Monday, July 8, 2019 - “All Good Things . . .” 10.0 miles, South Brown Mountain Shelter (1763.3) to Hwy 140 (1773.3) - Ascent 891.7’, Descent 1229’

Up at 5:15am.  Restless sleep between 2:40am and 5:15am.  Put on the earbuds and music at 3:30am.  Ed made tea this morning, so a bit slower getting to the trail.  Walked past Botox on our way out to PCT from cabin, along with 6 other tents scattered about.  Once on the PCT sauntered along for 4 miles before we stopped for a bite to each in a rock field.  We leap frogged 6 other hikers (one of them Botox) a couple of times. One couple had a barking Doberman Pincher.  Yuck!  I do not like dogs on the trail. Arrived at the trail junction to Fish Lake Resort at 11:15am.  Decided that this is where we would part, Ed to go 2 miles down the side trail to Fish Lake Resort, I would go 1/4 mile north to where the PCT crosses Hwy 140 to thumb a ride to Medford.  Before we parted, Clever, Bethany, Hannah and Chipmunk arrived in the clearing. We chatted about 1/2 an hour before I shouldered my pack and headed to the highway.  Once there, I unfurled my “PCT Hiker to Town” sign and began thumbing.  I texted Sally that I was on the highway and she called. With her on speaker phone I continued to thumb, watching about 50 rigs of all sizes zoom by until a white Chevy pickup pulled to the shoulder.  I did not notice it at first. I’m not sure how long he sat 100’ behind me until I turned around and saw him.  I ran down to the truck.  An overweight 64 year old man beckoned me in.  I thanked him and off we went.  

Mason self proclaimed his 8th grade education and I soon learned he owned a concrete cutting business in Medford, Kalamath Falls and Grants Pass. Trump voter, he described his youth as an army enlister, Harley hellion, rebellious youth.  Lots of profanity, but a pride in the businesses he had brought to life. He dropped me at the airport as I requested.  I used Google Maps bus function to find the bus station and jogged to it as the bus was already approaching it. Talked with the driver and found I would have a 45 minute wait for the bus to the transfer station or I could just ride on his air-conditioned bus for those 45 minutes while he made a loop to White Center and back, then to the terminal. I rode, talking on the phone to Jeff about the schedule for the new home and plumbing issues with his old condo. Had to wait 20 minutes at the station to get on Bus 10 to Bi-Mart in Ashland, but was soon humming along. Had three people want to talk to me about the PCT, including Ed Blume, a former actor from the series “Nash Bridges” where he played bit parts alongside Don Johnson. Fun ride and an hour later I was at the Bi-Mart. A quick 3 block walk and I was at the AM-PM freeway on ramp thumbing to Callahan’s.  There was a homeless lady there begging for money in God’s name.  I was competing for corner space with her and was concerned she would hamper may chances of getting a ride. After about 15 minutes and 10 cars an Asian man walked over from the AM-PM gas station and offered me a ride to California.  I told him I only needed to go 6 miles and he was happy to give me a ride. This was Tam from Vietnam, immigrated to the US at age 15 as a boat person in the 80’s.  Just sold his restaurant and had been traveling the world for three months.  He dropped me off at the freeway off ramp and I walked down to Callahan’s, got Ed’s charger, changed shirts, slipped into sandals and headed north on I-5 for home. It was about 4:30pm when I sped out onto the freeway. A stop for In & Out burgers in Medford and gas at Canyonville and Vancouver punctuated the drive and I was home at 10:45pm.  What a fun, adventurous day!  It renewed my joy in hitchhiking and being out in the world on my feet with all I need in my pack.  I hope the summer brings more of those events.

Sunday, July 7, 2019 - The “Big Climb” 12.2 miles, Grizzly Creek (1751.1) to South Brown Mountain Shelter (1763.3) Ascent - 2082’, Descent - 1250’

I took a Benadryl last night to see if it would help me sleep. It did. I did not wake between 8:30pm and 4:45am. Solid, sound sleep even though Ed got out of the tent at 12:30am to pee. Because there is no caffeine in my diet, I have been able to make it through a nine hour night without needing to pee. Ha!  So much for older men and their bladders!  

