The Walking Dom

Mile 2094 / KM 3370
Diamond Lake to Bend to Big Lake Youth Camp to Timberline Lodge to Portland

I miss: Good bread. Not the pre-sliced stuff but real bread with a thick crust.
Song of my day: You know, I could make up a cool answer, but honestly... anything by ABBA. Gets you up those hills like nothing else.
Podcast of my week: Hardcore History. This stuff is so unbelievably good. Check out the Armageddon Blueprints 1 to 6. I've been inhaling them.

I'm lying on a couch somewhere in Portland as I'm writing this and if I had one wish to make, it would be to not ever have to get up again. When I put my feet down on the ground it feels like pins and needles. I can walk 30 miles a day but I turn into an 90 year old woman after extended breaks and the walk to the kitchen becomes a great obstacle and something I want rethink once I've stood up.

Oregon flew by so quickly it's crazy. Three weeks, bam, that's all it took. California took three times as long! People told me Oregon was going to be flat...those people are liars... don't trust them. There is no such thing as "flat" on the PCT. Sure there's not a pass around every turn like in the Sierras, but there's still a lot of ups and downs to be done every day. No bears though! Katie saw a Cougar instead. Very comforting.

Last time I checked in with you I had just passed Crater Lake which was absolutely mind blowing. I highly recommend visiting that place. The rim walk was a true highlight and everything I hoped for it to be. Crater Lake was followed by Three Sisters Wilderness where a bunch of volcanos must have had quite a party a gazillion years ago. Walked over endless lava fields which was horrible for my ankles, but pretty to look at. For a solid two mile stretch there was obsidian everywhere and the trail looked like a beautiful glittery wet path. As per usual I made sure to be in the center of the lava fields right around noon when it started getting nice and hot. Great! But I made it out alive and well. Rolled into Big Lake Youth Camp that afternoon where I didn't expect anything but as it turned out it had everything. The place is run on donations only which I really like. Got to shower for an UNLIMITED amount of time, found proper shampoo in the hiker box, got my laundry done with real detergent, got to eat dinner and then waffles for breakfast and camped on a volleyball field right beside beautiful Big Lake. All I needed. I want to emphasize the hiker box they have there. It's the best one I've ever seen. People send themselves boxes there full of food, but most people end up with too much stuff so they throw a lot of it into the hiker box. I had not sent myself a box there because I'm a lazy bum and I am disorganized. Worst case scenario I would have had to go into Sisters and hit the supermarket there, but I didn't end up going, because I was able to resupply for 7 days out of that box! Crazy! Found a bunch of dehydrated veggies, beans, lentils, jerkey, trail mix and chocolate. I just realized that to you this must sound like I have become a homeless person. I love mystery meals out of hiker boxes though! They are mostly home made and a nice change to whatever I buy from the store. It just adds a little excitement to ones day!

One of the best days in the past two weeks was the day I got to Elk Lake. I was desperate for some company and some beers and I knew my old gang was hanging out in Bend that night; a town 35 miles further east. I decided to hitch in from Elk Lake and I got to meet one of the most amazing trail angels so far; Happy. He was hanging out at the trail head with his dog Megan and picked me up right away in his old Ford 19-something. "G'" another hiker joined us and we drove to REI. I finally bought some compression socks to protect my legs from scratches and scars. After REIing we were off to Crux Brewing where we got to meet up with the old gang. Had a couple of beers there until our host decided to show us a little more of Bend. Bend's a good sized town with tons of cool places to go to like the McMenamins Hotel. Check it out! It's like the Ferrari of all hotel concepts. They have a hidden bar behind a broom closet, a roman bath and a brewery in house and you can bring the beers from the brewery next door to the bath. Finally someone doing it right! We didn't stay there because as it turned out, Happy lived in a tiny house he had built himself. A real tiny house like the ones on the show! It's the tiniest house I've ever been in, but it had all you needed. Happy played some songs for us on his guitar and he ended up crashing on the floor while I slept on the couch, and "G" upstairs. What a guy! The next day came around, we went for bagels and before we knew it "G" and I were back on the trail at Elk Lake. Boom!

I finally caught up to Katie and we'll be tackling Washington together. We'll be getting back on trail at Timberline Lodge where "The Shining" was filmed and where I had gone off trail a day ago. It's a massive building half way up on Mount Hood. I sat at the same bar where Jack Nicholson sat a couple of years ago. Yeah that's right. I did! And you know what I just realized? I've also been to the Stanley Hotel in Colorado where Steven King got the inspiration to write "The Shining" AND I am from Switzerland and that is where supposedly most of the movie was filmed! Now isn't that something.

One more month and then it'll all be over. I have no idea what that is going to feel like. It will be odd to not run around for 12 hours a day every day. Not sure if I am ready for this thing to be over but at the same time I am. I'm tired. My body feels like it's falling apart. I didn't take a single zero all through Oregon and my legs are sore. But they will be fine by tomorrow night. I'm excited to hit the trail again and get back to doing passes. Washington is going to be great. Rainy but great and the bears will be back. Yay.