Days 154 - 157 (Sept 24 - 27): Miles 2402 - 2474

On Monday morning I finally got my package at the Chevron. I decided to take the alternative trail that passes Goldmeyer hot springs. The detour passed the gorgeous Snow lake, after which there was a short but tough section of downhill trail that was not well maintained. After that the trail was good again. I spent the evening soaking in awesome the hot springs!

After spending another hour in the hot springs the next morning I started out. The climb out of the valley followed the Snoqaulmie river. As you climb you first walk through deep lush forest, then beautiful meadows and woodland and alpine surroundings. After the final ridge you get a view of a gorgeous lake below you. I camped at Walupt lake that night and while packing up the next morning I had a brief visit from a curious bear. It was about to walk into my campsite but it ran off quickly after seeing me.

The rest of the walk into Stevens Pass was tough but beautiful.

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Days 162 - (Oct 2 - Oct 4): Miles 2570 - 2650

Canada!!!
One 20 and two 31 mile days and we were there! It's still sinking in. Party first, blog later!

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Days 158 - 161 (Sept 28 - Oct 1): Miles 2474 - 2570

Well this was a tough section but the alpine scenery around glacier peak wilderness was awesome!

I teamed up with Tahoe, Splinter, Freestyle and Bodybag in some places. We did the slightly scary but fun log crossing along the the old pct route.

It was getting colder at night and harder to get up early in the morning. We hiked into the dark for a couple of hours on some nights.

We all spent the Monday night in Stehekin, and slept next to the lake. This place is pretty remote but a cool little place.

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Days 149 - 153 (Sept 19 - 23): Miles 2300 - 2402

On Wednesday I got a lift up to the trailhead with a truck driver from Yakama indian reservation. The walking was easy for the first section and there were lots of cool little lakes along the way.

There was still lots of smoke around from all the fires. A few miles past Chinook pass I saw smoke on the ridges, only a few hundred yards east of the pct.

Friday afternoon I ran into Bloodbank. Clouds were coming in and it was getting cooler and a bit wet. We ended up camping by a weather station that night.

Saturday morning was still misty and wet. I reached Snoqualmie pass around lunch time. I expected a package with a new headlamp and socks but it wasn't there. Ended up taking a zero on Sunday.

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Days 145 - 148 (Sept 15 -18): Miles 2235 - 2300

After having a nice breakfast with Kozen and some of his other guests I got a ride to the fire info HQ. I heard the good news that the trail was still open. While I was hitching across from the gas station the friendly owner came out and walked over to me. He said that he had just phoned up a town local and hiking enthusiast, called Ray, that would come pick me up. As I loaded my pack into Ray's truck Majellin the second also arrived and went up to the trail with us.

The smoke on the way up the trail wasn't too bad. I made good miles and camped by the raging Muddy Fork river. There were great views of Mt. Adams and some beautiful creeks and sections of wild flowers along the way.

On Sunday morning I got to drink some of the best spring water on the pct at lava springs. The water is filtered through a field of lava rocks and tasted great! That morning I ran into a young bow hunter with big smile on his face - he had just shot an elk cow. I caught up with Mouse and Jangles in the afternoon as we climbed higher up into the mountains of Goat Rocks wilderness. We ended camping together a few miles before Knifes Edge and had an amazing view of Mt. Adams to the south. I heard an owl several times that night - the first time I recall hearing one the whole trail.

On Monday we were spoilt with some amazing views of Mt. Rainier. There were pretty much spectacular views to all sides as we descended to and walked along Knifes Edge. There was some low lying smog from all the fires but that just added to the atmosphere.

I reached White Pass that afternoon and got a hitch into Packwood straight away as I reached the Kracker Barrel store.

I spent the next two nights at the Packwood hotel and took a zero on Tuesday to buy and post forward the supplies that will take me all the way to Canada. It was also my grandmother's 80th birthday and I got to talk to her for a while!

