Day 134 (31 August) - Mile 1737.45 - 1759.08

Campsite at Mile 1737.45 to Paved Dead Indian Memorial Road (Staying in Ashland, OR)

I slept really well last night, the temperature was chilly and perfect.  I woke to Share Bear’s alarm at 6:00 AM.  As we talked through between tents we heard a voice say “Share Bear?”  It was Blackout.  Last night right when I went to sleep I saw a headlight and yelled out “Blackout?” with no answer and they walked by.  I guess it was him and he planned on making it to the next campsite 1 mile further but heard coyotes and decided to turn back to camp with us and not camp alone.  None of us heard him come into camp, so it was a surprise he was there in the morning.

After packing up and breakfast we were ready to hike at 7:15 AM.

Ready to hike

However, Blackout was far from ready to hike.  This is how we left him when we hit the trail:

Blackout not ready to go quite yet

It was a chilly morning so Share Bear ran ahead to try to warm up.

Share Bear getting warm by running ahead

We came to a nice wooden bridge.  The water had steam coming off it proving that the air is colder than the air.  I told you it was chilly.

Steamy water

Brad thought the steam off the water was cool, Share Bear wasn’t too excited by it.

Poor, cold Share Bear

We hiked 2.75 miles to East Hyatt Lake Road where Tim met us so we can slack pack the rest of the day.  He is going to meet us at Dead Indian Memorial Highway 19 miles ahead.

Tim with sign showing we have 19 miles till we see him again.

We were hiking along and Share Bear called out to me and was looking down.  I turned around and went back down the trail and saw what she was looking at.  We have only 900 miles to go!  Another 100 miles down and we are feeling better and better about it.

900 miles to go!!

I saw one of these blue-tailed lizardy thing called a five-lined skink before but wasn’t able to get a photo. I caught it this time:

Five-lined skink

Today’s PCT sign of the day is a traditional one:

PCT sign of the day

Unfortunately there is still smoke in the air from the Gap Fire near Seiad Valley.  As a matter of fact, 33 miles of the PCT near Seiad Valley is closed as of today.  We are so lucky that we got through there before the closure.

Smoky mountains.

Right at 5:00 PM I saw a southbound hiker eating a sandwich as she was hiking.  I asked her if she didn’t have time to stop and eat her sandwich instead of hiking and eating at the same time.  I then saw the woman hiking behind her and recognized them as the two women attempting the unsupported record of the PCT.  They are hiking 51 miles per day and hope to finish the entire trail in less than 60 days!  To put it in perspective, we have 900 miles to go and they have 1600 miles to go.  They will probably get to the southern terminus before we get to the northern one.

Pop Tart in the background and Papi going for the unsupported record.

After 21.64 miles we met Tim and all decided to head down the mountain with him and stay in his hotel room. This also allowed us to eat some Japanese food for dinner which Share Bear and I have been craving for a while.

Tomorrow we slack pack for the first 11 miles or so and then we are on our own for the next 2 days to Crater Lake.  Until tomorrow…

Home for the night.