I started my hike on the morning of July 17, 2016. On the afternoon of the fourth day, I reached Fish Lake Resort (58-mile stint), the location of my first resupply box. After showering, doing laundry, and sorting through my resupply box, I continued on for a few more miles.
After doing two 24-mile days, I reached Mazama Village below Crater Lake (52-mile stint) a day early. I stayed the night here with a group of hikers at the campground, then left the following morning. After 5 days, I reached Shelter Cove (86-mile stint) where Kylie picked me up. This began a 3-night layover including a visit to Bend and camping on Odell Lake.
On Sunday afternoon, Kylie dropped me off where the PCT crosses Hwy 20 west of Bend, skipping my planned 4th stint between Shelter Cove and Big Lake Youth Camp (5 days, 89 miles). On the fourth day of this 102-mile stint with less than 100 miles to Cascade Locks, I hiked 5 miles off trail to be picked up by my good friend Geoffrey. I coordinated this rescue because my right achilles tendon had become increasingly sore over the last 3 days and I didn't feel I could continue safely.
Journal Entries
Each night before sleeping, I spent about 30 minutes jotting down my thoughts from the day. I've transcribed these notes word-for-word in individual posts. They sometimes appear in a jumbled order and with typos, which are designated by placing [sic] after mistakes that are acknowledged and quoted exactly. I've also added additional text which I think adds to the ephemeral, sometimes random thoughts I happened to write down at the end of my days.
First journal post.
Photos
A link to an album containing every photo I took during the trip can be found on Google Drive (link). There will also be a few of the more relevant photos included with the journal post from each day.
Photos were taken on a Sony DSC-W800 point-and-shoot camera. It had great battery life, easily lasting a 5-day stint.
Post-Hike Gear Reviews
Link
Resupply Boxes
I sent ahead 5 boxes containing food, fuel, maps, toiletries, first aid, and other miscellaneous supplies for each upcoming stint. I also included cash and quarters for paying for laundry and showers, when available.
Below is a list of items I sent in each resupply box along with any comments.
Food, per day:
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I packaged each day's worth of food in a gallon-size freezer bag mainly so that I could track if I was eating enough/too much. I left as much food as I could in its original packaging (Mountain House, Knorr, mac and cheese) to preserve freshness, but had to send some bulk items already repackaged in quart-sized freezer bags (nuts, powdered milk, cereal/granola). While sorting through resupply boxes, I repackaged the bulkier food items into quart-sized freezer bags.
Before packing the food into each resupply box, I put all the food into a heavy duty trash compactor bag, spun it closed, then secured it with a zip tie. This was to try to isolate the food from other scented items in the box (soap, toothpaste).
Toiletries:
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| Link |
First Aid:
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| Link |
Miscellaneous Gear:
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| Link |
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