Saw my first elk as well, just roaming around the streets of Packwood...

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Days 141 - 144 (Sept 11 - 14): Miles 2148 - 2235

After having a breakfast at the diner overlooking the Bridge Of The Gods I walked across the impressive structure and back to the trail. Ahead lay Mt. Adams. I hiked and camped with Bodybag, Mouse and Jangles a couple of times.

At Blue lake I was having an early dinner when a few Grey Jays showed up. They flew from the trees, right out in front of me and seemed to want to steal some food right out of my pot in my hands! After a couple of attempts, with me swatting at them, they quit.

I got to Trout Lake on Friday. After buying supplies and grabbing a breakfast burrito I started heading to the road to hitch out. There was a fire burning on the south side of Adams and a guy from the forest service said the trail might be closed soon if not already. So I turned back to go find more info from the fire service guys. At that moment a very friendly lady called Nina stopped and asked whether I need a ride anywhere. I told her the situation and she suggested I go stay at the Trout Lake Abbey, neighbouring her house, for the night and call about the fire from there.

She drove me over to the abbey where I met the welcoming owners, Kosen and his wife, who set me up in a huge loft in one if their buildings. The abbey is one of the most interesting places I have seen off trail. It's an organic farm with a huge barn that is used as a Buddist temple. There is also a huge druid circle, made of standing stones. The grounds and buildings are beautiful and very well kept. Kosen is a monk who used to be in IT programming many years ago and also used to own a property in Islington, London.

A druid from Seatle, who was there to do some carving work on some if the druid stones, kindly offerred to take me to get some pizza at a restaurant called Solstice. It turned out he is a programmer for Amazon and a big fan of the band Rush!

The unexpected stop at the abbey turned out to be well worth it even though I found out later that the trail was never closed that day.

The next morning I had great breakfast with Kosen and some visitors he had over from Portland. One of my favourite stops on the trail!

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Days 134 - 140 (Sept 4 - 10): Miles 2002 - 2148

The hike past Mt. Jefferson and through Jefferson wilderness was amazing. I passed through gorgeous meadows and there were some cool lakes - it made me feel like I was back in the Sierras. There were still many mountain flowers up there. I passed a group of people hiking with lamas. The lamas pretty much carry all their gear for them! I also met Ben on the way up. He had shin splint problems and was taking it easy. Someone left some great trail magic at Santiam pass - sodas and brownies!

There was still quite a bit of snow around Jefferson. I think I might have crossed more snow in Oregon then in California.

When I arrived at Olalie lake there was a paramedic helicopter. A guy across the lake had what sounds like a stroke and had to be air lifted out. They brought him across the lake with a canoe and I helped a bunch of people to pick him out of the canoe and into a 4x4 that then took him up to the helicopter. The guys at Olalie were very friendly and offerred me some left over dinner in their kitchen.

I had a long day on Thursday and ended up hiking into the dark to find a campsite. On Friday I camped just below Timberline lodge and on Saturday I made a quick visit to the lodge before hiking on. The lodge is pretty impressive. It was my birthday and I wanted to eat at the Blue Ox bar there, but it was closed so I moved on.

The trail along Mt. Hood had some great views. I took the detour down through Eagle Creek on Sunday. Gorgeous trail with beautiful waterfalls and deep blue pools in the creek, but since it was Sunday it soon too crowded for me.

On the way into Cascade Locks I picked up the phone of an english hiker called the Mad Hatter. I had seen his name in registers and heard of him but finally met him at Shrek's place and handed him back his phone. He bought me dinner and a few beers in return and we ended up spending the whole night at the local bar there. Shrek is a cool guy and allows hikers to camp behind his place, have showers etc.

I had a zero on Monday and a friend from Portland, William, got off from work early to come hang out. He brought me a new pair of cascadias from REI - life saver! Now I'm set all the way to Canada. We drove over to a brewery in Hood River where we had some great pizza and a few samplers of beer. It was great to see an old familiar face and be able to catch up!

