PCT Hike

Here are some photos from a little solo hike I took on the Pacific Crest Trail in the first week of August.  I started at Highway 20 and headed north to Mt Hood.  It was satisfying to add a few more miles to the PCT, since last time I hiked it in 2009 I also started at Hwy 20, only heading south with an obstinate mule.

My mom dropped me off and hiked the first couple miles with me.  After she left, I took another hour or two to reach Three Fingered Jack.  It’s a very familiar profile, but I had never seen the backside before; it had very beautiful rusty striations.  I stopped to refill my canteen at a small pond on the northside of the mountain and then made a pretty grueling and long ascent up a bluff that was almost completely denuded by a fire.  I must have climbed over 50 blow-downs, and the winds were fierce.  I camped the first night in my hammock at Rock Pile Lake.

The next day I traveled through the Mt Jefferson wilderness, looking down on Marion and Pamelia Lakes, where I have camped with Josef the last few years.  I camped at a sunny and peaceful unnamed pond south of Jefferson, once again in a burned out forest.

The next day I climbed up into Jefferson Park, which is a lovely meadow full of wildflowers and trickling streams, set at the base of the snowy mountain.  It was quite crowded, and I can see why it’s a limited entry area–so beautiful and relatively easy for a first time backpacking excursion.   A long, shadeless and hot climb up from the meadow gave me my first view of Mt Hood.  It was fun to mark my progress by looking back at Jack and forward to Jeff.  Now I would be looking back at Jeff and forward to Hood.  Sometime I would marvel “wow I walked that far today?!”

I camped that night at the Olallie Lake Campground, which is a very rustic and remote little “resort.”  It would be fun to come back there some time with family and friends.  The next day was as mild and pleasant as could be, wandering through gentle terrain and old growth forest, passing by little lakes here and there.  I sang songs joyfully, and camped along the Warm Springs River.  My last full day of hiking was up to Frog Lake, where I pitched my hammock in the woods outside the campground and took a bath in the lake.

For the last day I hiked up to Timberline Lodge, where I treated myself to a room for the night and a feast.  It was a heck of a way to cap off a 100 mile hike!