Oregon: Part 1 – On the Pacific Crest Trail

In 2013 I walked 2653 miles from Mexico to Canada on the Pacific Crest Trail. It was a life changer, no doubt about it , one of the best and hardest things I’ve ever done.

Unbeknownst to me, as a child, Snake Legs, (who was known then merely as: ‘little Shelley’) had a brewing interest in Oregon. This began with the 1971 ‘free with windows 97’ strategy game called ‘The Oregon Trail’. The original game was designed to teach school children about the realities of 19th-century pioneer life on the trail. The player assumes the role of a wagon leader guiding a party of settlers from Independence, Missouri , to Oregons’s Willamette Valley via a covered wagon in 1848. The goal is for them not to die on route.

Her interest in Oregon progressed on from there with various screensaver images she was drawn to which always ended up being of Oregon, various books read on the Oregon Trail, a brewing interest in ancient and amazingly bad western movies, which one Christmas in 2021 was all we were allowed to watch, and an annoyance that I’d already walked the PCT which would be the natural next long trail for her having walked the CDT.

So, little Snakes turned 40 this year and her birthday treat from me and our families was, flights to Oregon.

Snakes often wangs on about how maybe one day we’ll just have a normal holiday where we take more than 1.5 outfits to wear and combine a bit of light ‘sight seeing’ with some gentle walks and sitting in a chair – but I know her too well and she’d be bored within the hour. Because of all the wanging though, I let her decide how she wanted to use her 4 weeks in Oregon .

What are we doing ? Walking a section of the Pacific Crest Trail of course !

Saturday July 26th

We flew the nine hours to Portland Oregon – Heathrow was only 3 busy (3 out of what no one knows) I’ve only ever seen it 3 busy but we swept though in less than 20 minutes.

After leaving 4pm in London , we arrived at 5pm in Portland – 17 hours after waking that morning, brain buggered, we decided it would be a safe and sensible idea to hire a car and drive the 2.5 hours south to Eugene – where we pitched up for the night in a motel – hoping, as ever, for a gun in the cistern, blood stained sheets and bibles in all the drawers.

Sunday July 27th

The following day we bypassed the motel’s provided polystyrene breakfast in favour of Addi’s diner where they serve eight slices of French toast as one meal and the servers ask if you’re ok when they notice you ‘slowing down’.

From here we had a further 2.5 hrs drive South to drop the car in Medford , but not before visiting REI and buying gas for our stoves, along with all manner of other things we need not have purchased. We dropped the car having now travelled almost the length of Oregon from North to south. We took a taxi the final 20 minutes to Ashland which would be our jumping off point for the PCT the following morning.

Naturally we are still wearing the same clothes we flew out it because that is how we like to holiday.

From the Flagship of Ashland motel, we sorted our gear and packed our rucksacks. It being Sunday, our chores for the day were over and we walked the mile into town to sample some treats from the 60 strong taps at the ‘Growler Guys’ bar. We ate some last minute salad in town and crawled back to the A/C in the motel out of the 31 degree heat, wondering how the HELL we would manage hiking up a hill tomorrow in the predicted 32 degrees.

Monday July 30th

Chores commence today with a trip to the supermarket – we are to buy 5 days of food for the first 106 mile stretch and 8 more days split between two boxes which we’ll ship ahead and pick up on route. The PCT in Oregon is pretty remote and our stop points will be RV parks rather than towns. Some of these will hold food boxes for us on account of the re-supply options being mainly ice cream and Doritos.

We had organised a lift to the trail today with a local trail angel called Barbara for 3pm. But we didn’t account for our falling asleep last night at 7:30pm and our being wide awake by 3am.

We were at the supermarket by 7. My first resupply is my least favourite, I generally hate food shopping at home and this is just an extension of that except I know that everything I put in the shopping trolley will ultimately be on my back. I tried to be a little conservative knowing that I had a fairly substantial backload of calories I was already carrying and was happy to burn.