We started getting out of the tent at 5:00am. I had my usual granola and milk for breakfast as I packed and we were on the trail by 5:45am this morning. From Grizzly creek the trail climbs 1762’ over 6 miles. It was the most gentle grade I can remember experiencing. We talked away the morning and got into politics about the time we reached the pipe spring. We took on a bit more water, although looking back I don’t see why. I have been carrying too much water for the conditions. Although it is brilliantly sunny, the air is wonderfully cool. That coolness combined with Ed’s reasonable pace means I don’t really sweat. For the entire 12 miles we covered today I consumed less than a liter. I made the same over cautious blunder last year at the beginning- carrying too much water for the conditions. There was water three times along the trail today. I could have gone without water and only drank at the watering holes, lightening my pack by 5 pounds. Note to self:  remember that next time. 

We got to The South Brown Mountain Shelter about 1:25pm. We walked into the shelter (300’) to the west of the trail) and found a small log shelter and a cement pad with a hand operated pump rising from it. While Ed checked out the surrounding area I messed around with the pump. The handle was missing, so I had to military press the sleeve of pipe that was the pump mechanism. It worked if you did two quick lifts in succession, the first to “prime” the pump, the second to bring the water. 

I walked back to the trail junction to watch over our packs until Ed returned from his campsite scouting expedition. Once back, we walked back to the shelter, filled up with water and headed for our campsite. Tent pitched, I cooked the second half of last night’s dinner for a late lunch, blogged and just enjoyed the afternoon.   

Saturday, July 6, 2019 - A Pleasant Walk - 8.4 miles, Hyatt Lake Resort (1742.7) to Grizzly Creek (1751.1). Ascent - 898’, Descent - 1520’

Up at 5:00am in our cozy cabin. Shower and a cup of tea and we are on the road by 6:00am. We took care to leave the cabin very clean before we left. We had about 1.5 miles to walk to get back to the PCT. We walked in the early morning light, watching the steam rise off Hyatt lake. The campground soon passed under our feet and we were again standing on the trail. In the course of the day we crossed 10 roads. This is not wilderness. There was virtually no elevation gain for the day, just 858’ with 1520’ of descent. Just gently rolling terrain except for a final drop into Grizzly creek. 

We met a little trail magic along the way. Some kind person left some beer, Mug Root Beer and bottled water on the side of the trail. We shared a root beer and Ed drank a water. 

Just before Grizzly creek is an aqua duct. The trail crosses it on a bridge. We stopped on the near side and soaked our feet for half an hour as Grizzly Creek was only a hundred yards down the trail.  After the soak, we searched near Grizzly Creek for a camping site and found a level apt on the hill, halfway between the creek and the road that paralleled the access road along the aqueduct. With the tent up I slipped in for a nap while Ed explored the creek and it’s families of butterflies-orange, blue and white. After my nap I worked on yesterday’s blog and watched for PCT hikers passing by beneath our camp. We said hi to a few as they passed, but didn’t engage with any until JeanMarie Gossard came by. We had not met her before, but while they were finishing filling their water down by the creek I remembered the extra food I had that I was hoping to give away. I walked across the bridge and offer my extra food to her and Mark. She took the extra granola and we had a nice conversation for 20 minutes. I gave her my phone number and told her to call when she got to the Goat Ricks and I would trail angel for her if I could. 

Back to the tent for dinner of rice and chicken, then “Day After Tomorrow” for a movie. I forced poor Ed to listen to an episode of Star Wars the radio drama, which he did as I fell asleep. Nice day!!

