PCT Day 50: Olallie Olé

Saturday, 25 August 2018

Dirt Road (591.3) – Breitenbush Lake Camp (613.2): 21.9 miles / 527 total miles walked

It was still pretty cold in the morning, but the sun coming up gave the whole day a totally different tone. It’s so much easier to brave the cold in sunshine than in clouds. So we packed up and headed out. It also helped that we had decided to sleep in until 6 am.

I did wake up to a lot of condensation inside the tarp and a damp quilt though, which sucked, because water weight is heavy. Also, the moon last night had been so bright.

Again today the trail led mostly through woods on soft pine needles, which is good for the feet, but not good for a mind that needs stimulation. Thankfully I met Stretch and Snip, an Australian couple, and was able to hike and chat with them until the first water source.

For breakfast I made some food and took a break with Australians and Lithuanians, a nice international grouping of SOBOs, more than I had seen in a while. Sink caught up, made some coffee, and then we hauled butt the next few miles to Olallie Lake.

On the way there we crossed the 600 mile barrier and since there was no sign I quickly made one out of twigs. And yes, I am aware I haven’t hiked all of the 600 miles….I still took a picture there. Haters can go elsewhere…

Reaching the Olallie Lake store was a nice milestone and for the remoteness of the place and the size of the store they pack a huge selection in there. I got a can of Chili and some tortillas because it’s the closest thing to ‘real food’ that they had.

Sink and I commandeered a picknick table, hung up our stuff to dry and sat down to eat. The chili was delicious. And the fact that we could see Mt. Jefferson and the sun came out was even better. A perfect break after 16 miles.

After a leisurely lunch we tackled another 5 miles over rocks and loose debris until we reached a gravel road.

A short side trip later we made it to a primitive campground (meaning no water and only pit toilet) and a fierce cold wind was blowing. I immediately set up my shelter and tried to pack my remaining things around the openings, hoping to block the wind. It still howled around me and made it hard to get warm. I ended up throwing the quilt all the way over my head, blocking out the cold. My own personal tiny cave….which isn’t so much fun if you’ve eaten a can full of beans that day. 😂😂😂


Hopefully I won’t have frost in my tarp come morning.

Keeping you posted…

Leave a Reply