We rid ourselves of packaging outside of the store and stocked our food bags. The rest of the shopping we loaded into the duffle bag we’d bought to check onto the plane – this would be shipped along with our dashing plane outfits , to our friend Bear in Portland so we could collect it after our stroll through Oregon and return home in the same fashion.

A nice woman in the car park saw our ridiculous bags and took pity on us offering us a ride to ‘wherever we needed to go’, which was a half mile up the road to the post office. The day was already heating up, so we gladly accepted.

Ashland is a hiker friendly town, it doesn’t really have much choice. PCT hikers stick out with their dusty legs, musky odour and general grime laden existence.

We arrived at the post office and swiftly packed our two resupply boxes and box for Bear, having sent them off we rewarded ourselves (for having completed our chores but still hiked nowhere) with a massive burrito at Ruby’s.

It was 11am and we were ready 4 hours earlier than we’d planned.

An uber took us the 17 minutes to the trailhead and by 11:30 we were on the trail.

Our bags weighed way too much. The air was thick and almost felt edible. I was exhausted by mile one. Having said this the miles flew by fairly quickly and we were both surprised by our pace. At 5.6 miles we stopped, having just relentlessly climbed since the trailhead we were rewarded by an awesome (in the truest sense of the word) vista of Mount Shasta.

We plodded on over what would be gentle undulations if the weight on our back didn’t feel like we’d packed absolutely everything we own.

At 9 miles we stopped at a spring , a small pipe in the ground with cool water- I’d run out a mile ago because I’m an idiot and thought 1.6 litres was enough for 9 miles in 32 degree heat.

We met some long haired and long beared males here whose packs were the size of the small pillows you get for free on aeroplanes. ‘Beer run’, as the man resembling Jesus was known, assures us he had all the necessary things in his pack.

I bet he doesn’t have a tub for tub time.

We stocked up on water once again from a gushing pipe and passed the option of a perfect campsite with water , in favour of 2 more miles in which we both carried 3 litres and felt sick and hot and dizzy and stupid.

We elected to cow girl camp as having carried the tent all the way up here we thought it would be a bit more salt in the wounds to not erect it. We both performed tub time and felt 8.000 times better. We ate noodles and instant mash as is our trail speciality and were asleep before too long .

13.6 miles on the day

Tuesday 29th the anniversary

Having spent all of yesterday reminding Snakes it was our anniversary, it turns out that it’s actually today. Happy anniversary us!

I had a particularly terrible nights sleep. Falling sleep at 8pm was partly to blame, the first night on trail and getting used to the plethora of noises around me was also a factor and the f£&@/ng flies and mosquitos were massive culprits too. Also, whenever I woke up I saw the stars which were magnificent and would keep me awake for the duration of a good long stare.

Having not slept since 3:30, come 5:30 I made my desire to leave clear to Snakes. She was willing.

We packed up and moved off on trail by 6. This time is my favourite time to hike , barring always that being in front I’m always the one to walk through the cobwebs that litter the trail first thing, it’s peaceful and pretty and smells nice.

We made good time on our first 5 miles ambling through undulating pine forest and pine graveyards, we breakfasted at a pond which, once the green weed was pushed back off the top, filtered through most clearly.

With this filtered pond water we made coffee and ate ‘bobo’s’ which we’ve decided would be better than cereal. They’re like a flapjack bar, pretty dry and not really better than cereal as it transpires.

From here a further 4 miles took us to our first river, or reservoir outflow where we soaked our feet and topped up with 2 more litres of water for the next stretch was 10 miles with no reliable water sources.

The day was heating up and our packs just weren’t getting any lighter. We’re both really struggling with the weight and find it neither useful or helpful to continuously talk through all the things we bought but probably don’t need; but we’ll carry on going through this list regardless.

We don’t normally suffer this badly with pack weight but we’ve obviously over estimated ourselves for this one. The 30+ degrees is like breathing in food on every inhale and makes us very lethargic.

The next 4 miles didn’t come easily and by lunchtime we were both thoroughly disappointed in ourselves. We then reminded each other we’re probably very exhausted from work (our last ‘holiday’ was April , in which we walked 200 miles around East Anglia) we’re likely still jet lagged and adjusting to this heat will take time.

