Oregon.

We walked through Oregon in 26 days.

A smoky sunset in Jefferson Park.

Oregon has been really enjoyable for me-much more enjoyable than Washington was, surprisingly, and more enjoyable than the first time I hiked the PCT, when raging Achilles tendinitis was all I could think about at this point in the trail. The weather had been very hot for us in Washington, in the 90s many days-and I felt frustrated by the hordes of people out for the weekend or on day hikes in the popular areas like the Alpine Lakes wilderness and Mount Rainier National Park.  Energetically I felt "done" with Washington-I had spent so much time and energy in those mountains and in Seattle, that hiking the PCT through trampled meadows felt sad and angering. Oregon, by contrast, has been cooler, greener, and less populated.  The trail is also extremely moderate through almost the entire state with gentle ups and downs.

Gentle walking in green forests.

We started southbound out of Cascade Locks, walking the Eagle Creek trail with its famous tunnel waterfall. 

Almost immediately we walked through the Mount Hood area, which was awash with wildflowers.  I loved the cool green forest here.

Flowering beargrass near Mount Hood.

After Hood, we walked through the Mount Jefferson area, some of which has burned in

Recent years.  Veggie, Karma, and Crosby surprised me at the trailhead going into Bend with trail magic.

Parker, Crosby, me in my dirty white shirt, Filip.

 Crosby caught my reaction to seeing Veggie, who had driven to surprise me. I hiked about 1500 miles of the CDT with Veggie in 2015.

I also got to spend some time with Sherri and Jerry, Joey’s brother and sister-in-law, whom I had grown close to in the aftermath of Joey’s death in the midst of planning his celebration of life.  It’s amazing how tragedies can have this silver lining of new friendships and bonds, which never would have come about otherwise. Bend ended up filling me with energy-friends old and new that love me, across chapters in my life. I walked out of Bend feeling energized and optimistic.

Silly pic with Sherri and Jerry. We love you guys!

The forest fires in Oregon started to pick up after we left Bend, and smoke in the air became a challenge to contend with.  Some days were thick with smoke, and almost zero visibility.

Dramatic burn zone near Ollalie Lake.

Thick smoke in the lava near Mackenzie Pass.

Sadly Filip missed seeing the iconic Three Sisters the day we walked through, because the smoke was so thick.  But, mercifully the smoke basically cleared by the time we arrived at Crater Lake.

Impossibly blue Crater Lake.

South of Crater Lake, the trail was mostly the “green tunnel” that everyone describes the whole state as, as it wound around the southern volcanos of Mount Thielsen and Mcloughlin. 

The smoke grew thicker as we approached Ashland.  In Ashland, we rented a car to head south towards Reno and South Lake Tahoe. We’ll skip Northern California with its raging fires, hundreds of miles of burnt forest, and smoke and re-enter the Sierras at South Lake Tahoe for our final month of hiking. We're enjoying a little "vacation from our vacation" now, driving the California coast and seeing the Redwoods.