Next up - Washington!

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Days 128 - 133 (Aug 29 - Sept 3): Miles 1910 - 2002

We left Shelter Cove on Wednesday after having a nice cup of coffee and took an easy pace on the trail. There were some beautiful lakes along the way called the Rosary lakes. We camped at Charlton lake that night.

Thursday was another leisurely day and we camped at the Dumbbell lake on a cool peninsula running into the lake. The water looked great but we never ended up swimming there.

We got into Elk Lake resort on Friday. I had a nice breakfast and lunch and me, Ipod and Jawbone played some poker in the afternoon. We used old, dry pasta as our chips - needless to say my pasta was gone first! I left Rian and Kayla behind in the late evening, to hike out and try to get to Sisters on Saturday.

Saturday was a great day. I hiked past the Sisters mountains through beautiful meadows and woodland. Later I reached the large lava rock fields on the way in to Mackenzie pass. There is a cool observatory lookout at the pass. There I spoke to a young couple from Portland who wanted to know more about my hike. They were on the way to Crater Lake and ended up giving me a lift to Sisters. They are going to climb middle Sister and then go to the Bellknap hot springs for a day.

Sisters is a cool little town. Lots of tourists. I stayed at the Motor Lodge motel and had a zero on Sunday. Right next to the motel is a gas station with a little take away joint that sells great burritos. I had three burritos there!

I had some trouble hitching out on Monday but as luck has it Lloyd, a retired trail angel from Bend drove by and picked me up. He spends many days driving hikers around and helping them out. Great guy! He is very knowledgeble about the area and told me much about the lava fields and the ring of fire (ring of volcanoes stretching around from Alaska, through Washington, Oregon, Mexico, South America and the pacific ocean!)

So I'm back on the trail and looking to get to Timberline Lodge on Friday.

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Days 124 - 127 (Aug 25 - 28): Miles 1830 - 1910

We got to Crater Lake early on Saturday morning. What a sight. It was smoggy from some nearby fires but the views were incredible!

We ate a nice breakfast at the lodge. It felt weird - us looking like bums in the fancy dinner room with a bunch of tourists. I forgot my battery pack at Mazama store but the guys at the lodge phoned down (they all work for the same group) and they retrieved it and drove it up for me. The trail provides, as they say!

The hike along the crater rim was awe inspiring! I'm really love Oregon so far and not just because of the easy walking. We have had some great views and I've enjoyed much of the woodland areas.

We are down at Shelter Cove resort right now. Pretty neat place and Odell lake is beautiful! The chipmunks here are so tame I saw them eating out of a little girl's hands. And the people that work here drive pretty sweer trucks!

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Days 118 - 123 (Aug 19 - 24): Miles 1726 - 1830

On Sunday morning we got a hitch to Callahan's lodge with a friendly trail runner and his wife. He goes by the name of Inquisitor and has hosted PCT hikers before at their Ashland home. He mentioned that there was another South African, called Little Bear, on the trail.

The hiking through Oregon has been great so far. Lots of flat forested walks with good shade. Out of Ashland we walked through oak woods and dry grasslands and then into pine forest. Small Huckleberry bushes are everywhere now and the pines are covered in hanging moss.

The days and nights have been a bit cooler which is great!

Lots of wildlife too this week: we saw loads of deer, a garter snake eating a frog, a white bird of prey yet to be identified (guessing a falcon) and a big furry old badger running right down the trail!

On Friday we hit Mazama Village and had a great salad buffet at the restaurant accompanied by some beer. Rian tried on some of the sun glasses at the store as well! We walked out that evening to just before the Crater Lake rim and set up camp.

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Days 114 - 117 (Aug 15 - 18): Miles 1660 - 1726

We decided to get up at 3am on Wednesday morning to tackle the 4500 foot climb out of Seiad Valley. There was lots of smoke in the valley to the east and at times we walked through quite a bit smoke up on the ridges.