Feeling no better for that little pep talk, I tucked in to bagels with cheese, sun dried tomatoes, hot sauce, spring onion and mayonnaise- maybe this is why my pack is so bloody heavy ! I rounded this off with my new favourite goldfish flavour and some m&m’s. Probably could travel lighter….

After a short nap, we set off again into the heat of the day , the trail became unhappily more exposed and uphill. Great. Before our three mile target we collapsed in a heap in the shade directly on trail. Another small and slightly more useful pep talk ensued , in which we reminded each other that we’re on holiday. Excellent.

At mile 18.4 we (or rather , I) opted to turn off trail and march downhill for 0.3 miles to a lake and get in it. Snakes was more reluctant on account of us having to eventually walk back up this hill, but followed on while moaning about such things. At the sight of the toilets with soap and hot water and beautiful warm lake to swim she soon perked up! After a good swim, we rinsed various items of clothing and made use of the facilities here, topped up with water and headed back up the hill to meet the trail.

2 more miles or so uphill, we were back to dripping with sweat and feeling like we needed three showers.

We found two unsuitable places to camp, the first had two many overhanging dead trees which looked ready to land on us, the second needed some work clearing the ground and was in full sun. We chose the latter on account of us not being liable to die. It wasn’t a good camp spot but our legs hurt and we needed a sit down.

20.6 miles

Wednesday 30th July

Last night I was full of terrors, FULL. I’d forgotten about storms. We’ve done our fair share of them in a tent, some of the worst most terrifying nights of my life, and they don’t get any less so. A storm swirled around us for a good few hours around midnight. It never blew its load above us, but the swirling thunder and constant flashing of light on the back of my eyelids meant sleep was an impossibility.

After this it rained some, I was worrying about the lightening causing wild fires. I have a good app for monitoring this but it requires signal and I’ve had none.

With fires on my mind, I jumped up to what sounded like burning wood , it was coming from the trees in front of us and it was like a crunching, snapping unmistakable roar of destruction – this had my heart pounding , out of the tent and ready to run, but then came the (also unmistakable) sound of dear bleating. I’m not sure why they were tramping around making this horrible din. But my god did it sound like fire.

I listened to the wind increase now, wondering if it could be brining a new fire ever closer, I was planning the exit strategy.

Eventually I dropped off but sleep was patchy for the rest of the morning , until I woke to the gruffs of a bear somewhere above us.

Excellent.

Thursday 31st July

5:30am came around once again and I was ready to not be lying down anymore. We were both stiffer than usual, more exhausted than usual and questioning all our life decisions more than usual.

We had the delay of a tent to pack up this morning , but we’re on trail soon after 6. My pack is starting to feel more manageable as I get used it and I eat more of my supplies.

The trail began beautifully, other than walking through the usual pithy cobwebs, it was peaceful and quiet. The forest was waking up and we were there to see it.

We made it 6.5 swift miles before stopping for coffee and horrible protein bars in a flatish wooded corner of the trail. Water was more scarce than I remember it being and we were constantly evaluating how much we had and had left and needed at the next spring or pond.

Having spent the morning climbing we were now enjoying a smooth descent before the undulations were back. Undulations are much harder than either uphill or down, you can never get into a rhythm and find yourself constantly switching gears. The day was hotting up as it does and lunch was soon calling.

We scooted off trail again, I looked at my trusty food bag and was too soon at the point where I hated everything in it. This usually doesn’t happen until much further along. My dry bagels and awful tasteless American cheese were making me feel sick.

We carried on, I listened to music and Snakes a podcast – this is unusual too, to need this kind of momentum or distraction so soon into the trail.

Soon we came to the volcanic rock, this made for a nice change of scenery and provided some stonking vistas but I was too distracted, as thunder began to swell all around us, threatening grey clouds and menacing rumbles just kept circling.

It is prime wild fire season and we’re hiking through dense forest with constant threats of storms. The spring here was very wet, so the grass grew longer than usual, it’s now dry and itching to burn. Fires are usually either started by a careless human or, lightening. Wild fires are my new anxiety. As if I needed another.

