Day 49 – Eagle Creek

More than California, Oregon has been a test. I came into Oregon amid the worst heat wave in the state’s history. With fires springing up behind me and beside me, I pressed ahead. As I neared Central Oregon, three issues remained.

• What is the best way to circumvent the closed burn sections?
• What is the extent of trees across the trail beyond the burn?
• What alternate trails should I take?

Options

For the “white-blazing purist,” the answer is easy. Do as much of the PCT as possible, and nothing else. My posts reveal the choices I have made so far. Today, one choice remains: should I take the Eagle Creek Trail to the border, or stay with the PCT until the end.

Stan and I learned yesterday that the PCT was clear the rest of the way to Cascade Locks (our destination), so there was no reason not to take it. I had taken the Crater Lake Rim Trail to my great satisfaction. I had skipped the Ramona Falls Trail (on Sunday) to my ultimate disappointment. I have heard that the recently opened Eagle Creek Trail was as spectacular as Crater Lake. The problem was that the approach to the trail (the Indian Springs connector) was sketchy and hard to navigate.

Wander power

The Wander Women were determined on hiking Eagle Creek. This created an opportunity for Stan and I to join forces with them in the morning and together work our way through the connector to Eagle Springs.

We get out of camp at 6:10. Stan’s feet are 100 percent better thanks the the Lueko tape that Annette applied. His knees are still dicey. But, he says nothing will hold him back. With Christy in the lead we headed out.

The connector is clear at first. But soon it becomes overgrown and blocked by downed trees. Eagle Creek is shrouded in fog. (See top photo.)

We descend into the cloud.

Pleasant distractions

I keep myself happy in the usual way by finding and photographing flowers.

It seems to take forever, following this hint of a trail. But nobody panics, and after an hour we stumble onto the Eagle Creek Trail. We are elated. Stan’s knees still bother him, but he is a trooper and he keeps up the pace with every one.

Immediately after finding the trail, we are rewarded with berries. These are the first real edible berries I have seen. Annette fills us in happily on what is edible, and what is not. (Never eat white berries!) Tentatively, I munch on my first thimble berry. It tastes like a cross between a strawberry and a blueberry! I munch on all the thimble berries I can find. I don’t eat any other kind of berry in case the thimble berries are actually poisonous and then, at least, we will know what killed me.

Eagle Creek

The Eagle Creek trail has two attractive features. The first is Eagle Creek itself, which forms at least a dozen pretty spectacular waterfalls, including Tunnel Falls. The second is that the trail is cut into the face of the cliff above the creek.

Before I show you the waterfalls, here is what the trail looks like:

These pictures don’t really do justice to the more dramatically high and narrow trail sections that exist. If you want good pictures of that, just Google Eagle Creek Trail. To be honest, the dramatic trail sections had all my attention just walking safely on them. It seems ironic that we will specify how wide an aisle must be at work to ensure that everyone can safely evacuate in case of fire, and yet we happily build these narrow trails on high cliff walls, where one misstep would send you hurtling to your death.

[These waterfall videos may take some time to load on your phone.]

Anyway, the waterfalls. I am only going to show you four, because if I showed you more, this page would never load. I am showing them in the order that I saw them. Not knowing what Tunnel falls looks like, I keep thinking that each new waterfall MUST finally be THE Tunnel Falls. Here is the first one. That tree caught in the falls is about 40 feet long.

The second one gathered the water into a rock chute and sent it down the river in an enormous plume. That drop to the bottom is about 60 feet.

Then I see the real Tunnel Falls. Notice how small Stan is as he walks behind the falls! He is walking on one of those suicide ledges cut into the cliff face with no guard rails.

With all the big doings on Eagle Creek, it was refreshing to find a small miracle on the trail. As a kid, I called this kind of caterpillar a “fuzzy bear.” I hope that is really its name because the world needs at least one animal whose name is fuzzy.

I guess you can see that taking the alternate trail was the right decision. The sights were dramatic and beautiful. And it was the perfect last day to spend with my new friend Stan.

Our separate ways

Stan and I walk into Cascade Locks from the Eagle Creek Trailhead. From the post office, I pick up the package I had mailed from Ashland and an ATM card I had requested in Ashland too. The lady at the post office is very helpful. She volunteers to run by another post office after work to find bigger boxes for mailing my resupply food to towns up the trail. I check into my room, buy a strawberry milkshake across the street and then walk down the street to do laundry.

By this time, Christy has arrived to pick up Stan. We say farewell. I am glad I got the chance to hike with Stan, and even though the hiking was not as fun for him because of blisters and knee pain, I hope he enjoyed it, too.

Horizons

Tomorrow I leave Oregon. I feel like I have really accomplished something. Leaving California was not nearly as meaningful. I have a whole new attitude now. I am more confident that I can really do this. The mountains in Washington are harder; they are steeper and rockier. There will be a lot more snow. The threat of wildfire is real, too, with several big fires near the trail burning out of control. And yet…I can hardly wait to start.

In the morning I will shop for 22 days of food and divide it four ways. Five days worth goes in my pack for the next section. The rest will be divided among Skykomish, Snoqualmie and Stehekin – three towns along the trail that do not have food stores for resupply I will then walk over the Bridge of the Gods into Washington. More adventures await me there, and I hope new friends and old.

• July 20
• Starting mile: 2128
• Ending mile: 2147
• Daily PCT miles: 19
• Total PCT miles: 775
• Animals: 2 Fuzzy Bear