Days 107
Start: Alex Hole
Finish: Mt. Ashland
Daily Mileage: 29.1
PCT Mile: 1713.5
The night was cooler than it has been for a while. Not cold by any means, but cool enough that I could start out and spend the night beneath my sleeping bag instead of laying nearly naked on my sleeping pad, trying not to stick to it. Quite an upgrade. Unsurprisingly, we slept much better last night, though we do have sleep deficits to make up for yet.
The trail was a breeze in the morning, mostly a gentle forested downhill. Not much to note, but very cruisy.
The main event arrived 8 miles in when we finally reached the California Oregon border! It has been almost 1700 miles and 107 days, but we finally crossed California the longest way, in nothing resembling a straight line. Wow, we can finally move on to something new: the promised flat and cruisy Oregon.
We hiked on uphill into Oregon, immediately breaking the stereotype, but we flew down the trail none the less. I spent the middle part of the day screaming down the trail because I could and we were in something new. It was so nice and easy.
The trail stuck to ridges for the whole day, staying high but dropping to gaps where it needed to. There were many meadows we crossed that were in bloom or green. Nothing was spectacular, but it was good, pleasant hiking.
We played leapfrog with several others today. Some section hikers said they knew we were thru-hikers from how quickly we passed them. Also took some breaks with Ghost who is finishing up his triple crown with a 99 day PCT attempt. Good guy, but we probably won’t be seeing much more of him.
The topic of the day was planning for the rest of the trail. We have about 1000 miles left, and there are some mail drop resupplies coming up. We are also figuring out how we can finish the trail as quickly as possible. Though we were going fast in NorCal, the Shelly Fire really woke us up that we are in the heart of fire season, especially with the early heat wave that just passed. Fires could be an issue for the rest of the trail, so we want to power through as much of the trail as we can without being further diverted. Though that may not be ideal for experiencing every aspect of the trail, it is just the reality of the PCT these days. It’s said that a continuous through hike is no longer possible. We will see how continuous we can make it by doing the rest quickly when the fewest fires have time to get established.
We finalized our plans in camp for the entire state of Oregon, and we have a strategy now. Should be through in less than 3 weeks before we move on to Washington.
Today was a much easier day than yesterday. It was a little cooler, but the trail was super easy and we flew down it. We stopped at 29 miles only because we didn’t want to get to Ashland today, late. We will hit it early tomorrow morning.