The last 4 miles went so slowly. At 20.6 miles on the day, We reached the turn off for Fish Lake Resort , 2 miles down a side trail. They have beer there. Off we went.

We made it the two miles swiftly and met a group of hikers we’d been yoyoing and some we hadn’t. About 6 filthy chaps, all very friendly and happy to see us – all stoned and or micro dosing as seems to be the norm on the PCT now.

The PCT grew in popularity massively after Sheryl Strayed wrote ‘Wild’ – and then the film came out and it made the trail more popular than ever. Luckily the book had only just come out when I hiked it in 2013 and it was still relatively quiet. Now, there is a lottery system to get a permit for the hike. It has become known as something of a party trail.

On that note we went in to the resort shop purchased a couple of beers each and exchanged some dollars for quarters. PCT hikers camp for free down by the lake and the cafe serves food and the shop sells things- excellent. I bought soap and had the best 3.5 minute shower in the grimey, dingey stall. I swear the water went off before my allotted time , but nonetheless I was clean, sort of. Now, how to dry myself.

I managed to get myself maybe 60% dry using the grim little bandana I’d been tub timing with the last few days. Then I just dressed and left with almost totally gopping wet hair.

Yep, this is the holiday we chose.

Most of Oregon is covered by a red flag warning , this suggests storms and wind and therefore fires that move. I did as much research as I could to determine what tomorrow might hold, but the best advice was, deal with tomorrow, tomorrow.

We ate in the cafe , but don’t yet have the proper hiker hunger so filled up easily. After a bit of faff and deliberation we went and pitched in a quiet spot by the lake.

Having slept awfully for the last two nights, tonight, even with thunder whiling around us, I slept like a dream.

22 miles on the day

Thursday 31st July

We lay in until 7 ish and Snakes then vomited out her whole plan for the rest of the ‘holiday’. We would finish our 100 miles walk to crater lake , then after a series of hitchhiking, busing and possibly walking about a bit, we’d end up at a camper van which we’d hire for a little over a week and go to the coast, where the weather is perfect and there aren’t any wild fires, storms, bears and where we could wear more than one outfit if we so choose.

As I began packing up, the same old routine I’ve done hundreds of times, I was very sure that camper holiday was a much better idea.

The red flag storm warning was only in force until last night, though still showing on my map… I was assured that fire crews are putting the fires out really quickly and generally do a good job of warning PCT hikers to turn around. Still, hiking off into 50 miles of desolation, fallen trees and tinder, with limited options of egress should a fire break out – was not putting me in my happy place.

But, we had a plan, we were feeling brighter and maybe even fitter too. Before we left I decided I wanted to do laundry – it’s never a good idea leaving me in charge of such things but Snakes was busy with camper van logistics so I was let loose. All was going extremely well until I took the clothes out of the washer, put them in the dryer, put my money in the dryer then turned it on to realised it was actually just another washer and they were about to get washed again. Which they probably needed anyway.

Before we left we met a nice guy named Cookie who works ski lifts in the winter and hikes trails in the summer. Every year.

We left off hiking at 10:30am back up the 2 mile trail we’d hiked down the evening before then rejoined the PCT. Gently up now for 6 miles or so, Snakes was complaining of foot pain in the top of her foot.

We stopped for lunch at 6.5 miles – I’d happily and ceremonially thrown away my stale bagels and melted half block of tasteless cheese and made do with half a packet of ramen with some spring onion thrown in. Holiday lunch.

Cookie joined us before too long and diagnosed Snakes with shin splints. He very kindly strapped her up with KT tape. This made no difference but we weren’t to know that yet. By midday the storm was ramping up again which made me uneasy. From here there aren’t any good get out points up the trail and we had 50 miles of dry tinderbox wilderness in front of us.