We reached the California/Oregon border on Thursday! What a great feeling! I have now walked over 1700 miles and there is just of 900 more miles left to Canada!

We spent Saturday in Ashland and visited some of the breweries there. What a great town! We also checked out one of the free shows next to the shakespeare theatre. Sunday it's back to the trail! Would love to come back here and watch a show in the big theatre!

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Days 114 - 117 (Aug 15 - 18): Miles 1660 - 1726

We decided to get up at 3am on Wednesday morning to tackle the 4500 foot climb out of Seiad Valley. There was lots of smoke in the valley to the east and at times we walked through quite a bit smoke up on the ridges.

We reached the California/Oregon border on Thursday! What a great feeling! I have now walked over 1700 miles and there is just of 900 more miles left to Canada!

We spent Saturday in Ashland and visited some of the breweries there. What a great town! We also checked out one of the free shows next to the shakespeare theatre. Sunday it's back to the trail! Would love to come back here and watch a show in the big theatre!

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Days 114 - 116 (Aug 15 - 17): Miles 1660 - 1726

We decided to get up at 3am on Wednesday morning to tackle the 4500 foot climb out of Seiad Valley. There was lots of smoke in the valley to the east and at times we walked through quite a bit smoke up on the ridges.

We reached the California/Oregon border on Thursday! What a great feeling! I have now walked over 1700 miles and there is just of 900 more miles left to Canada!

We spent Saturday in Ashland and visited some of the breweries there. What a great town! We also checked out one of the free shows next to the shakespeare theatre. Sunday it's back to the trail! Would love to come back here and watch a show in the big theatre!

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Days 110 - 113 (Aug 11 - 14): Miles 1606 - 1660

We left Etna on Saturday and the last few days of hiking has been hot but easy. We had some great views and walked through some areas where new vegetation like Madrone trees popped up. We did a lot of ridge walking and with quite a few fires around northern California we had some smoggey views across the valleys.

On Monday we descended down to Seiad valley through pretty thick, almost tropical, but beautiful vegetation. I had two great swims in Grider creek. It was hot and humid going down into the valley.

We got to Seiad Valley cafe on Tuesday morning. They have this challenge where if you eat 5 pounds of pancakes in 2 hours you get your meal for free. Only a handful of people have ever completed it successfully and I didn't even attempt it but  I did have a tall stack of pancakes which was great.

We chilled the whole day at the RV park and we will be climbing out of the valley early on Wednesday morning. Next stop is Ashland and we will be crossing the border to Oregon before then! There is a fire to the west of Seiad but it isn't affecting the trail at the moment although there is lots of smoke around. There are lots of fire fighters and volunteers in the valley.

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Days 104 - 109 (Aug 5 - 10): Miles 1506 - 1606

We had a great breakfast at Lily's on Sunday morning. John, the guy that gave us a lift into town, also happened to work there. He offerred to give us a ride out of town after his shift ended and we accepted gratefully!

So to pass some time, Rian, Sedartha and myself went to the theatre again (the 3rd time for me and Rian). We then played some pool and had a few beers at the vet's club. John arrived to drive us out in his caddilac and soon we were in Castella and getting ready to start hiking. We only hiked about two or so miles up a road that ends just below the pct.

On Monday morning I followed Sedartha up to the trail. He stepped on a nest of yellow jackets and got stung several times. He warned me just in time and I walked around it. Later that day Rian told me that he got stung a few times as well, so he must have followed the same route.

That Monday morning I also saw a couple of bear cubs and their mother above the trail. I heard them before I saw them because the cubs had already noticed me and crashed through the brush to climb a tree. Mother bear stood guard close by the tree and I made sure to keep my distance.

The rest of this week has been fairly quiet and the walking was fairly easy most of the way. My shin splint is slowly healing and Rian has pretty much recovered from his stomach bug.

