July 31st & August 1st 2022, by Jon
We ended up double-zeroing in Ashland because the weather on Monday was supposed to be full of rain, thunderstorms, and the smoke from the fires was still kind of bad.
We ate a lot of great food, including an Indian buffet, sushi, late-night bar food, tacos, milkshakes, and diner food. We had a few sit-down conversations to talk through the options for the next steps of our hike. There are a lot of closures in Oregon, both new and old, and everyone seems to be tackling them differently. We met hikers who were skipping to Bend, to Mt. Hood, to Cascade Locks, flipping up to the northern monument and hiking south, hiking the Oregon Coast Trail for Oregon, then getting back to the PCT for Washington, or continuing north from Ashland, hiking what you could. We decided to stay as long as we needed to before leaving Ashland and heading north. We feel confident we can figure out rides and use transit to get around, avoiding the closed sections, and it will give us more time to see what happens with the smaller spot fires that have cropped up north of Crater Lake.
We spent a lot of time chilling and watching TV, catching up on life chores, resupplying, and making lots of contingency plans for different closures. We spent time with friends and caught up with lots of hikers whom we hadn’t seen in a while. Everyone who was within 200 miles of Ashland seemed to congregate here for the weekend. We resupplied at the local organic food co-op, which should make for an interesting mix of foods. We also picked up a package from my parents that had our voter ballots, a dress Singsong ordered, and lots of homemade cookies.
It sprinkled most of Monday, and we heard thunder overhead in the evening. Hopefully, that’s good for the fires. The Oregon officials said they aren’t too worried about the thunder due to the high humidity and rain that came with it. We went to bed feeling good about leaving on Tuesday morning.
Man you looked like you had fun!