Miles Hiked 163.1
PCT Mile 670.5
Elevation feet 3,717
Miles Hiked Today 11.3
July 21, 2026
Woke up this morning where I camped in the Cove just off the Big Lake Youth Camp property. Today, I’ll be going into Bend Oregon for my first town stay and zero day. Although I was able to wash my clothes and take a shower at the Youth Camp, I’m still looking forward to another shower and washing my clothes again. I don’t think my clothes ever really got clean. Neither did I.
It was hazy with smoke from the northern fires, which I encountered several days ago. The wind is blowing the smoke down and following me as I head south. There’s a forecast for more thunderstorms and rain tomorrow. I sure hope that doesn’t start more fires especially where I’ll be heading south in a couple of days.
Once I got out of the area of the Youth Camp, the terrain returned to dead trees that went on for miles. Fires have really devastated this section of Oregon.
As the morning went on, the ground was increasingly covered by lava rock. Eventually, the whole Trail was lava rock as was the surrounding area. It was a surreal moonscape appearance. This was not a dead forest. Nothing grew because everything was covered in mounds of lava rock.
Lava rock is difficult to walk on, because it’s surface is very irregular and sharp. My guess is that many hikers having gone through this area have to replace their shoes. The real frustration is that there were short periods of dirt tread and a few trees, which led to the false belief that the lava rock was behind me. Then a few minutes later, the lava rock would start again.
During this time, I caught up with John who had left an hour earlier than me. He was having even more difficulty walking on the rock than I was.
Around 1:00 p.m., I finally reached the trailhead where I could catch a ride into Bend. There is a parking lot about one-half mile east of the trail exit point. Since it will be easier to hitch hike where there is a parking lot, I walked up to it. Another hiker came up to me and asked if I was looking for a ride. He had secured a ride from a trail angel who had one more seat for a hiker. That’s pretty lucky and just like that I had a ride into Bend. The trail angel dropped me off at the Super 8 motel where I’ll spend the next two nights and a zero day.
I’m still concerned about the weather forecast for tomorrow. Two years ago when I wanted to do Oregon, there were so many fires I had to leave the trail. I sure hope that doesn’t happen again.
