Miles today: 20.9
Trail miles sum: 1014.8
Trail location: 1697.2
Elevation: 6617
Spinning on the turntable: Bruce Springsteen: Western Stars

Not NorCal
Leaving the cabin after lunch I had one thing on my mind, Oregon!
It was, yet again, a uphill climb heading to the border.

Deer in the grass
I enjoyed watching two deer frolic in a meadow. One was a fawn and so dang cute. The way it bounced across the grass was mesmerizing.

Guthook end of CA
It was great to reach the border. I’m honestly kind of indifferent about if I’m hiking in Oregon or California. I am not indifferent to now being in the same state as one of our daughters. I’m quite happy to our being much closer to our family.

Oregon Border
I’m not sure if I’ve ever hiked across a state line before. We’ve hiked in WA and OR, but never crossed between the two. (The Columbia river separates the two states in our area.)

I made it to Oregon!
If you zoom in on my shirt you can see the dried sweat. I try to rinse my shirt out in streams a few times a week. It’s hot, the climbing is strenuous, and I’m a seriously sweaty boy.
Hitting the 1000 mile mark and hitting the border are both kind of a wet fart without Noelle out here to celebrate. What should have been really exciting was just kind of a “meh”.
I sent out another round of Garmin message announcing the arrival in Oregon.
I left the border and continued to climb.

Guthook beginning of OR
I rounded a corner and found a gravel parking area. A car was parked near a tree and a couple were doing trail magic!
I was thrilled! It was a real lift to my spirit. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich, cold cantaloupe, crackers and ice cold beer. Oh my gosh it was good.

Trail Magic
What a welcome to Oregon! It was a great boost to my flagging spirit. The trail angels told me that the hiker traffic was very low today with a total of three hikers stopping. They said that the bubble usually hits them in mid-August.
I learned that Pinnacle wrote two books that include information about Oregon road intercepts with the PCT. We’ll try to pick up the book when we’re in Ashland later this week. It might be perfect for Noelle in this next section. www.oregonbackroads.com

Climbing back to snow
All too soon I was back on the trail and climbing again. The food was an unexpected boost. There were a few spots with snowy navigate around, but nothing serious.

Moutain summit
It was nice to hit the top of the mountain and then start heading down. I stopped hiking around 6PM. I could have hiked longer, but honestly, I was bored of hiking today.

Setting up camp
I set up camp close to a stream and cooked dinner. Tonight was a new Mac and cheese combo with salmon.

Salmon mac and cheese
It turned out to be quite tasty! It will go into my regular meal rotation.
I’ve been cooking more dinners lately instead of just cold soaking. The warm meals are a little boost to my flagging morale. I haven’t found a cold soaked meal yet that I would describe as “good”. Most are just edible, aka fuel.
Tomorrow I have one semi-serious climb of a few thousand feet and then it’s downhill to meet up with Noelle.
Have enjoyed following your blog. In addition to enjoying the pictures and stories I am finding it to be a great contrast between how my husband and/or I would probably hike the PCT and how our 22 year old son (Views, aka Brian) is hiking it. Impressed w/ your flexibility, determination, and progress.
Recently did some camping in Oregon as part of a road trip to meet Brian at Callahan’s (which included a trip to an Ashland grocery store to pick up 66000 calories worth of cold food for his Oregon resupplies, scary)
We enjoyed Diamond Lake (NW of Crater Lake, close to where the PCT crosses 138 at ~1848). Bit buggy at the campsites but okay near the lake. Campground filled up each day — but spots were available each morning. We used this as our base for Crater Lake (probably almost as close as Mazama Village).
Only stopped at Waldo Lake for lunch and a short hike but thought it was absolutely gorgeous with super nice camping near the lake. Bugs did not seem bad. Think it would be easily accessible from Charlton Lake (mi 1925). Plenty of spots at the Shawdow Bay campground on a sunny Saturday.
Happy hiking!
Karen
Sounds like your son is close to us! I’ll keep an eye out! Waldo Lake was definitely beautiful. I saw it but Steve didn’t. Charlton Lake was also great. I could drive to it, which was nice so we could meet up there.
Glad you got to spend time out here. Lots of mosquitoes but really beautiful.
Congrats Steve! I’m impressed and happy for your accomplishments.
Thanks! One foot in front of the other!
Congratulations!! So glad you’re in Oregon. One thing your hiking PCT showed me is how long our state is!! Now I know why I don’t get too far out of my radius- the Central Valley to the Central Coast to the Sequoias 😊 Glad you’ll be seeing Noelle soon
Blessings,
Liz from FresnoRetro