August 14th, 2022 by Jon
We woke up in our bed for the last time and thankfully had everything pretty much packed already, so we didn’t actually get out of bed until 7:15. We’ve really enjoyed our time in Bend. Exploring all its great gear stores, outdoor spaces, and spending time with Singsong’s sister. We ate some yogurt we had bought at the store before leaving to go pick up our friends, Tits and Stealth, across town. We stopped by for some more great coffee, of course, and then grabbed them. We drove about 30 minutes up to the smaller town of Redmond, just north of Bend, and said goodbye to Singsong’s sister in the McDonald’s parking lot, where we would meet our ride.
We grabbed some breakfast from Mickey D’s and hung out at their tables there before seeing our ride pull up. Our driver and a few other hikers hopped out to get some food as well, and a little while later, we all got packed up and into the truck. He had a covered pickup bed and not enough seats for everyone, so Singsong, another hiker, and I all got in the back and rode there. We spent about 3 hours driving around Mt. Jefferson and the Warm Springs Reservation before taking some dirt roads and heading back south again. With the Lionshead fire closure, we had to skip 48.9 trail miles from where we got off at Highway 20 to just north of Ollalie Lake, where the closure ends.
We actually drove all the way to the lake so we could see Mt. Jefferson as a backdrop, and grabbed a few snacks at the resort there. Then we drove the 3 miles back up the road to where the trail was open again, just north of the burn. Even driving through it gave us flashbacks to the Dixie Fire burn area, and we have zero desire to hike in anything like that again. We pulled over on the side of the road and tried to give Devilfish money, but he absolutely refused to take it and only wished us well. Instead, we took a photo with all the hikers together with him before he drove away. What a legend. Thanks, Devilfish!
We put on our sunscreen and began hiking along a side trail that leads away from the PCT to a horse camp. We took it back about 0.2 miles and got back to the trail before turning and heading north again. There isn’t a ton to say about the hiking this afternoon. Our packs felt very heavy because we had 5 days’ worth of food, and I think we went pretty heavy on the snacks this time, so we wouldn’t have to ration as we did in the last stretch. Our shoulders were definitely feeling it this time, though. We started at 2:15 and stayed in the woods with pretty much zero views except the trees around us. We went up and down a couple of times, but nothing too steep. When we stopped at a water source about halfway through our milage for the day a bird came very close to us, sitting on branches just above our heads. Thankfully, he didn’t poop on anyone. We made a plan to push tonight and tomorrow so we can get close to Timberline Lodge and hopefully get there in time for their famous breakfast buffet. It will require getting to camp around 7:00 tonight and doing a 29-mile day tomorrow, but we think we can do it. That will leave 55 miles to do over 3 days, and should leave us with 5 miles to the lodge in the morning.
We got to camp after some solid evening hiking, and the sun was low and streaming sideways through the trees for the last few hours. Right around 7:00, we got to a small campsite near a spring that was mostly just a pool, but it was cold and clear. Unfortunately, when I grabbed water for both of us, I didn’t realize how much mud I stirred up getting Singsong’s water. When I came back to camp and had light again, my water was much browner. Oh well. It filtered just fine. We ate and got into our tent around 8:45 before doing our bedtime routine and hitting the sack by about 9:15.
