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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