ordering a smaller hip belt would help my chafing. I placed an order to be sent to Cascade Locks.
Luckily it was an easy road crossing. I don’t think I saw a single car. Just took a couple shots and walked across.
At this point I was starting to lose light so I couldn’t really stop too much more. As it is, I was going to be rolling into the camp late, and I don’t want to disturb other campers.
So I just pressed on. Enjoying the hike. I love hiking in the dark. The only bummer is that it’s hard to stop for photos because you really need a tripod or a light, and both take a good amount of wrangling to make work. And that’s just time and energy I don’t have right now.
But there was this cute frog.
I was now on the final ascent to get to the campground. It was dark. There wasn’t much moon, if any. The trail was easy to lose here because it was so sandy and trail markers were far apart. It was a couple miles up this sandy mountain, which ate your momentum as you took each step. There were a couple spots where there was a small outcropping of one or two small trees that dropped off a cliff to nothing.
It was an exhilarating final approach.
Finally,I got to another marker for the Mt. Hood National Forest, a Wilderness Area named for Richard Kohnstamm, someone I can’t really research right now.
This was the boundary for where I’d find the campsite.
I switched my headlamp over to red mode, so as not to disturb anyone and, as quietly as possible, walked around. I found a great site on the top of a hill, away from everyone else, where I could cook and eat without disturbing anyone. It was super windy, so setting up was a little bit of a hassle. Cooking was, too.
Some guy came in even later, and asked about where he could stay. I let him know that if he just explored around, he’d find another site. I remembered seeing one just around the bend from where I was. He thanked me and took off.
I ate, brushed up, and headed to bed.