7/29

Last night a big animal came into my camp. It was silhouetted against the lake and I thought it might have been an elk. It was very surreal. I could see the exact moment that it realized it was just at the foot of a family's camp and it turned quickly and circled back around me. 

I checked the ground for it's prints this morning and found out it was a large deer and not an elk. 

I left camp around 7 am again as it was another frigid night. This one colder than the last. I am camped at Dumbbell lake where there are some very loud and inconsiderate middle aged women enjoying themselves vivaciously. What can I say to them? Nature is more than just a place to hear your own voice echo back across a large lake? I could say that, but the way they are conducting themselves immediately assures me it would be over their heads. I'm too tired to hike on as the 30 miles I put in today really drained me.

On a more positive note, the two boys in the family I camped with last night really lit up when I showed them my gear and they spoke of alcohol stoves and thru-hiking late into the night. I was just talking to a close friend about inspiring others on the trail and it struck me that if I could inspire these two guys to be more engaged outdoorsmen or even thru-hike a long trail I would be deeply satisfied. I was inspired to do this by thru-hikers I met in 2008 and I know what it did to me. I'm here now and having the most joyful and transformative experience of my life. If I can pay that forward to just one person...

Oh well. 

Slowing down the next couple days (25's not 30's) to time my meet up with Drama now rescheduled for Thursday morning @ hwy 20. Excited to see him.

-Luke

7/28

Today I woke up to a steamy lake that was too spectacular to capture with my silly iPhone. Some views are just for me. 

It was by far the coldest night spent in Oregon and at 5:21, when my alarm went off, my body refused to move. I slept in again and got up once the sun started warming my camp.

There was actually a lot of water around today, but halfmile didn't list any of the ponds as water sources on his maps and I knew the National Geographic base maps he uses are old... Anyways there was plenty of the stuff.

There's more to say but I am tired. A nice family is camped with me at the lake pictured in the last picture. They gave me cookies and other baked goods.

That's some good stuff! Onward!

29 miles today!

-Luke

 

 

 

 

 

7/27

7/27

Another wonderful day in Oregon. I turned my alarm off at 5:21 and slept in until 7. I had given up on a large mileage day and that was fine by me since I had hiked a 30 yesterday.

This sign was a few miles out from camp. It wasn't really true for me, though, since I took a detour to see Crater Lake and that was a few hundred feet higher. 

Water was scarce again today, and will be tomorrow as well. 

I'm camped on the south shore of Summit Lake tonight after hiking 31 miles. I'm consistently amazed at how much easier these big miles days have become. Maybe I should sleep in every day...

The mosquitos are as bad as they have been all trip. That may exclude just north of Tuolomne meadows... But yeah they are particularly bad today. First time breaking out the head net in a while but it is an absolutely critical gear item when you need it. 

 

-Luke

 

 

7/26

7/26

Wonderful day today. No problems with the dry stretches there were even a few unexpected caches.

Met my first honest to god south bound hiker today. His name is Bobcat and he is flying!

30 miles and in bed by 8.

-Luke

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Possible Heart Attack

7/25

Today was a sort of strange day that ended in the best camping spot of my life.

About 10 miles into my day I found this pack, fully loaded, with a note saying all of the gear was free for the taking. This wasn't anywhere near any kind of road access and it left me a little confused. I rifled through the whole pack and found little worth the weight, but ended up taking a Silva baseplate compass because it had the highest value per weight... 

Anyways an hour or so later I came upon a group of three hikers resting. A man and a woman were both sitting up next to two very big packs and they were flanking a very large man splayed out on the ground. He didn't look well. I said hello and asked if everything was alright. They said they were fine, but I looked again at the man on the ground who was sweating profusely and next to him was only a small day pack. A light went off in my head and I asked if that was his pack further back on the trail. It was. I asked again if everything was alright or if they needed any water (this was a 20 mile dry stretch after all). They said they were fine but their friend was just a little sick. I was about to move on, but something about the guy looked wrong so I told the group I was an EMT and asked if there was anything I could do. 

