Day 38. August 2.
The water did a great job blocking the highway noise. I was looking forward to hiking.
I crossed the highway and right away it was lava and boulders. What made it extremely annoying was that somebody had decided to line the trail with red lava cinders. They were about the size of walnuts but odd-shaped and sharp-edged. They were extremely uncomfortable to walk on.
It was one of those situations where nobody stopped to ask "is this a good idea?" Somebody had to buy it then transport it to the trail. Somebody had to level the trail, put perfectly good dirt down and then cover it with lava cinders. Finally, they had to have walked on it.
After suffering through the lava cinders, the forest returned and the trail was just dirt. There were a few raspberries at first. Then, the trail was surrounded by huckleberries. Huckleberries are wild blueberries basically. Overall they were probably about a week away from their peak. But I still found enough ripe ones to eat along the way. A younger hiker going north asked me what the berries were. I was surprised. I told him what they were and showed him how to tell when they were ripe. He was amazed.
The PCT went by another winter warming cabin. It had a handpump well outside. Inside was a trail register and three mice.
I passed a sign showing I had 1779 miles to reach Mexico. Better get moving.
Mid day I crossed a paved road with a parking area. There were a few cars. A burned area in the center of parking area caught my attention. You have to be pretty desperate to build a fire in the middle of a parking lot.
As I got close, I could see that somebody had tried to burn a pair of men’s underwear. Like the last time, my mind reeled with possible explanations, none of which seemed normal.
I ended up walking through some dry Oregon countryside. Rolling hills, brown grass, a few rare streams. I was pushing to make miles to reach Ashland in two days.
Late in the day, I realized I had passed my water resupply point. The tentsite goal was a reservoir that possibly had agricultural runoff, so I needed to grab some water beforehand. There was an RV campground on the way. I walked through and it was empty. I filled up and walked past the Manager’s RV. I shouted out to say hello. A fiery 70 year old lady popped out. I explained I was desperate for water and had helped myself at a spigot. Not sure if she was going to be upset, I was pleasantly surprised when she invited me to stop and charge up my electronics. People are good.
I pushed on through the heat and the setting sun. my goal was a campsite for people with horses. I figured it was a weeknight and there would be few if any equestrians there. My worst fears were horse dung and horse flies. But I reasoned that people who take their horses out for rides are usually very proud of their animals.
I got to the horse camp just as the sun set. It was empty and immaculate. there was cut firewood and even the pit toilet was spotless.
After a long day it felt so good to slide into my sleeping bag and listen to the birds by the lake say their "good nights" to each other. I deliberately blocked out images of burnt boxers.
backpacking over the hill 