Friday, July 5, 2019 - Soaking it all in - 3.00 Miles - Hyatt Lake Dam (1741.2) to Hyatt Lake Resort (1742.8)

I am on the PCT, yet I just completed my second soak in a hot tub in three days. What?  I relax in a recliner sipping a cool drink as I type this blog post, contemplating tomorrow’s hike. Mind you, it is not one of those ratty recliners in a filthy house along the trail. No sir, this puppy is nestled inside a spotlessly clean mountain cabin about 1.5 miles off the trail. Hiking the PCT with Ed is a different animal, like a well groomed slinky leopard compared to a skunk. 

Last night was a bit uncomfortable. To assure we had access to the beach Incase others joined us at our camp area we pitched the tent adjacent to the lawn that trailed down to the waters edge. The tent was not level, sloping down and to the right, facing the tent. It was a gentle slope, but a slope nonetheless. About 3:00am, after waking many times, I knew I could not stay prone at that angle. My back muscles stayed flexed most of the night attempting to keep me on the slope. That coupled with Ed sliding down and pushing me onto the wall of the tent motivated me to pull my Tyvex from under the tent, pull my sleeping bag and sleeping pad out of the tent and search by headlamp for level ground, or at least sloping ground that I could align myself to the fall line. I found what I was seeking just 10 feet outside the tent. I quickly set up my sleeping area and was soon feeling the aches in my back departing. 

We only had 2 miles of trail and 1.5 of road walking today to bring us to Hyatt Lake Resort. Ed has made reservations a few weeks ago. The short distance prompted us to sleep in and lazily prepare to leave once awake. It was after 8:00am by the time we were packed up and on the trail. Hannah was on a similar schedule and followed us to the PCT. She stopped for water while we continued on, yet she passed us about 10 minutes later. 

We got to the entrance to the campground on Hyatt reservoir. As we walked downhill toward the camping pay station we say Melissa coming up. We had not seen her since Callahan’s and had been wondering if she were ahead or behind. Turns out both were true. She camped behind us last night, yet passed us this morning as we broke camp. The only reason we got to see her was she stepped off the trail to use the pit toilets at the campground before soldiering on. We chatted for about 10 minutes. There is a good chance we will see her in the days ahead as she is keeping about the same pace we are. 

We walked through a deserted campground trying to reason out why they would be closed on the Fourth of July weekend. We walked across the dam that creates the lake then onto the paved road and up to the Hyatt Lake Resort. It was now only about 10:00am. We registered for our room on the off chance it would be available. It was not. We ensconced ourselves at an outside umbrella table, ate breakfast and lunch, contacted friends and read. I held a brief text conversation with hiking buddy Derek over in Ireland. He sent a voice text. Good to hear his voice and accent. Ed ordered a chicken salad from the restaurant. I ate my trail lunch of crackers, cheese and dried apples. 

We moved into our cabin at about 1:45pm. It has a hot tub!  A quick washing of socks and shirt, then a long soak in the hot tub. Ahhhhh. No swim suit and too visible to the other cabins to go nude. Underwear looks like Speedos and besides, it got them clean. 

The rest of the afternoon were occupied with blogging in a recliner, a nap, a trip to the small store and dinner. The movie for the night was “The Dawn Wall”. I tried for a few minutes to use my phone as a WiFi base for Roku TV in the in the cabin, but my ATT signal was not strong enough. Had it been, we would have watch “Free Solo”.   All in all, this is a new paradigm for doing the PCT. 

Thursday, July 4, 2019 - A Question of Trail Etiquette, 11.1 miles, Spring (1731) to Hyatt Reservoir (1741.2) Ascent 1228.7ft, Descent 2110.6 ft

Resourceful or deviant?  That question was bantered about this morning as Ed and I made a route decision. What are the ethics of the trail? Do you have to walk every step on the trail? Can you take an alternate route and still count it as hiking the PCT? What is a purest and when does purest turn to annoying OCD? You can enter the discussion and express your opinions later, when I present the facts of the situation.

