Motivation!
- Samuel Emigrant
- Nov 8, 2018
- 3 min read
I woke up on Day 14, bending and checking for any swelling in my knee. Hmm... not too bad! I next checked my Garmin Satellite for messages and there it was, motivation! My old college and soccer buddy, Joel Macy, had left a message saying today I will see Three Fingered Jack and Mt Jefferson. Well, I had come this far, I suppose I should move on and check those out. And move on I did, past the point of no return, I had made my decision. Well that was easy, and it couldn't be as tough as the last couple days, right?
Today I was planning a 13.6 mile section, about 2.3 miles further than the previous day. I needed to get on the trail early. I had an immediate 500 ft ascent, followed by an 1100 ft descent, followed by an 1100 ft ascent. I best get going. I was at a dry campsite so I didn't use any water for dinner last night or breakfast this morning, eating dry goods like gorp, energy bars and jerky. I needed to conserve my leftover water for today's hike. My first water source on the map was a pond about 5.7 miles ahead.
I spent the morning hiking up and along the side of Three Fingered Jack (Pic 1-3) with views of Craig and Berley Lakes below and an amazing view of Mt Jefferson (Pic 4-6). Three Fingered Jack was a very cool formation as you can see. It eroded over time to leave what looked like pointy fingers and looked completely different on the other side (Pic 7-8). Have you ever seen the origin of a river? Look closely at the river below Three Fingered Jack (Pic 9). It's a spring at the bottom of the mountain fed by glacier, bubbling out and forming the river, Canyon Creek, that descends to Wasco Lake. Time for my 1100 ft descent which included some pretty steep switchbacks from near the top of Jack (Pic 10-12).
At the bottom of my descent, I arrived at my water source. Although a stagnant pond, you have to trust your water filtration will take care of any nasty bacteria. Going without water is obviously not an option. A familiar theme on this trip was trying to account for the next water source. You don't want to carry too much water at 2 lbs per liter but dehydration is a constant concern and you must try to consume at least 4 liters per day. A much more appealing water source, Wasco Lake was too far below the trail to access today (Pic 13).
With two new liters of water, I was ready for the next climb. The hike up had some cool views looking back at Jack and the Cascade Range I had already conquered (Pic 14-16). I made it to a very cool lake called Rock Pile Lake at about the 10 mile mark (Pic 17). I spent a good hour hanging out, eating, and talking to a couple of guys, one my age. I learn more about long distance hiking with every conversation and this one helped a lot. If I am going to complete another significant hike, I need to shed another 6-7 lbs from my base weight (minus food and water). The pack and boots have to change, even if I do short pack trips. I didn't run into a single thru-hiker wearing boots. I was tempted to stay here at Rock Pile and hang out with the deer roaming around my perimeter but that would make my next day significantly longer (Pic 18-19). I was feeling ok and decided to push on the final 3.5 miles to CS2018 (Camp Site at mile 2018 as measured from the Mexican border). This decision would turn out to be a blessing in disguise.
There is Mt Jefferson up ahead (Pic 20). And Holy S***!! Look at the view of Mt Jefferson from my campsite (Pic 21). Mile 2018 was up on a ridge with a stunning view of the south side, just amazing! You will see more pics as I make my around this mountain. In case you aren't feeling it, my attitude has improved significantly after this 13.6 mile day and tonight's view. I felt like I was on top of the world. I would be very happy I got this last climb out of the way today because tomorrow would not go as planned. Stay tuned!
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