On Thursday night we camped next to Paynes lake and had some great views of the cliffs across the lake.

We had an easy 6 miles to Etna summit on Friday and even though the road was very quiet we got rides to Etna town fairly quickly.

Rian met his folks and Kayla, his girlfriend, in town. Kayla will be hiking a section of the trail from here with Rian. We got rooms at a motel and went to the local pub later that day. They brew their own ales, so we ordered the tasters option and tried each one!

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Days 102 - 103 (Aug 3 - 4): Another 2 zeros!

So we ended up staying in town another 2 days. I was trying to heal my shin splint while Rian was struggling with what is possibly giardia.

We went to the theatre twice but other than that we just lay around the motel watching the olympics.

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Days 98 - 101 (July 30 - August 2): Miles 1423 - 1506

The section to Interstate 5 was pretty easy but hot at times. We met up with a family and there dog that are thru hiking. Their son is 7 years old and he hikes pretty fast! For the first time in my life I experienced a shin splint on my right leg. My shin was pretty swolen. A girl called Actionpack gave me a wrap to put on and Rian showed me how to tape my shin up. That helped a bit but I'll need some rest to get the swelling down.

We got down to the I 5 on Wednesday and it took about 30 mins to get a hitch into Mt. Shasta. Rian actually made a sign on my tyvek ground sheet and just he finished a dude in a 88 Cadillac pulled over and picked us up. In town we caught up with Brian and Gnu and had a few beers with them. The Base Camp gear shop has a large yard at the back where they alowed some of us to camp.

We are having a zero here today and plan to see the new batman movie at the cinema. Shasta is a pretty cool town!

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Days 93 - 97 (July 24 - 29): Miles 1335 - 1423

I had a zero in Chester on Tuesday and it seems like my fever is gone now. Rian hung out most of the day and then headed out.

I left on Wednesday morning and after some misguided info from a local I hiked straight out of Chester with the plan to cut back onto the PCT a bit higher up the trail. I ended walking along some forest service and private dirt roads, did some bush wacking and had to ford the north branch of the Feather river. I got to another road where I was lucky to be picked up by a friendly local who dropped me off at a trail head a bit further up the trail. I got to Drakesbad in the afternoon where I caught up with Rian and Brian. I passed a cool fumarole and boiling lake! The pool there is fed by the hot springs and we soaked there for a while before having some dinner up at the ranch. There were quite a few other hikers there.

Brian left early on Thursday but Rian and myself hit the breakfast first. We reached Old Station late that evening.

On Friday morning we ate breakfast at JJ's cafe. I had the tall stack of pancakes and it was huge! First time in my life that I couldn't finish a meal of pancakes! I took a doggy bag and had some later that morning.

So we hung out at the subway cave just outside Old Station and hiked out at about 8pm with the plan to beat the heat on the dry and exposed Hat Creek Rim. We hiked all night and at about 7am the next morning we found some oak trees where we passed out untill late that afternoon. That afternoon we hiked on passed the fish hatchery and camped about 5 miles outside Burney Falls. At Baum lake we saw lots of Ospreys and a few Pelicans. We watched for a while as the Ospreys caught fish in the lake. That night I saw my first Bald Eagle as well. It swooped by above our camp site as the last rays of sun caught it in flight! It was beautiful!

We arrived at Burney Falls on Sunday morning and chilled out and had some snacks before heading down to check out the falls. We hiked out late afternoon to avoid the heat of the day.

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Days 91 - 92 (July 22 - 23): Miles 1290 - 1335

So the we got to Chester on Monday. I have still been feeling a bit unwell the last two days but started feeling better on Monday afternoon.

I saw my third bear as well. A young bear with light brown color - it started crashing through the trees and down the hill before I even noticed it. They can move pretty fast!

At highway 36 Sleeping Bare was waiting for his son Nugio. He gave us a quick ride into town. We have been lucky to have had him around so many times when we needed a lift!

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