I slept well last night, at least by my standards. I was unconscious from 8:30pm until 12:30am when I was awakened by Ed as he crawled out of the tent to relieve himself. I was quickly back asleep, but as is my sleep pattern, it was more dozing and cat napping than full on lights out. 

About 3:30am nature placed a call to me.  Unfortunately, this call can only be answered outside the tent, away from my warm quilt. Ed received a similar call. We both exited to take the call. Once back inside, I found sleep hard to catch again, so I put in my earbuds and listened to music, drifting in and out of sleep. Jimi Hendrix was filling my ears when I felt a rustling next to me. I opened an eye to see Ed fully dressed, acting as if he were getting up. 

“What time is it?”, I groggily asked. 

“5:20.”, came the reply. 

I slowly came to, then began munching my leftover dinner from last night as I dressed, collapsed my sleeping pad, stuffed my quilt and generally made ready for departure. 

We were on the trail by 6:05am. We counted 8 other tents in the area as we pulled away. 

It was a beautiful morning. Not a cloud in sight. Lite breeze. Sun beginning to peak above the horizon. The trail was nearly level, just gently rising and falling as it stayed close to the rounded ridge top. We chatted as we sauntered along. Quickly, two hours and four miles had passed. “Really?  It’s eight o’clock?”  We stopped for Ed to adjust his shoe. I took the opportunity to drop the kids off at the pool. Once moving again, we came to a road crossing in about 100 yards, complete with a bathroom. Darn. Wish I would have known 100 yards earlier. 

At 5.5 miles we walked above Keene Resevoir and soon crossed the Green Spring Highway. The pipe gate on the south side of the highway had a busted latch. We fooled around with it for 10 minutes, then crossed the highway and sat down in the shade of the pines on the northside for a break. Looking at the map we noticed the PCT turned south again about 2 miles up the trail. What? Why?  Closer inspection found a gravel road, Old Hyatt Prairie Road, that ran directly north to our destination, cutting about 2.5 miles from today’s hike. 

So. The question. When is hiking the PCT not hiking the PCT? If you hike a road that has a more direct route than the trail, without hitching a ride, are you still hiking the PCT or have you “cheated”?  Ed and I discussed this issue for a bit and decided it depends on what your goals and aspirations are (A version of the “hike your own hike” (HYOH) mantra.). I want to be able to tell myself I walked from Mexico to Canada, every step. But whether every step is on the trail is not important, especially when the trail makes wild gyrations around private property. Ed shared that philosophy. Decision made. We’ll hike the road. 

We continued up the trail 1.4 miles to where it crossed the road, turned right and followed it 1.5 miles to the Little Hyatt Resevoir, our destination, instead of following the trail for 4.5 miles to reach the same location. 

Once at the lake we noticed a flat area on the west shore. The road continues along the east shore where a couple cars and trucks were dispersal camping. The west shore was isolated and unoccupied. We clambered up the hill by the small dam holding this Resevoir in place and soon found an excellent place to plant ourselves for Independence Day. Lunch, a swim in the lake, a nap and blogging followed. 

Wednesday, July 3, 2019 - A Good Beginning, 12.4 miles - Callahan’s (1717.7) to a piped Spring (1730.1) Ascent 3247’ - Descent 1724’

Up from the comfy bed of Callahan’s at 5:15am this morning. Last night we drove from Callahan’s to Ashland to pick up some breakfast foods-this morning I dined on an apple, a croissant and some almonds. Ed had a Subway breakfast sandwich. It took about an hour to get out the door as we go enjoyed breakfast, packed our gear and fiddled around.

The morning air at 6:15qm was cool as we walked up the highway, under the I-5 overpass and up the frontage road to the actual trail. It was nice to be able to talk to Ed and we jabbered as we hiked along. After a mile on the road we came to the trailhead and transitioned from one world to another. 

