Miles Hiked 151.8
PCT Mile 659.2
Elevation feet 4,810
Miles Hiked Today 10.1
Early this morning I was awakened by the smell of smoke. There are fires burning in Oregon right now. As a matter of fact, several days ago I hiked right through an area where a fire was active, so you can imagine my concern.
I was up at 5:00 a.m. with the potential for a nearby fire heavy on my mind. I rushed to close up camp and get under way. By 6:00 a.m. I was hiking. With a sense of urgency and a potential fire of concern, I went as fast as I could.
The goal today is to reach the Big Lake Youth Camp. The camp is a faith-based Youth Camp, which hosts early teenage year boys and girls. The camp also provides PCT hikers with a cabin in which to relax, do laundry and shower. Those are things that I desperately need, especially the shower.
The only stop that I needed to make before reaching the camp was a pond on the trail. I camped last night with very little water. As a matter of fact, John, with whom I’ve been camping, gave me enough water to make dinner.
So, I’m at the pond and in the pond is a log, which you have to walk out on to get water. I stepped onto the log and walked out to a point where I could dip my water bottle. After securing the water, I turned around and headed back down the log to land. That didn’t go too well because I slipped and fell into the water. The only thing I could think of was, “What if that was a log on a stream crossing?” Yikes!
I reached the trail junction to the camp at 10:15 a.m. and the camp, itself, fifteen minutes later. There were other hikers already there. After making my hellos, I stripped off my wet clothes, threw them in the washing machine and headed for the shower.
The Youth Camp is popular with PCT hikers for another reason. They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner daily and all hikers are invited – free of charge. Naturally, I took advantage of that for both lunch and dinner.
Later, I set up my tent along the lake where the camp is located. I, also, found out that the fire I smelled early in the morning was actually a blaze that was burning north of the camp. It was no threat to the trail or the camp, at least for the time being.
John and I will be heading into town tomorrow. Even though I did laundry and took a shower, I’m looking forward to repeating it and getting some good town food.
