Sept. 1 - Sept. 11 Eugene, OR to Portland, OR

It's always bittersweet to re-enter the wilderness especially with hosts the sort of James and Kelly. (sorry Boogie, as the secretary, I am making the sound judgment to not refer to you in the third person) I felt much too comfortable for over two days. In this case, the bitter outweighed the sweet. But a hiker must hike. Still alone, for Swiss Miss and Cash are still dilly-daddling along, I hiked north as the rain and snow began to let up. The trail passed lake upon lake, which I took advantage of with either a swim, a camp, or an afternoon picnic. And after days of traversing under heavy conifer canopy, I entered the land of the dinosaurs - three sisters wilderness. Not only did the sun break through, the trail exited the canopy to reveal huge, rugged monstrosities erupting from the surrounding area of rolling hills. I walked up and down the backs of these enormous dinosaurs and wound his way through obsidian falls, where everything sparkled and looked wet and dry at the same time. And then I arrived to a massive prehistoric lava flow, red and black boulders of basalt that I had to scale and climb. Truly a brilliant day of hiking; however, the volcanic rock left my feet aching come evening.

The sun lasted for two more days, but the wind blew hard and mighty and fall weather was imminent. After rounding stunning Mt. Washington and picturesque Mt. Jefferson park, I took a brief fire detour to a trailhead where a member of the forest service shuttled us the 15 miles north.
The following afternoon, I met up with El Presidente, the 1st PCT hiker I'd seen in 3 days. The meeting was welcome and we hiked together for the day, talking of the delicious food the next day would bring at Timberline Lodge Ski Resort. Everything was going smoothly until a caravan (+1 motorcycle) pulled up on us at 3:00am. They were young and couldn't figure out how tents and shoes arrived to the campsite without a vehicle. I set them straight.
And oh, the brunch at Timberline. Gourmet, fresh, local dishes of every sort. Theme: farmer's market. Brilliant! What's more, I discovered my friend Becky, from NMU, worked there. Oh, fortuitous meetings! But there was no time to waste (except a few hours in the pub), El Prez and I hiked out into the dark and rain.
And the morning to follow...more rain. Perhaps next time I can catch some of the most beautiful sights the whole PCT has to offer. Neither here nor there because I had Portland on the brain and organic farmer/massage therapist Carl helped me get there.

Who says friends can't be trail angels? I have found them to be trail angels of the highest order. Thank you Emily, Becky, Aaron, Abby, Tom, Helen, TJ and Sarah! They fed me, watered me (with beer and whiskey) and provided an awfully nice stable to bed down in. Portland and Vancouver, what brilliant places. I was able to visit my old chums Emily and Becky and reunite with the Macdonalds, family friends I haven't seen in ages. There is nothing finer than feeling a little piece of home after weeks in the woods.

But return to the woods I must. Aaron Macdonald drove me back after a U of M football game (victory!) and I hiked out only a few miles. Now I want all to share that you should never judge a book by its cover. I met Erwin at camp, a 60 year old hiker with blue jeans and a "carpet usa" t-shirt on (some hiker, right?). Well, it turns out this guy is a real life Bear Grylls (man vs wild). He explained how he used to run away from home as a child and live in the woods for a week, off the land. He eats grubs, roasted locusts, and ants wrapped in vine maple leaves. ( he showed me this meal). Then he told me about gourmet wilderness food: pine bark spaghetti, cattail corn on the cob, and wild orchid for dessert. He told it all with loud guffaws and a crazy look in his eye.

More pics!

See the last two previous posts for new pics!

Tales from the Trail: Short Vignettes on Animal Encounters in the Wild

Although not all have occurred on the PCT . . .

1. Two friends reach a suspension bridge across a river. Interesting enough, so why not take video of the experience. Now, why not continue to take video without telling friend when a big old senile bear starts to follow the man onto the bridge, a one man bridge. And finally, watch the bear realize he accidentally followed man onto bridge (after getting a whiff or hearing a sound) and trying to amble off as fast as possible.

2. Two hikers are walking down the trail, 5 minutes apart. They meet up for a snack break. The man walking behind says to man walking in front, "I hate to tell you this, but I think a mountain lion is stalking you!" There were mountain lion prints in the dirt and dust inside of the first man's boot prints.

3. Man is hunting through western mountains, stalking several types of prey. He comes to a snowfield and sees a set of mountain lion prints. He thinks, oh great, what excellent game . . . dangerous, big, thrilling . . . so he follows the set of prints for over a mile. The prints wind trough the woods, and in a roundabout way, circle back to the first set of prints, where he began. What does he find? Another set of prints. While he thought he was stalking the mountain lion, the mountain decided to stalk the man.

4. Hiker decides to hike a mountain through Washington wilderness. He comes to a snowfield as he climbs in elevation and trudges through it. After reaching the peak of the mountain, he begins his descent. He notices enormous cougar prints beside his footprints, all the way from when he first began. He can fit his fist within the one cougar print--the size of a full adult human hand.

