I sleep for 9 hours, shower and eat my leftover “slambowl” from the Black Bear Diner. I expect Stan will arrive mid morning to take me up to Hwy 35 where I will take the PCT north to Timberline Lodge area to camp for the night. Then it’s on to Washington. Expectations I am working […]
Author: David Somers
Day 45 – Bend Redux
At the Days Inn I stay up late watching John Wick movies. Those things are a hoot, with all the cartoonish orchestrated violence. I eat an entire large three-topping pizza during the movies. As the movie plays, I wash my clothes. I run back and forth to the laundry room to make sure they are […]
Day 44 – Oregon Returns
First, I owe you an apology. Yesterday was not pretty at the end, and I certainly let my frustrations show. One of the cardinal rules of the trail is “don’t drag people down with negativity.” If I weren’t writing this blog I would have gone to bed and hoped for a better day tomorrow. But […]
Day 43 – The Missing Finger
I slept well last night. I did not need the head net although I had to put DEET on eventually. The nighthawks stayed with me all night. They were not diving in the morning, but their famine peent, peent was all around me. I get out of camp a little late because Patti calls. She […]
Day 42 – Landing on the Moon
It was a restful final night in Bend at the Days Inn. This is where I had been aiming before I crashed into the Bunk & Brew Hostel. Yesterday I finished uploading all my posts, I bought supplies for the next two legs of the journey, I made repairs to the rips in my pack, […]
Days 40 & 41 – Bend
I am in Bend. It is like a rural version of Portland. Weird, but in a good way. The town is kind of sprawling with cultural and economic centers distributed throughout the city. Dirtbag Since the hostel was full when I arrived, they offered me the “dirtbag” special. Under that deal I get all normal […]
Day 39 – Connections
I have achieved an uneasy truce with the mosquitoes. I set up my defenses at 7 pm when I hunker down in my quilt. They attack for a solid 3 hours. And then we all retreat to our corners until 4:30. Using this method, I was able to sleep pretty good last night. The southern […]
Day 38 – Oregon Turns the Page
Everything this morning is Oregon normal. The green canopy. The tranquil deadfall-infused lakes. The damp chilliness of the air. It is about 50F when I walk out of camp at 5:40 am. A normal day ahead? The day is divided by water. With the mosquitoes active on the trail, no one wants to stop until […]
Day 37 – Sliding Along
Last night as I drifted off to sleep, head net on, I looked to the East and saw that the smoke had returned. I have become numb to this phenomenon. Like news of war casualties, it is beyond my personal control, but I know that it could affect me personally someday. The new sleeping system […]
Day 36 – Lakes Everywhere
I get to bed at a decent hour and fall quickly asleep. My body doesn’t know what to do with this extra liquid it has been hoarding since I arrived at Shelter Cove, and decides I need to shed that water. So, in the middle of a night where I pee five times, I awaken […]