All of a sudden it was very clear that everything was far from alright. They quickly told me the man was suffering from congestive heart failure and he was relatively certain he had just had his third heart attack. They seemed very relieved to have me there even though I had little to offer. I took the mans pulse and breathing rate and then felt his forehead and was relieved to feel that he was warm to the touch(cold skin can indicate shock). His pulse was fast but strong, and I was pretty certain he wasn't in shock. I really needed a stethoscope and a blood pressure cuff to complete a differential diagnosis, but I did offer them my spot device in case they wanted a rescue team. They declined it. I recommended aspirin if any chest pain returned but no one had any. I think I will carry baby aspirin from now on in case I meet another person in this situation. I have them a liter of water, and an airhead candy since he said sugar had been making him feel better. They seemed relieved by what I had done which was very little in my eyes. I walked on. 

I arrived an hour or so later at Mazama Village and resupplied. I also met this furry little guy.

My mom had included a mango and avocado in my box and both worked out  really well! Thanks mom!

I ate a meal with some other hikers and a little later the three hikers from earlier showed up much to my relief. I had kind of regretted that I hadn't offered to hike with them in case the man needed CPR or an emergency rescue so I was glad to see him walk in and say he was feeling a lot better. They were very grateful for what I had done, but the most important thing I did was give the guy some water.

A group of three of us hiked on from there and are currently camped on the rim of crater lake. The signs say, "No Camping," but there's plenty of it!! Absolutely gorgeous.

 

 

 

 

 

7/24

7/24

Got a really late start today. Didn't leave camp until 8. This was partly an extension of my more relaxed attitude experiment and also partly because Megan was still asleep in her tent. I would have liked to hike with her again, but I knew I wanted to put in at least 22 miles to set me up for my resupply tomorrow at Mazama Village. There is a restaurant there and I have been thinking about a root beer float all day. 

Hit 1800 miles today, which is pretty cool. Creeping up on the big 2000 mark. 

I ended up doing 25 miles today. That leaves 17 miles to get into Mazama by tomorrow afternoon and then I will probably hike on. Maybe another 10 miles in an ideal world? I'm also currently 3 miles into a 20 mile dry stretch. I had 3.5 liters of water leaving the last creek but am very thirsty in camp! I have about 2.5 liters left at the moment, but will be fine as long as I have 2 left for hiking tomorrow.

Got a few drops of rain today, but nothing serious.

-Luke

Another relaxing day

7/23

Hiked a 29 mile day today in even more leisure than the last. Oregon is truly a place of easy mileage. I can't imagine what kind of miles I'd be getting if I were pushing for them... But instead of doing that I started hiking at 7 and took an hour long nap at the first water source which also happened to be a pretty well built cabin with a wood stove. 

After that I hiked pretty well and cruised into the next water spot where I was thinking of camping at 4:30. This was too early to camp, but I cooked dinner and hiked on with a really nice woman named Megan and her dog. We talked a bit about environmental action as that is her line of work, and it was good medicine to be walking with a dog; especially after waking up this morning missing my dog. 

We are camped together, but her schedule is a little slower than mine and I'm not sure if we'll hike on together tomorrow morning. Sometimes friends are short on the trail.

-Luke

The Loraxes

7/22

Today I hiked a very casual 28 miles. I stopped frequently to read and relax at water sources and didn't push my pace at all in order to get more miles in. Oregon has lived up to its reputation of being pretty flat so far. It has also been pretty dry and water sources are frequently over 5 miles apart making forward thinking more necessary than most of Northern California. 

There is another hiker with the name Lorax on the trail and we ended up hiking together for some hours today. It was a pleasant experience and the time passed quickly as we talked about the trail and the other Lorax recited Dr. Seuss' tale from memory. He was trying to get a lot of miles in today so we parted ways around 1 pm. 

My dessert tonight, though I don't always have one, was a special hiker treat I invented. The ingredients are: 450 ml of hot water, 3 packets of Swiss Miss, and a whole sleeve of Oreo cookies.

It's ridiculously tasty.

I am now camped at a lake whose name I am not sure of. I am about a third of a mile off trail as it was the only available water for the next 5 miles. Tomorrow's water situation doesn't look particularly fun as there are some gaps of around 12 miles. 

Thanks to the Federal family for their donation today. Your support means a lot.

