PCT Day 126, Double Flip and a Flop, Day 45

August 16

PCT miles: 1278.1

Running total: 1396.3

As the first alarm started to go off I asked Matt if he was ready to get up yet. He replied, “not yet, the bears are still being too loud.” And it was true- they were quite noisy this morning!

BUT GUYS!!! We got out before 0700!! We left Olallie Lake Resort at 0655, but still!!

We started our day walking downhill for a few miles, and then we hit our first of three small elevation gains for the day, approximately 500 feet up over 2-ish miles.

We were cruising at an average speed of 19minutes/mile! We stopped for second breakfast around 10am, where we were joined by Dances with Logs and Boardwalk, two hikers we had first crossed paths with at Shelter Cove and then again at a brewery in Bend- they are DEFINITELY our speed! They are taking their time, hiking similar daily miles as us, and they, too, seem to double-up on their zero days & sometimes even triple zero if they are digging a town!! When the entire trail north of the desert (and even some of the desert!) was covered in snow, they killed time by taking an Alaskan cruise(as they said, they escaped snow to see more snow…🤷‍♀️) AND(this is why I like them so much…) it was only 10am & they were already on their third breakfast for the day AND they were planning on stopping again for lunch in 7 miles!!! Gosh, kindred spirits or what!?

Due to our good company Matt and I took a longer break than we had intended to, but we were still up and moving by 11, facing our second elevation gain of the day- 700feet over 3 miles.

Again we were crushing the miles, walking a little faster than 20minutes/mile!

We decided to break for lunch at a water source 10 miles after second breakfast. Since we were making such great time, we were on schedule to hike 30 miles before 7:30pm, which would have allowed us to reevaluate how we were feeling to determine if we could push on another 2 miles before setting up camp- after all, the more we did today, the less we would have to do tomorrow!

Just as we were arriving to our lunch spot around 2:30, Matt’s knee started bugging him a bit. Shit!! Matt thought that some ibuprofen and rest would help, so it was perfect timing for lunch. Unfortunately Matt spent the first 15 minutes of lunch running away from world’s biggest wasp- it was not the restful lunch he needed!! Ah!! Eventually the wasp backed off enough to allow Matt to eat in intermittent peace.

Matt then had to go to the bathroom, and on his way back a tree branch jammed into his thigh, breaking skin. After attending to the tree-branch wound & a foot blister, we were finally ready to pack up and head out, about 20 minutes later than we had planned…but then I couldn’t find my phone. After unpacking my entire pack, AND my food bag & fanny pack twice, I FINALLY found my phone zipped in a pocket I rarely open- what the heck?!! It was 4:10 by the time we were hiking again, with 11 more miles to go to get our 30-mile day.

We had our last climb, just under 1000feet in just over 2 miles. Once we made it up and over this climb, it was rather flat & smooth sailing for the next few miles.

We took a short, ten minute break about 7 miles after lunch to rest our feet then pushed on the last 4 miles to Timothy Lake.

We decided to bypass the first tent site we came across since it appeared to be occupied by overnighters&weekenders {which usually means noise and garbage}, & hiked a few tenths of a mile to the next site. We were both feeling surprisingly good and had agreed that we would have liked to hike on another mile or two had the sun not been quickly setting. After 13 hours and 10 minutes and 30.4 miles, we called it quits for the day.

Today was the perfect day to accomplish this goal of ours: the terrain wasn’t too difficult, there were no lakes to swim in, and since we were in the trees for most of the day, we didn’t get distracted by beautiful views. And now that we did it, I don’t need to do it again. 🙂

Sidenote: today is Day 45 since returning to the trail- Matt had gotten hurt on Day 45 in the desert. It’s so crazy how different those first 45 days were to these past 45 days- we had SO much fun with our trail fam in the desert & although we have met some really awesome people in the past 45 days, it just hasn’t been the same- a lot less laughs, a lot more loneliness.

Happiness is: hiking over 30 miles!