Saturday, June 6, 2015

Friday, June 5, 2015

It was a great day to be hiking. Sunny and warm, but not too hot. I didn't see a single hiker on the trail today. The bugs are starting to be a problem, though.

Thursday, June 4, 2015

I got up early and found that it had been raining lightly over night. I had about 10 miles of walking to get to the trail head at Olallie Lake Resort. A truck with a dumpster box drove by headed for the resort, but he wouldn't give me a ride.

About a mile befort the resort, a fisherman stopped and gave me a ride to the resort. It's a little early, but the resort and the store were able to open due to the lack of snow in the area. The store had some great hiker items. The one thing that I was surprised that they had was replacement insoles for my shoes. There were not exactly the right size, but they worked. I'm starting to get a blister on the bottom of my left foot from the road walking with my heavy pack.

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Hood River, OR to near Olallie Lake Resort. Zero trail miles, but about 10+ miles of road walking in between rides.

I got a total of 7 rides today before I used up all my ride karma. My first ride was from a logger named Frank. He took me from where I was camping overnight to the town of Hood River.

Next, I crossed over the Columbia River to the town of Bingen, WA. You are not allowed to walk across the bridge in Hood River, nor ride your bike, but a very nice woman gave me a ride to the Post Office. She knew I was a PTC hiker, but thought I was too clean. Bingen was a nice little town, but I did not find what I was looking for, so I headed back to Hood River. Two women headed for Portland gave me a ride back across the river to Oregon.

While I was in Hood River, I found a great sidewalk cafe called Remedy. The had lentil soup with vegetables, and amazing smoothies. I ate my lunch with Ira while we enjoyed the mid-day sunshine.

Oregon has joined the short list of states that have legalized Pot (as of July 1st ... now you know the REAL reason there are so many hikers on the PTC this year!) Two older guys that are new "growers" gave me a ride South on Highway 35 towards Government Camp.

Ride #5 was Rick from Springfield, OR. He was very interesting, and he works for the Forest Service. He gave me a ride all the way to Highway 26, where I needed to go South towards Bend.

Ride #6 was from an older Chinese woman named Sally. Next week, she will go to visit her family in China. I'd really like to go to China for a visit, and Sally would make a wonderful tour guide. Her English was very good, and she knew a lot about China. She was on her way to Bend to visit a friend. She gave me a ride to Road 42.

From there , I knew the rides would be much more difficult, as it was mid-week and in a remote area without a lot of traffic. I walked a ways when ride #7 came along ... 3 younger women from Portland, OR (pizza makers by trade) were heading to Timmothy Lake for some camping with friends. They even went out of their way about 5 miles to get me a little closer to Olallie Lake. They were fun!

Finally, it was starting to get dark, so I found a clearing to put up my tent. I had about 8 - 10 miles to go to reach the resort.

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

I changed my plans just a bit, as I found a Craig's List ride to Hood River that was leaving early in the afternoon on Tuesday. I called my dentist, and they were able to move up my appointment ... that was a good thing!

Ivan was on his way to the coast to interview for a position with the forest service. Good luck on landing a perfect job!

I had an enjoyable time looking around and seeing the sites! My son, Kyle Ocean is an artist, and has one of his projects on display near a bike shop there, called "Northwest Sun."

There was a nice coffee shop there, called Dog River Coffee. They have free computers that customers can use ... that was nice. I sent a letter to the editor of the local newspaper, thanking the town for being nice to PCT hikers.

It rained a little overnight, but not bad. It's good to get this hike started.

Friday, May 29, 2015

The theme for today is to reduce my pack weight! As each day goes by, I seem to be adding more and more stuff to carry, or I remember something that I've forgotten to pack, and it's really adding up! A heavy pack will be lead to a 'less-than-happy camper,' as they say. So I've decided that I need to leave some things behind. Do I really need 4 pair of socks? Can I find a lighter container than the original container, to help reduce the weight? I didn't need the Advil bottle, as I was able to put them in a small zip-lock bag.

 

Here's another example ... I have a brand of toothpaste that I really like, and I had already packed the tube, but it's a large tube that was almost full (6.5 oz.), and I know I won't use the entire tube on this trip. I have a couple of smaller tubes of toothpaste (.85 oz.) that I got from my dentist, but I don't like the flavor at all. The simple solution to my problem was to empty out the smaller tube, and then re-fill it with the brand that I like. This seems like a lot of work, but it saved me about 1/4 pound (or more), and it also doesn't take up as much space in my pack. Every little bit helps.

 

I've also been going through some of my photos, and I'm cleaning some of my chips so I can take lots of pictures on this trip. I found this shot from 2012, and I thought I'd share it with you here.

 

In just a few more days, I'll be leaving Idaho for my big hike, and I'm getting very excited!

Thursday, May 28, 2015

I've been busy getting my back-pack pulled together with all my gear. I'm feeling like I'm taking too much stuff this time, and I know my pack will be very heavy. It's already around 30 lbs, but that includes some of the food that I'll be taking along. The good news is that there is lot of water in the Northern Oregon Section of the PCT where I'll be starting, so I won't be worried about water and I won't have to carry a lot of water during the day. Most of the time, I'll be camping near water as well.

 

One problem that I seem to have, as the days pass by, is I keep thinking of additional 'stuff' that I need to take. Mose of it is fairly light, but when you add it all together, the sum of it all is HEAVY. I usually don't carry any rope, but I thought that I should be better with my food and hang it from a tree. The rope only weighs less than a pound, but it still adds up.

 

Today, I went for about a 3 mile hike with my loaded pack, just to make sure it is going to work OK. This is often called a "shake down" hike.

 

 

 

I went to Hull's Gulch, which is located at the end of 8th Street near Boise. It was a beautiful morning for hiking.

 

 

I still have not secured transportation to Hood River, Oregon. There's a Greyhound bus that leaves Tuesday evening for $60 one-way. The problem is that it arrives in Hood River at 4:00 a.m.! There's also a bus that leaves Boise on Wednesday Morning, and gets to Hood River in the afternoon ... same price. That one sounds better to me.

 

I've posted an advertisement on Craig's List asking for a ride to Hood River, and I can probably get a ride for around $30 - $40. I'll wait to see if I get any responses before I buy a ticket on Greyhound.

 

And there's always the option of just hitch-hiking. I've had fairly decent luck getting rides between Boise and Portland in the past, and you can be sure that there will be plenty of travelers going that direction. I even started building some good Karma ... the other day while driving on I-84 between Boise and Meridian, there was a young guy walking with a gas can in his hand, so I stopped and gave him a ride to the gas station. I even offered to give him a ride back to his car. Some people call this "paying it forward."

 

Wednesday will be here so quickly now!