By 8 miles in Snakes foot was really slowing her down. I suggested we turn back but she was determined to push on. I’ve hiked with shin splints before, for days when I had no alternative and it was horrible. If I had any other choice I would have stopped. Snakes was adamant, or, stupid. We arrived at our first water source at 11.8 miles and the storm which was behind us had caught us up, and one was booming to the west of us. What was rumbles of thunder was now cracks of heart attack lightening with bolts I could see cracking into the forest. I was extremely unhappy about this.

I have never really been a risk adverse person, nor have I ever really been a thrill seeker, but, after 16 year working in the outdoor industry where people and people’s children are my responsibly, having experienced a few mountain rescue call outs, ambulances and evacuations , I do tend to ask myself ‘what if?’ More than perhaps most do. Definitely more than Snakes does!

‘What if’ we walk head into a storm and lightning strikes where we’re camping or near by, we’re 18 miles from the nearest road with no good exit. And fire moves fast. Currently the nearest exit was 19 miles ahead or 12 miles back the way we came.

I’ve had some extremely traumatic nights through some harrowing, seemingly endless storms. I’ve been quivering in a tent surrounded by dead trees and just praying for morning. I’m really over that level of fear now. And if you can’t quite tell, I’m sort of over this kind of holiday.

I also didn’t think Snakes had 35 more miles in her foot, she was slowing and pain relief wasn’t touching the sides.

We turned back, back the way we’d come. The storm was all around us until it was above us cracking lightening right above our heads. I think we’d been walking away from it all morning and now we’d turned to face it, my theory was we’d walk through it.

It began to rain, the lightening was as close as it could be, the sky was dark and the temperature had dropped to a foreboding cool wind. On the plus side we were walking more than 3mph and made extremely good time back down the trail. We made it 4 miles in the hour. By the time snakes could take no more on her swollen foot the sky was brightening and the thunder abated. We came to a big open clearing which I’d remarked on the way up would be a good camp spot. Adrenaline would have taken me the remaining 8.5 miles to the road, but with the weather improving we stopped and made camp in the spot where I believed the surrounding dead trees would be least likely to fall on us should the storm return.

Snakes lit her mosquito coils, careful not to start a forest fire with this smokey incense which seems to keep them at bay, and we sat and ate our holiday dinner of ramen. We had a demi-tub time on the account of it being cold and that we were quite exposed to passing hikers, of which there were a few.

I write to you from the warmth of our tent, happy in our decision to turn back with an exit strategy of 8.5 miles to the highway.

17.2 miles on the day north then south

In my panic last night , with no service to check the current state of fire affairs I’d contacted my pal Lou to give us an update using the various fire watch apps. I received word back from her on our tracker (which we’ve recently updated to an ‘inReach mini 2 on account of 2 way communication being possible) from her letting us know there was a fire 19 miles from trail, which I learned by morning was now 2 miles from trail. Very close to the vicinity in which we would have been hiking- if we hadn’t turned back.

We woke to bright blue skies and sunshine and no urgency at all. We dozed about in this tree encased meadow for some time. By 8am we commenced pack up, yesterdays wet socks and gaiters went back on, and I slipped my grubby taped up feet (which look like they’ve had far more days on trail than they have) into my soaking shoes. We left the tent to dry in the morning sun, and with only 8.5 miles to walk today we made coffee and took our time.

We left off by 9 and Snake’s possible shin splints were worse than ever, she’s topping up on pills but nothing but rest will really help. She’s walking with her foot entirely turned inwards. She’d never have happily made the 35 miles if we kept going. We slowly ambled back through rocky trail, over and around the blow down trees of yesterday and stopped for a snack break at the top of our hill.

4.5 miles down now back to the highway. Just before we stopped at the river and enjoyed a nice sit down and some lunchtime instant mash, then of course the customary after lunch nap. It was lovely to move at a slower pace today: not for snakes though, she was slower because of her gammy foot.

Snakes was determined not to hitch from the highway but wanted to walk the remaining two miles back to Fish Lake Resort – which we did. Silly Snakes. Once here we met a plethora of lovely chatty people, secured a ride out of town and up to Crater Lake for tomorrow, ate salad, drank a beer and made plans for the week ahead where there was to be no threats of fire…..

10.5 miles on the day