Day Twenty-Two: Eagle Creek

During Breakfast, two baby deer wandered into our campsite. It was incredibly magical (aka super maj, a trail term). This set the tone for the day. The day was filled with nature's most awe inspiring wonders. Eagle Creek is an amazing trail, and I highly recommend it to anyone in search of a hike in Oregon.

Merit Badges:

- tolerating rude day hikers

- full body hugging a downed tree in attempts to go over it

- getting a delicious free peach from a fruit stand

- being featured on multiple Go-pros

- seeing the most amazing waterfall, ever

- getting a stinging nettle sting moments from exiting the trail :(

- reading, reviewing, and editing interpretative signs on a bike trail, such teachers

Hike Highlights:

- Eagle Creek Tail

- Rosie got her first blister

- meeting the Belgian again

- Thunder Island Brewery

Day Twenty-One: Gifted Coffee

In the morning, I dug a hole for a latrine, an outdoor bathroom. As I struggled to dig a hole in the rocky dirt, a pleasant voice sang a cheery "good morning" from the trail. All I could do was act cool and thank my lucky stars for the rocky hard dirt that slowed my digging. I could have been caught in a worse circumstance which would have earned me a merit badge. The cheery voice was a PCTA trail worker, who was doing maintenance on the trail. She was in a group of three workers.

In addition to the trail workers, we met two fantastic thru-hikers, beershake and monsoon, at Indian Springs. They gifted us their extra instant coffee, because they planned on hiking an additional 15 miles after dinner. Thus, they wouldn't need instant coffee; they would have really coffee in Cascade Locks. They visited us for an hour. We swapped stories, which was comforting and entertaining.

Merit Badges

- saving more day hikers

- waking Leann due to groaning because of back pain

- having crazy wilderness dreams about cats

Day Twenty: Falling Apart

BRosie and I noticed things have begun to fall apart: shoes, sporks, tent poles, hips, and feet. We're clearly seasoned hikers. Hopefully, duct tape and ibuprofen will hold us together for the next three weeks.

There is some good news; my giant blisters have (overall) vanished. Yay! My dad bought me anti-blister socks made for marathon runners, and they are definitely working.

Hike Highlights:

- crossing paths with a bachelor party

- meeting young ladies hiking for the first time

Merit Badges:

- eating a salmon berry

- meeting Christoph's family (see image below)

Day Nineteen: Goodbye, Timberline

Instead of thunder and lighting, Rosie and I woke up to an old section-hiker talking to his lady friend very loudly at four in the morning. To give him grace, he is a very nice man, just so incredibly loud. We met lots of nice people today. Including a lady who thought we were super tough, which flattered Rosie and I. We tied our shoes and buckled up our packs shortly after noon, and we hit the trail again. Today, we've crossed paths with many hikers, and we set up camp in wilderness cul-de-sac of three camping parties.

Merit Badges:

- fording two rivers

- hiking in wet shoes

- bushwhacking

Day Eighteen: Raining Cats & Dogs

Oh boy! Rosie and I woke up in the middle of the night to thunder and lightning. The booms were loud and long, and we began to worry about the day ahead of us. We had taken multiple easy days, which caused us to pick up more miles on our final day of this leg. Unfortunately, we had to pay our milage debt in the pouring down rain. Boo! We sucked it up and began our wet trudge to Timberline Lodge. After Ramona Falls, we began to notice day hikers, lots of day hikers. Where there is day hikers, there is civilization! We began our harebrained scheme to get off the trail and out of the rain. We followed the day hikers' trail to a parking lot, and from there we hitchhiked. Donna, lovely Donna, gave us a ride to the highway. She dropped us off near a ranger station and the Zigzag Cafe. We ate lunch at the cafe, where we met an enthusiastic and helpful park ranger. He offered us a ride, showers, and access to a washer & dryer. However, we would have to wait till the end of his work day. We decided to try our luck again at hitching a ride. Two minutes of noncommittally trying to hitch a ride in the rain, Austin picked us up. Hooray!!! We were saved again. He took us all the way to Timberline Lodge. At the lodge, we are enjoying all the luxuries of the 21st century, including showers, grownup beverages, towels, chairs, electricity, internet access, soap, and shampoo. Hip, hip, hooray. We escaped the rain today.

Merit Badges:

- hitchhiking, and not getting murdered

- crossing a river using a very scary rope and slippery log (it got the adrenaline going)

- going to the bathroom with our packs on

- realizing that "water proof" is really just water resistant when hiking looks more like swimming on a trail

Day Seventeen: Rain, Rain, Go Away

It was another rainy morning for Rosie and I. So, we hid in the tent for as long as we could. We met lots of north bound hikers on the trail today. In fact, we bumped into Mammoth and Half-Dome. It was exciting to see them again and catch up.

Merit Badges:

- going to the bathroom in the rain

- hanging a bear bag the PCT style

- being mistaken for serious thru-hikers

- finding a four leaf clover

- bumping into Cedric Diggory's doppelganger, who was accompanied by a muggle

Day Fifteen & Sixteen: Up Hill, Both Ways

Yesterday morning, Rosie and I woke up in a cloud. It was complete fog, and it misted till noon. So, naturally, we read books in our tent till noon, then we started hiking. We ran into a dad with three little boys, who was a tad bit lost. Rosie pointed him in the right direction. Apparently, his mother-in-law had ditched him on the trail. The tough little boys were on a long hike back to the car. We found an awesome campsite near a lake. It had a fireplace and handcrafted stone chairs.

Today, Rosie and I found a long-cut (aka we took a wrong turn). It was a painful 2,000 foot elevation gain to correct the situation. Now, we're camped on a ridge enjoying our cozy sleeping bags. It's been chilly!

Merit Badges:

- actually sleeping in our sleeping bags

- helping a dad with three children

- taking a long-cut