Day 119
Start: Sisters, OR
Finish: North Cinder Peak
Daily Mileage: 19.6
PCT Mile: 2021.5
We had some packages to ship to the trail ahead so we couldn’t get going first thing. Had to wait for the Post Office and UPS to open. Then our hitch out of town took longer than expected, about 20 minutes before a trail angel driving around looking for hikers to shuttle grabbed us. All in all it was 10:30 by the time we started walking. It can be so hard to get out of town and hit the trail.
Back on trail it was a little less smoky than it had been yesterday, with a breeze rolling through and carrying it away. Good for us, but bad for the fires it is surely stoking.
We started out in a burn area that took most of the morning to clear. The climbing was gradual, and the distant mountains were still cloaked in smoke, so there wasn’t much to see. You could barely make out the shadows of the sisters which we passed only two days ago. It was still really thick to the south of us.
Heading around the north side there were some bands of snow yet to still traverse. It is almost August and relatively low elevation in Oregon. I’m amazed snow has stuck around so long. There was even a pond that was still partially frozen.
However, the late melting snow left the ground still damp, so the bushes were verdant green and wildflowers blooming. A nice change from some of the scorched earth feel further south.
We then continued on a ridge for the rest of the day, alternating between forest and burn area. The wind was howling across the ridge, and the rest of the smoke rapidly clearing such that we could see the distant mountains better and better throughout the day.
The ridge had a lot of old volcanic rock and nice coloring, so it was a good rock. It took us towards Mt. Jefferson which is a large glaciated mountain quite prominent from the rest of the terrain. When we started today, it was barely a blip on the horizon, but at the end of the day it filled most of our field of view.
We camped at a viewpoint, with Mt. Jefferson front and center. Quite an amazing spot. Some wind but not bad with some trees to partially block the gusts. It has been a while since we camped at such a scenic spot. It is easy to get lazy and camp near the water sources, but the dry camps can be so much better.
We carried heavy loads out of town today, to keep us going for the next 160+ miles to Cascade Locks. It now amazes us that we carried so much more weight through the Sierra. With our summer loadout, the 5 days of food feels heavy, but it is all relative.
The scenery was good today, but the type that pictures can’t really capture. The subtleties of the distant mountains layered in blue smoke. Volcanic caldera covered with vegetation. The bright green of plants just emerging from the snow, growing as fast as they can before it dries out. These and many other aspects of hiking can’t really be frozen in an image, only memories.