It was brisk this morning and I hiked with a fleece on. The trail wandered up and down as we somewhat traversed along the ridge, heading mostly east or southeast with the occasional bend due south.  The vegetation altered between heavily wooded to open meadows. Finally, the trail turned northeast. 

Ed kept the pace slow, we averaged about 2+ mph, but we moved steadily with few breaks. About 12:30pm we hit the ten mile mark where running water and a tent site were reported. We found both but decided to hike another 2 miles to a water source with more water.  We found the “pipe” spring as expected, flowing with plenty of water. We decided to camp here. All the campsites were in the trees between the trail and the spring. Below the spring was open, level meadow and a small pond. We noticed across the open field about 50 yards that the ground began to fall away, affording a big view down into Ashland 20 miles away and a couple thousand feet below. We walked across the meadow to investigate and found a wonderful place to camp, but realized we were on someone’s private property complete with stakes and ribbons outlining a new home. A quick check of the map showed a dirt road below the site only a 100’ or so. We decided To respect private property and walked back to the vicinity of the spring to camp. Ed filled his water bottles at the spring while I located a place to camp slightly off the path to the spring. 

It was now 2:00pm.  We spent the rest of the afternoon resting, reading, putting up the tent-generally doing nothing. We began dinner about 5:00pm. Ed is having Mountain House Beef Stroganoff, I’m having curry chicken, carrots and rice with dried cranberries, dried pineapple and walnuts as garnish. As it cooked I realized I had made way too much. I resolved to eat half of it tonight and save the second half for breakfast. 

As my liter of hot food was slowly cooking I re-evaluated our tent placement and decided it was not the best. Down the slope about 30’ was a good looking spot . . . Except a snag had fallen into it, completely covering the site. A few minutes of grunting and the area was clear. We unstated the tent and hauled it down, sleeping bags and pads suspended inside. Ahhh. So much better. Nice pine needle duff outside the door and gentle uphill slope for our heads. 

I climbed in and positioned my pack and gear artfully around my side of the tent entrance to facilitate access to everything. Ed did the same from the outside of the tent, then clambered in. 

As it was only 6:30pm, I perused my movie choices. Ed said he was tired and going to sleep. I found “Valley Uprising”, a film on the history of climbing in Yosemite and hit play the movie started about 15 minutes on, describing the conflict between Warren Harding and Royal Robbins. Ed was laying with his eyes closed. I let the movie run about 5 minutes and Ed was hooked. “Let me see that.”  I started the movie at the beginning and we spent the next hour and a half enjoying the film. 

Now it was 8:30pm, 30 minutes past hiker midnight. A respectable time to go to sleep. And that we did. 

Tuesday, July 2, 2019 - Here We Go Again

My fourth sojourn onto the PCT starts tomorrow. I will pick up where I left off last year, at Callahan’s Lodgesouth of  Ashland Oregon. Ed Thompson, my climbing buddy for the last 49 years, has scheduled a 44 day jaunt up Oregon and get to join him for the fist 6 days. I would like the do more, but, believe it or not, I want to be home for Cheese Days back in Toledo. For what event?  The frog jump contest Friday night with Robby. He has been excited about it all year since the event last year and I want to be there to share it with him. 

Today I left home about 9:00am driving my Toyota pickup south to Salem to collect Ed. On the way I stopped at REI in Salem for a need pair of gaiters, once I had Ed and bid Audrey his wife goodbye then it was onward to Ashland and Callahan’s for the night where he has rented a room. A stop for gas at Canyonville, I hen a stop for In and Out burgers in Medford punctuated our otherwise uneventful 4 and a half hour drive. The only surprise was gas mileage. When we filled up in Canyonville I found I got 32 mpg, 10 mpg better than I have ever gotten in that truck before. Nice surprise!  

Our room had a jacuzzi and hitch inavvailed myself of while I watched “Day After Tomorrow” on my phone. We cut the lights about 9:00pm when Jeff and Jackie called about flooring for their new house. I completed my movie after the call and closed my eyes about 10:40. Good day.