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08/01/02
Ants were the least of my worries last night.

At 3:45AM, I sort of heard some sniffing, but I was asleep, and in the wild, I hear things all night. The only reason I remember it was right after that 6-8 coyotes started howling. It wasn't the traditional howl at the full moon, but sort of worried yelping and moaning. The pack was about 20' from my sleeping bag, with me inside. It was quite loud and attention-getting.
I don't know that much about coyotes. In my head though, I was thinking, "I don't think coyotes hunt in packs like wolves. I don't think they'll tear me to bits like in a horror film. Where are my hiking poles?"
Yogi, who was in her secure tent about 20' in the other direction, across the trail, called out, "Are you OK?" I said, "I guess so." I wasn't being torn apart yet.
They continued to howl. I couldn't see them at that point, but I knew they were just past the trees. There was no sleeping, so I thought I'd get out the minidisk and record them. Plus, if they did move in and tear me to bits, a recording of that would be cool.
I could do it all in the dark except identify the correct disc to use. As soon as I turned on the light, they stopped howling. I looked around. I could see the silhouette of a few slinking past the distant trees.
It was over, but there was still no sleeping. I don't recall sleeping again, but I think I must have.

We were going to sleep in because we didn't have as many miles to cover and the miles are getting easier, but, with all the late-night excitement, somehow that made it only a lazy morning, not a sleep-in morning. Even though we had a lazy morning, we got in over 27 miles today. We are poised to get to Ashland before noon tomorrow, a good thing.

So, we were hiking along, and I saw my second bear. It was about a year old and cinnamon. It was running from me. It stopped when it thought I was gone. When it saw me, it started running again. They sure have the fear of man in them.

Not long after that, we passed into Oregon.

The mileage for the longer distances is usually wrong because the PCT changes a lot. .

There's a register at the border. Someone had commented that there were a lot of songs about California, but none that he could think of about Oregon. He then listed the California songs, leaving room for others to contribute. In the next column was a place to write down songs with Oregon in them, or in the title. It was blank. Don't write me if you know songs. Hike the trail and add then to the register yourself.

Here's another clear cut welcome to Oregon.

We are camped on the trail tonight. We are not sure if we are on public or private land, and the trail is the only level place anyway.

Bikers had shot down a good portion of the trail we hiked in the afternoon. We didn't meet them, but some dayhikers saw them and said they were going fast. They won't be going fast on that section again.

All the views we are supposed to have of Mt. Shasta looming to the south are obscured by smoke from fires. The smoke was actually much better today, but still like fog at times.

I'm feeling happy about being in Oregon, happier that I thought I'd feel. It's like a new beginning: a new month and a new state.

08/02/02
I love Ashland.

Got to see Titus Andronicus, which was great. It's such an amazing play. A lot of the audience left during intermission, I think because of the intensity.

After the play, some of the others at the hostel settled in to watch Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? There was an amazingly dingy woman who eventually left the TV room because she didn't like movies about hillbillies. She was Hawaiian, so I don't think it was because of her roots. Tin Mouse thought she was pretending to be stupid as a way of manipulation. I didn't.

08/03/02
Ashland!
We were going to get things done then leave, Yogi, DLow, and I. They went off to do something in town, then I went off. I said I'd be back by 2, and was. We regrouped, and I went into town a short way to call for a cab at 5:30 PM. When I was wandering back, Yogi came running (as much as a thru-hiker can run) toward me. She said Restless Wind had come in and wouldn't it be great to stay the night and visit. Of course it would be great. I changed the cab to 8:30AM the next day. Another night in a bed. Oh boy.

