41 Miles To Go!

Day 18! Today would be a hiking day, having foregone my planned layover day at Olallie Lake. My last 4 mileage goals to complete my trip are 9, 10, 11.1, and 10.9. Today was a mostly easy hike, primarily downhill onto the Warm Springs Indian Reservation, destination Lemiti Creek.

All of my remaining days would be spent mainly in the "Green Tunnel," the nickname given to the Oregon section of the PCT because the trail goes through thick Evergreen forest. Some of the great views I have experienced would not have been visible if not for a number of burned out sections of forest. I have very little charge left in my phone and Garmin and no prospects to recharge until I finish. As a result, I am recycling a few of pictures here to showcase Oregon's volcanoes. Good thing I'm hiking through the tunnel with few opportunities for views.

32 Middle Sister 3

1006

12 Rock Mesa below S. Sister 2

Today was an uneventful day, completed by 11:30 a.m. Other than a Red Rat Weasel with a mouse in his mouth, I had very few visitors to my camp. I did have a nice conversation with a young solo hiker, a teacher from Miami Beach about the same age as my daughter. She was completing my same hike only Southbound. Earlier in the day she had a cougar sighting which kind of put my Red Rat Weasel story in it's place. There have been a couple of cougar attacks in Oregon but generally, they stay away from humans and you will never see them. Her encounter was 2 miles into her hike and it spooked her. She backtracked the 2 miles to let people know and she said the reaction was laughter and how lucky she was because no one ever gets a view of a cougar. They are at times near by but don't ever show themselves. She decided to continue her hike but was determined to make it a noisy one to announce her presence.

47 North Sister 3

80 Mt Washington 5

108 Three Fingered Jack backside 2

I had another young solo female hiker pass slowly by my group camp around dinner time, continue on, but then backtrack to ask if she could share the site. I kind of laughed internally because the site would accommodate about 12 tents but I realized she was concerned by the presence of just one old man. She was tired and this was likely the last decent campsite for a number of miles. I put her mind at ease with my sparkling personality and we had a nice conversation. I was happy for the company and to not be in another lonely campsite.

Tomorrow will be another tough climb out from the Lemiti Creek basin before heading down to Warm Springs River. I'm so close to the end I can taste the cheeseburger and beer!