-Luke

http://hike4hope.org

Ashland

7/21

I ended up taking two zero mile days in Ashland. It is a beautiful place with a thriving music scene and some really excellent little shops in the down town area. 

There was a slackline in town that we have been mailing down trail and it served for an excellent time in triangle park.

Many thanks to Annie for being so kind with her hostel, and to Fireweed for the ride back up to the trail this evening. I hiked about 3 miles out from the road and am ready to get the miles in tomorrow morning!

Here we go Oregon!!

-Luke

 

Ciao to California.

7/18

 

An amazing day today. Started a little slow but things got moving once a couple large climbs were out of the way. 

I didn't know this would be my final day in California. I had actually planned to camp 10 miles earlier than I did. So another 35 mile day today. Feeling strong, and only need to put 23 miles in tomorrow to cruise into Ashland. 

Lint and I caught up with Hike-a-While and a new hiker to me, Oakdale. We hiked with them for about 12 miles to the border and beyond.

So I am camping in Oregon tonight. Loving it. 

Right before the border was this decrepit wood cabin. Naturally I went inside even though its leaning heavily down hill.

Ashland tomorrow for a well deserved break. 

-Luke
 

 

 

 

 

 

Climb climb climb

7/17

Lint and I decided to hike on from Seiad Valley tonight despite the awesome RV park with an air conditioned hiker hang out. The reason we wanted to leave was the 5000 or so foot climb out of the valley. If we left tomorrow morning it would be blazing hot before we were half way up. So we hiked more than half of the 8 mile climb starting at 7:30 pm and we put a triumphant cap on a 35 mile day with a town stop fit in the middle. 

It's almost 10 pm and I am tired.

I guess Seiad wanted/wants to be its own state? 

First spring coming out of Seiad.

Stuff in a bag.

 

 

 

Final town in California

7/17

Well, I can't believe it but I am here in the final town of California. Wow. An amazing amount of effort has been put in to get me this far and there are still just over 1000 miles left to hike. 

Lint and I put in 30 miles today before 4 pm today and strolled down the highway to the tiny town of Seiad Valley.

 

 

 

 

 

Following the tracks of Anish

7/16

Lint, the Germans, and I left from Etna around noon today. We had a late sleep and then breakfast, and the pack shake down I posted about earlier.

Autobahn packed out a 25 oz. Rolling Rock for 7 miles! The extra ounce is free...

The Germans love their beer.

 

Lint and I ended up hiking out ahead of the Germans, but I plan to meet back up with them in Ashland. Lint had been hiking with a female hiker Anish for the past few days. Anish is currently trying to set the speed record on the PCT and is averaging 45-50 miles a day... The 25 miles Lint and I did after noon today probably seemed pretty low key to him. Her shoe prints were still visible in the dirt and I'm sorry to have missed her while I was in town.

We are crushing miles and my pack is the lightest it's ever been. 

Great views of some epic valleys as well.

Are these orchids?

 Okay. Take care all. Love to the family.

Luke

P.s. If you are reading please check out my charity fundraiser @ hike4hope.org. We are only about half way to our new goal and it would be awesome to get a little closer!

 

 

9 pound base weight!!

A hiker named Lint arrived in Etna last night. He is a double-triple crowner... Meaning he has hiked the pct, cdt, and at twice each. These are all of the major long trails in the United States. 

His website is @ linthikes.com

This morning he gave my pack a shakedown to help eliminate unnecessary gear. 

He helped me get rid of my long underwear bottoms, down jacket, extra bandana, gloves, balaclava, and a few other redundant items of gear. This package that was mailed home today weighed in at 1lb and 13 ounces. That brings my packs baseweight down to just around 9 pounds and completes my goal of getting under 10 pounds before I reach Oregon. I am truly an Ultra light hiker now!  

Stoke level is very high. Oregon is coming in less than 5 days.

 

Etna!

Today we hiked into Etna.

The morning included a 1000 foot climb where we realized at the top that we weren't on trail so we came all the way down and then hiked the 1000 foot climb on trail across the highway. I think it was a good sign that my mental lull was temporary when I thought that the off trail climb was pretty fun and a good bit of extra exercise.

Today was a good day, and Etna is treating us well.

So full.