Four days hiking brought us to Trout Lake. In order to reach town and coffee, we woke up at 4am and hiked ten miles before 8:15 this morning! We’ve already visited two coffee shops and planning on pizza for dinner tonight.

The last few days were fast miles. We’re doing very well in regards to energy, enthusiasm, and avoiding injuries. The flora in the area is tall fir trees, ferns, and some beautiful flowers. This morning, as we hiked in the dark with our headlamps, we must have seen at least ten big toads in the trail. No big four-legged animals as of yet and surprisingly few birds.

Forest fires loom in northern Washington state. Two sections of the PCT are closed, about 125 miles of trail. We have the choice of skipping these sections and coming back in the future or walking the re-route. We’ll be considering our options as we get closer, the fires are still more than 200 miles ahead of us.

Almost two weeks into the section hike. Highlights include lava rock the first day, followed by some blow downs, burnt forest, and much more snow than anticipated. Another hiker said there was more snow here in Oregon than he saw in the Sierras in 2022. We had one snow shelf that was particularly sketchy but mostly, it was fun. A couple of glissades.

We ate the lunch buffet at the Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood. At $30 a person, we ate our share of meat, veggies, fruit, and dessert. Cleaned up the best we could in our tent—trying to spare others our particular odor.

A new record—12 days without laundry or bathing. You get used to being dirty fairly quickly. But I’ll tell you, laundry and a shower are joyous activities on trail.

We feel good and energetic. We’re stretching a lot, trying to avoid the shin splints we experienced on the CDT. Oregon was pretty easy hiking, Washington will have a lot more climbing and descending and pose more of a challenge.

Unfortunately our hotel has limited WiFi so this entry will be short. Hope to write more during our next zero day.

After a long day at the San Francisco and four hours of sleep, we’re on our way to McKenzie Pass to begin our hike. Jason drove us to the bus station and Lindsay came to say hello and goodbye! We were gifted egg sandwiches, berries, coffee, cake, and pastries by the two. A wonderful way to begin our trip.