5. Oregon backwoods man and his friends go out to camp for a week. Oregon man is your serious bar mule, rugged, gruff, a brute, and can take on an entire bar in a fight, and will if pushed. He will probably win the fight too. His aggression and arrogance are such that it transfers to wild animals. So at this camp, a black bear comes three nights in a row, tearing up trash and causing trouble. Night four comes around, and the Oregon man says, "I think I can take this bear." He walks up to the bear and throws 3 or 4 punches at the bear. The bear stumbles back a few steps, realizes what is happening, and starts to defend itself, landing the Oregon man in the hospital, severely injured.



And although this doesn't involve animals, I'll put it in for good measure . . . .
6. 13 year old boy is assigned to a survival program for troubled youth. We'll call him Billy. 28 days in the high desert of Utah. A week or two into the trip, a winter storm rolls in, snow, fog, frost, etc. Something incredibly unexpected, and which even the counselors were unprepared for. So the 13 year old boy is a talented survivalist and makes his bed of coals to sleep on and keep warm. Well the boy the counselors assigned to Billy as his other in the buddy system is not so adept to cold weather survival and cannot get his bed of coals figured out. So, in order to keep warm, he keeps trying to squeeze his feet between Billy's thighs. Billy starts to think, "This is kinda gay," and offers up his bed of coals to the boy and goes for a night hike to smoke a bowl and eat a peanut butter cup (remember this is to reform troubled youth). On his stroll he discovers a path out of the valley (something he later leads the entire group out of in order to survive). When he returns to the camp, he notices another young girl shivering by the fire, his boots iced over. He quickly builds a large, hot signal fire and then begins to check on all the other campers, some good and warm, some hypothermic and frostbitten. Without warning, a cold air freeze blew into the valley. Billy cuts off the girl's boots and peels away her socks to reveal black frostbite all over her foot. The same for several other of the kids. Finally morning comes and they get on the radio and get the frostbitten kids airlifted out of the valley. Sweet irony.

Aug. 26th (night) - 31st. Crater Lake to Eugene, OR

Sometimes Boogieman needs some misfortune to appreciate how great everything is. Because, just after sending off the last post, everything turned towards his favors. A 4-mile hitchhike to resupply, all-you-can eat salad bar, discovery of lost croc, and reunion with Darth and Live. Not to mention one of the most rare and exciting experiences of his life.
Earlier in the day, Boogie meets Ben, a hiker out for the weekend. They discuss camping possibilities and part ways. Ben takes valley by the creek. Boogie takes plateau by the spring. After dark, Boogie, Darth, and LIve arrive to camp and make a fire. Soon after, Ben arrives to the fire, noticeably agitated. We invite him to sit and enjoy, but he just paces. Finally, with shy embarrassment, he asks one of us to return to his campsite. "Could one of you come with me to grab my bag and pad? There's a mountain lion waiting for me." (Let me guess...Boogieman to the rescue-secretary side note)
Boogie, Darth, and Live erupt into laughter. Ben, no smile. Boogie thinks, wow, he's serious. He offers to go after Ben describes his encounter surprising the cat and the cat standing its ground twice. So Boogie and Ben approach the camp. We shine our lights to catch the eyes and silhouette of the large cat (What a sexy animal(this is ben's writing)!) Ben freaks out: "Bad Cat! Bad CAt!" He's banging sticks on the ground. Boogie wants a better look, but he gets caught up in the frenzy: "Heeey Cat! Heeeey CAt!" He bangs his stick on the ground and barks. The cat glares at us and sleeks off up the river bank. They all go to sleep incredibly lightly. Favorite quote: "That cat was waiting at the bottom of the trail with its mouth open waiting for me to walk in. It was as big as an African lion and I'm a little guy!"
After the excitement, Boogie parts ways from all 3 and is off alone to hike through snowfall (in August!?) and hang loose with his friends, James and Kelly, in Eugene. What a beautiful city and what incredible hosts! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! Awesome barbecue, great friends and wow, Oregon beers!

Aug. 21st-25th Ashland, OR to Crater Lake, OR

Birdshot departs, and with him, so does the summer. Fall blew in overnight as Boogieman camped at the base of Pilot Rock. However, Boogieman managed to catch a play with Darth and live at the famous Ashland Shakespear festival - a nice contrast with the rugged wilderness. But ephemeral. The woods beckoned. After a morning climb above the clouds to Pilot Rock (see photos), Boogie headed north to catch Darth and LIve some 17 miles ahead. Night 1: failed. However, Boogie found a beautiful lake with a trail angel camp host, who said the 18 camp site was on the house. Plus he offered stinky (don't know if that was the word, couldn't read your handwriting ben) Boogie quarters for a hot shower.
The following morning became even colder. Long sleeve, hat and glove weather. Boogie rushed off in hopes of reuniting with Darth and Live. Life can get lonely after two days sans Birdshot. The afternoon saw to a reunion, and they hiked off together towards Fish Lake. It felt good to be back to shorter miles, coffee mornings, and long afternoon rests. But not a day later, B oogie was back to his old habits of 30+ days in order to sit back and enjoy Crater Lake for a day (sounds familiar). Instead, however, all he did was hike around all day, missing the Post office by 10 minutes, and accidently hiking away from the grocery resupply and the all you can eat buffet.

p.s. Still awaiting SwissMiss and Cash.

Freedom Photos!!