PCT Day 95 – Barlow Road
26.9 miles, near 2092.0
• Tried to get out of camp together, but I needed 10 min to finish packing, so I was last to leave. The whole day was in the forest, except for a glance of Timothy Lake and a glance of Mt Hood. I just listened to a lot of podcasts and powered through.
• Around 1130 I made it to horse camp where a lady setup an awesome trail magic spread of sandwich fixings. She insisted I try the a “multi grain crispy roll” treat. I’m not sure how it fit in with the theme, but she was pretty excited about them. It tasted like puffed popcorn.
• Passed a ton of southbound hikers, in the dozens. Before today, we’d see 1 or 2 per day. Must be the bubble of normal SoBos from Canada along with northbound flippers. Passed a couple from Spain that I follow on Instagram, they flipped SoBo after completing the desert.
• I took a quick side trip to Little Crater Lake, a crystal clear spring fed pond. You can see 50 ft to the bottom and the water is a vibrant aqua blue.
• I finally reached our camp rendezvous at 730, only to find a few backpacks and nobody in sight. Boomerang, Smokey, and God hitched to a bar 6 miles away. Yardsale, Bradley, Frodo, and Guinea came walking up with an 18 pack of Rainer. Some of Guinea’s friends live nearby and picked up the beer, the rest of them couldn’t get a hitch so we stayed at camp to drink beer. Yardsale, Bradley, and Guinea then decided to push another 5 miles to timberline lodge, Frodo and I declined to night hike.
• Boomerang, Smokey, and God finished eating at the bar, but couldn’t get a hitch back to camp. They stood on the shoulder for an hour, drivers started yelling at them to get off the road. One very drunk guy pulled over to offer a ride, but Smokey convinced him to go home. They went back into the bar and finally convinced someone to give them a ride (not the best place to solicit a hitch). They got back to camp after midnight and caused a ruckus, but I slept through it.
• My feet were pretty shot after 27 miles, my longest day yet.
Tandem Ride Photography 