The day looked like this:
Breakfast first. I had to get to InfoStructure, a local ISP, by 10 so that I could get a hardline connection to the Internet to upload my journal files.
I was hitching, trying to save myself some walking on my zero-mile day. The dingbat from last night caught up with me. I'd hitch for a light or two, then walk south to the next best spot as this conversation took place. I'd put down my box and put out my thumb. She'd put down her minimal luggage and do the same, then scramble when I started to move on.
"Hey. Hey! Where you goin'?"
"Uh. To a local ISP to update my web site, then the south end of town."
"Can I hitch with you? "
"Uh. Well, where are you going?" Even though hitching with a woman greatly increases a guy's chance of getting a ride, I wasn't desperate enough for a ride that I was willing to endure her company.
"To the airport."
"Uh...Ashland doesn't have a commercial airport."
"Oh. I'm looking for a place to live."
"In Ashland?"
"No. Somewhere on the West Coast."
"Where are you headed now?"
"I want to go to Oregon's capital city, Portland."
"Uh, Oregon's capital is Salem."
"Oh. Well, I thought it was Portland. I want to check out Portland."
"So, you are going to Portland?"
"Yes."
"Well, we are hitchhiking south. Portland's north."
"Oh."
I was ready to move on again, a ride being elusive. I said, "Well, I'm going to keep on walking."
"What should I do?"
"I don't know. Make a sign?" I was thinking a much less helpful thought.
I was eventually able to ditch her. I have no idea what happened to her. I'm sure she was able to latch on to someone.

I walked to InfoStructure. John was there and set me up with just what I needed. Yippee.
As a side note, Ashland has a fiber optic ring that allows every house and business to have a T-3 equivalent (fast) connection for $30 a month. That's one good reason to move to Ashland.
The busses don't run in Ashland on the weekend so I had to carry my laptop bounce box all the way to the south end of town, about 5 miles. Nobody picked me up as I was hitching. Ug.
Off trail miles suck, especially with a box. I made it, then went to Shop-N-Cart, which had great, cheap organic produce and lots of things I like in a market. I walked about a block, and got a ride all the way back to the hostel by 2.

I needed new shoes. I shopped, pissed at Montrail because my Vitesses seemed to be falling apart before their time. Then I went back to the hostel and checked the mileage on the ones I had: 600 miles. That's decent, so I went back and bought another pair.

Yogi, Restless, DLow and I ate at the Spanish place, Tabu. It was great to see Restless and exchange trail tails. I had empinadas and paella.

Went to bed early (for town) and slept all night.

08/04/02
This is my first night of manual journaling. After I sent off my laptop, my Palm started acting weird and reset itself, erasing all the data. I have it backed up on my laptop, but I won't see my laptop again until Sisters. The real problem is that the keyboard application, which I have on a solid-state backup chip can't install from the chip. I can copy the application, but it won't work. Ug.
Yogi, DLow, and I split the 8:30AM taxi back up to Exit 14. It was smoky, but that was no surprise. It was also our first full day of hiking in Oregon. It rained a little.

Before we left the hostel, I saw Restless Wind put two bibles in DLow's pack. DLow discovered one when we got dropped off and left it with a note so it would get back to the hostel. He didn't find the other until later in the day.
Lots of private land and logging on this section of trail.
As I was hiking along, expecting and needing water, I came across gross cow water. I was looking at it thinking, "How can I make this work? Has my hike really come to drinking this?" Then Yogi came along, with her almost innate dead reckoning abilities, and said, "This can't be it." It wasn't.

08/05/02
Ate blue huckleberries by the handful today, and walked past the lava flows from Mt. McLoughlin.
Got a good idea on the trail today. I'm going to patch my GoLite umbrella with a Therm-a-Rest patch kit. The center of the umbrella has worn through both layers.

Oh, and DLow tried to kill Yogi today. He threw a rock at her head. Luckily, he was able to repent due to Restless Wind's prescient act of including a second bible. Later, DLow wrapped the photocopied New Testament in white plastic, sealed it, put a black cross on it and the words, "Repent -Restless Wind" and left it in the South Branch Mountain Shelter. Shelters rock. DLow repents:

08/06/02
Because of DLow's actions yesterday, Yogi decided that the 'D' in DLow stands for dangerous, and dangerous has come to mean anything that DLow would do. He's not camped with us tonight, deciding instead to take an alternate route through the Sky Lakes Basin. We'll probably see him tomorrow on the trail. If not, for sure at Crater Lake in the evening.
Did 28 miles today, starting in the gray lava fields red lava rock trail.

Red lava trail.

