Day 27 – Finding a Way

I have done everything right for once and am ready to break camp at 5:30. It is too dark to leave before that. I cowboy camped last night. My quilt is rated for 20F so I was generally pretty sweaty all night. After the bugs subsided at 9pm, I even had the liberty to roll the quilt down my body a little and to puff it up and down to cool my feet and legs. Jeff and Katrina probably wondered what the heck was goin on over there. Jeff is quite the Snorlax so I guess they had their own issues to deal with.

Grass and horses

I pay the $2 for the night at the kiosk on my way out of the campground. Some one has left a bag of three breakfast bars “for hikers”. They are covered in bugs. One does not look too bad. I brush off the bugs and put it in my belt pocket for later.

A woman drives up in her nifty little car/truck vehicle (still don’t know what model it was.) She was very impressed that I was hiking the whole trail. She was very impressed with my small pack. She was actually quite excited about everything in general. She was also extremely chatty. I keep trying to pull myself away. Then she said, “Well, I guess I better go water my cannabis plants. Would you like some cannabis?” I tell her I had a bad experience with pot as a young adult and never felt the need to have it again.

The trail leads me past a horse camp. The PCT is supposed to be graded for horses, but honestly horse travel over some of the sections I have seen would be pretty difficult. I see one of these for the first time: a water faucet for people and humans! I turn on the water to see if it works. It does!

The horse camp has these corrals spread out all over the camp. There is running water and a bathroom. It looks pretty cozy.

This print on the trail is a little worrying, though. Luckily, it was not too big. Might have been a mountain kitty, but probably a dog. I don’t think I should see the claws for a cat.

On my way out of the horse camp, I surprise another couple of youngsters.

The morning is young and offers encouragement:

Heating up

The heat is already noticeable at 8am. This picture looks cool, but the temps are in the low eighties already. The high today is supposed to reach 111 in Ashland. My plan is to reach the Klum Landing Camp eight miles up the trail from where I camped last night. From there I can make a decision about whether to try for a rumored spring another five miles up the trail.

I pass through a small atypical section of volcanic rocks. Oregon is full of these kinds of fields and they can be hot to cross in the middle of the day. This the first I have seen, but tomorrow there will be plenty more.

Decisions

The morning is passing well and I am making good time on the smooth Oregon trail surface. I should be coming up on the side trail to the Klum Camp soon. I pass a bunch of high school kids with packs on. One of them says, “Did you see a lake back there?” I tell them that I did not because the PCT does not go right by the lake.

As I continue up the trail, their words bother me. Should I have seen the lake? I consult my hiking app. Dang! I have gone a quarter mile past the exit to the Klum Camp! There was no path – it was a dirt road. I go back to the road that leads to the camp and follow it down. The campsite is huge and spacious with showers, bathrooms and RV hookups. But it has a weird feeling to it. I don’t feel like I should be here. It also costs $22 for tent camping!

I check the hiking app to see what the trail looks like between me and the spring. There is a 1200 ascent. The ascent would be hard, but getting higher would lower the temp a bit. I look at the satellite view. The trail looks mostly shaded. It will take me 2 1/2 hours to get there. It is 10:30 and the temps in the sun at 1pm will be 107F. The last time anyone checked on whether the spring was running was 3 days ago. “Good flow” they said. What should I do? What would you do?

I decide to go for it. I have 3 liters of water. That should be enough to get me there and to get me back down in the morning if the spring is dry. The trail looks like this at the beginning.

It’s hard for you to see in the photo, but there is a gradual rise. The trees are providing good shade. If I encounter any new burn areas that are not shown in the satellite photo, I am going to be in trouble. The temps in the unshaded areas are super hot! A tree gives me some advice:

The spring

I eventually make it to the spring. My tongue is so dry that it sticks to my lips when I try to wet them. My throat is so dry that my voice can only whisper. I drop my pack by the trail and head down to the spring, fingers crossed. Here is what I find:

This is what they call a pipe spring. The other end of the pipe may be underground or in an inaccessible location. Sometimes the pipe is coming out of a cistern or other container that collects the water conveniently. This one is going strong and the water temp is close to 50F. I fill up my reservoir and head back up to camp. I quickly use that up and go back for more.

My camp site is close to the trail. I suppose there will be animals passing by in the night. Right now, all the insects are checking me out.

Hiker’s parade

Three hikers walk by while I am chilling at my camp. “How much farther are you going?” I ask. “Not much farther, I hope,” says a young woman. I remind them about the water here. They go past the turnoff to the water, I assume, looking for a campsite. I can’t imagine them hiking too much farther tonight, but I am continually surprised by what people do so who knows. They come back for water, but they are not wearing packs. Maybe they will camp nearby.

And just before 7pm (bedtime) two more hikers show up. “Hey, Doolittle,” they say. It’s Chronos and Slopes! We catch up on the last two days then I leave them to their chores. (They are camping on the other side of the trail.) It sure is good to hear your name at the end of a day like this.

Tomorrow the plan is to go 18 miles. The temps will be down almost 10F from the highs today. Still, I am going to have to get on it early to finish hiking by 3pm. There is no water between miles 8 and 18!

June 28
Starting mile: 1742
Ending mile: 1755
Daily PCT miles: 13
Total PCT miles: 383
Animals: More deer