Day 114 - 117
Mile 1939.7 - 2003.5
Near Willamette Pass - old santiam wagon road
Day 114: The tunnel
Today was forested for the whole day. The scenery was trees.
And more trees.
And more trees.
Sometimes the trees were near small lakes.
Even though the scenery was monotonous, the temperature was nice all day and there were not too many bugs. At one point we walked through a burn section. While that is usually not desirable, we were happy because we at least got views of the distance.
We entered three sisters wilderness which is supposed to be full of views, lakes, and 3 beautiful mountains (the sisters) so we are eager to wake up tomorrow and see great views that give us a change from the forest tunnel.
Day 115: Discombobulated
The southern part of three sisters wilderness proved to be filled with more trees and lakes and no views.
While the trees are pretty, we felt like we could have been anywhere in Oregon and we felt as though we were walking in circles. We were on the search all day for just one view and we barely even saw the sky above the branches. It was easy to become confused and even Nate, who is usually a walking compass, had to pull his compass out to make sure we were actually heading north. One hiker who slept near us even walked 2 miles in the wrong direction this morning before realizing it. Near the end of the day we came across another burn section which finally gave us the beautiful view we were looking for.
It was a pretty cool day and we both needed our jackets on a few occasions. As we were looking for a spot, it looked like it might rain. It didn't but the wind picked up and it is a mighty cold night. We are so happy to have our warm sleeping bags.
Day 116: A perfect day
Today was amazing! We slept in because we woke up with condensation and we were waiting for it to dry a little. Within an hour we finally emerged from the green tunnel and entered wickiup plain.
We were both so happy and we commented on how both of our spirits were increased 100 fold. We had views of the south and middle sister.
We took a lunch break right under the middle sister and it was the most amazing lunch spot we have had yet. There were big flat rocks to dry our stuff out on, the views were stellar, and the temperature in the sun was perfect.
Later in the day we walked through an area with a ton of obsidian and passed the north sister and little brother.
We walked through a really cool lava field that was extremely painful to walk on and caught glimpses of mt. Washington, three fingered jack, and mt. Jefferson in the distance. It was one of the most incredible views of the entire trip.
At the end of the day we passed highway 242 and entered mt. Washington wilderness.
Today was just the day we were hoping for and we are so happy to be here.
Day 117: big lake youth camp
When we woke up we saw that Jim had camped near us. We hadn't seen him since Chester so we were glad to see and talk to him! We both had condensation and talked about our frustration at how bad it has been lately. We started the morning off by walking on more painful lava rock. The majority of the trail was in another burn section but we had close up views of mt. Washington as we walked around it.
As we looked back, we also had views of north and middle sister that we passed yesterday.
We passed mile 2000! I can't believe we have come this far already.
We made it to big lake youth camp by 1:00. We were able to get sodas, resupply, dry our wet bags and tent out, shower, do laundry, and enjoy an incredible taco salad meal! The cooks even gave us each an ice cream cone because we were hikers! We talked to panama red, ninja, and lunchbox then hiked a few miles out of the camp where we found a spot under the most tree cover we could find in order to avoid condensation.
-Be Free
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