Day 121: Berry Good Hiking

Date: Thurs 8/16

PCT Start Mile: 2108.1

PCT End Mile: 2138.6

PCT Mileage for Day: 30.2

Total PCT Mileage: 2138.6

The Highlights: berries, burns, and blabber mouths.

Today was our last full day of hiking in Oregon. Tomorrow we will only have a few hours or less to hike into Cascade Locks, our first town stop since we left Ashland two weeks ago.

We are beyond excited. Not only will we be taking a few days off from the trail, Shawn’s cousin Melissa is coming to visit us all the way from New Hampshire, so we are stoked that we could link up. On top of this, August 17-19 is PCT Days in Cascade Locks and many hikers we know will be descending upon the small town, so it should be an awesome trail reunion. And, it is our last stop in Oregon before heading into Washington, our last state on this journey. All exciting things.

But first… today’s hike. Today was basically thirty miles of undulating terrain, including a steep ascent toward the beginning of the day that was 2-3 miles. Oregon, why must you make me work so hard today? Can’t we just cruise until Cascade Locks?

The highlight of today’s hike was definitely passing through a huge patch of blueberry and huckleberry bushes. We stopped along with several other hikers to eat and pick some berries for later, our fingers turning purple from all the berries we picked. They were perfectly ripe, juicy, tart, and sweet. A perfect little break.

Today’s hike was mostly forested, through there were also some scree fields and the late afternoon brought us through more burn area from last year. Smoky haze has continued to fill the skies, so the views have been minimal, unfortunately.

Tonight we are camped at the last tentsite before the descent into Cascade Locks. Unfortunately, unlike last night, tonight we are surrounded by several other campers, at least six others sharing the site.

There are plenty of nights where we find ourselves at campsites that have other hikers. We usually chat with them a bit and just hope that everyone is respectful of others and quiet once it starts growing dark. No such luck with a group of four or so in this tent site. Some groups make their way down the trail without much regard for the fact that they aren’t the only people around. This was one of those groups.

Despite the fact that there were four other campers (including ourselves) already in tents and obviously ready for sleep, their group just did their thing, talking loudly as long as they wanted, as if everyone in the site must care what they are talking about. They were loud until well after dark, when they were ready for sleep. So now we can all sleep.

I think maybe I’m just just getting old and crotchety. Sounds like we will be getting up and hiking out at least an hour earlier than them, so I probably won’t try too hard to be my quietest. Definitely old and crotchety….

Tomorrow, we town!!!