After our near-o rest day in Bend, which was more of a shopping day than anything, we hit the trail again on Thursday morning (the 27th) having again been kindly given a ride back to the trailhead by Stacie & Chad.
Our packs were well loaded up, both of is just able to cinch the tops down due to the 6 days worth of food we were packing. On the past few resupply missons & subsequent trail-times, we'd both been a bit conservative with the food selections & amounts, & both of us had often been feeling unfulfilled & hungry, so this time we said sod the weight & were loaded up with extra snacks & meals.
The start was a rough one, having to slog our way 2+ miles over the rough uneven & unforgiving volcanic rock that was once a red hot lava flow. Once we'd managed to get through that, we were back into more familiar & favorable terrain amongst the pines... Well, the terrain underfoot was similar, but the pines around us were slightly worse for wear having been scorched to death in a huge forest fire in 2003. New growth was beginning to show, & the lack of forest canopy meant the wildflowers & grasses could florish, so there was still a lot of beauty in the otherwise harsh landscape.
There were a lot of day-hikers & section hikers out that day. One in particular gave Tom & I a chuckle. Striding towards us with what appeared to be an out of breath grandpa behind was a young, very happy hiker of about 12, his oversized pack almost as big as he was bouncing away on his skinny shoulders.
" Where'd ya start?" he asked loudly, grinning away.
"The Mexican border" I replied.
"Goin' all the way?" he fired back...
"Planning to" I said.
"Good on ya! Australia?"... Again, sharp as a tack.
"New Zealand" I managed to reply...
"Aaah, KIWI! Cool... Well, have a good one!"
And with that, he had blown past us... Grandpa gave us a weary knowing nod as he slogged by leaving Tom and I somewhat bemused, although grinning at the brief but rapid-fire exchange.
Just as we were nearing lunchtime, around 1200, another large milestone was reached as we hit the 2000 mile mark. Obviously, pix were taken & then we sat in the sun enjoying lunch & revelling in our acheivement so far.
Later in the afternoon, the slight disappointment of finding an empty trail-magic cooler was quickly remedied 400 yards later by funding some still cold Mountain Dews left by fellow hiker Stumbling Norweigen. Very nice!
The sunset that evening was stunning, rounding off a great first day back out on some tough terrain.
The 6 days out would have been very easy had I not had an accident with a tree... But the details of that will be posted shortly!
I have just finished the big pix update to the main journal too, so for images of the sunsets and the other things described above, go to
http://www.roadwarriorsnews.com/PCT%20Journal/Page%205/PCT%20Journal%20P5.html
Ok. More soon!
Cheers...
RWK.
Out.
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