Up here, we see flowers that have domestic versions in gardens everywhere. The red lava rock up here falls in the same category. It's wild up here, but ends up domesticated in gardens everywhere. Some people choose to put this in their front yard. It's the same stuff that renters have to put up with all the time.
I've decided the change my plans, again. I'm shooting for getting to McKenzie Pass by August 14, especially if a review of the map at Crater Lake reveals what I think it will in terms of road crossings. This change in plans means some long days, but in Oregon the miles are coming easy. We'd done 22 miles by dinner tonight with little effort.

As I've probably mentioned, Yogi is data woman. She clocked us at 4 miles per hour for an hour today. I suspect I was at that pace for more than one hour today. Amazing! I'm not racing, just doing my pace on a level, mostly good trail.
Christi's Spring was cold, abundant and clear.
I don't think I've mentioned it, but the weather is cold! During lunch on our first day out of Ashland, it was 45 degrees. As I write this, it's 8:45PM and 40 degrees on the divide at mile 1797.8.
It's still smoky during the days. The air smells like smoke from a nearby fire even though the fires are quite distant.

08/07/02
We walked into Mazama Village in Crater Lake National Park this afternoon. Finally caught up to Don and Leslie, and it was great to see them. We'd been hours behind them for more than a week. They are letting all thru-hikers stay at their campsite.

Leslie and Don, on their way.

In camp tonight are: Don, Leslie, DLow, Yogi, Carly (who had been hiking with Raven and is doing Oregon), Drunk Wolf (Neal, who is doing most of Oregon as a shakedown for a thru-hike next year), and I.
We ate microwave food for dinner, did laundry and showered, and spent time on the phone. I got a lot done on the phone.

08/08/02
Yogi and I agreed to get out of camp by 8AM. Sleeping in always good, plus I needed time to finish up packing up my food. At first, I thought I'd take my food and gear to the store area to sort and distribute it, but I decided to stay in camp. People were stirring at my early hour and it was cold, so it did it from my bag. It turns out I'd done more last night than I'd thought, so I was able to finish up quickly. I divvied up my trail mix into bags of amounts I would eat in a day, adding dried fruit sparingly. What I didn't need from my resupply box went into the hiker box.

We got out of Mazama Village by 8:45. It thought it was only 4 miles to the rim (and breakfast) but it was only 4 miles to the post office. Don and Leslie had their boxes sent to the Crater Lake PO, which we thought opened at 10AM. I had my usual box going back to myself at my Dad's. Don agreed to mail it for me. I gave him $5 to cover postage, and I was supposed to leave the box outside the PO. That was the arrangement we made when we passed them.
When we got to the PO, after 9, it was open. I mailed my box. The nice guy behind the small window automatically checked for any general delivery for me. Low and behold, I had a letter from Fran, a delightful former coworker. What a bit of chance and timing that I even got it. (I'd changed my online itinerary to the Mazama location after she'd gotten the address.) (That won't happen again, I don't think, so go ahead and send letters and small packages if you like.)
When we got to the Rim, we went straight to the grease joint, and what a grease joint it was. By this point in the day, I'd had very little food, given I'd hiked 7 miles with 1000' of elevation gain. I was hiking to have breakfast and it was 11:15.
Breakfast had turned to lunch. I had spicy chicken rice bowl, onion rings, french fries, a small salad and an apple juice. The meal was the best I could do from their menu, and it was not very satisfying. Onion rings are bad for me. I'm just in denial sometimes about it.
When we finished that food threat, we moved on and discovered that we could actually see the lake from the Rim. It was actually a lovely day.

Crater Lake's north edge.

Until the smoke came in. One local said it best: Smoke out, smoke in, like high and low tide. Within 20 minutes our visibility went from good to awful. While hiking we could even see a line of demarcation where the thick smoke stopped; a smoke line.

Smoke line just north of Crater Lake.

Ivan caught up with us during our dinner break. He'd left Ashland 24 hours after us.

Ivan holding a volcanic rock.

08/09/02
I am really tired tonight. I have not been this tired since Southern California. We did 28 miles, but I've done that before. I may be dehydrated, which is why I'm drinking a lot tonight.
The weather's back to normal: It was a clear day with no smoke! This is the first smoke-free day since near Grizzly Peak, July 19th.
We could see back to the Rim of Crater Lake and get a sense of the size of Mazama Mountain, the one that blew up to create the crater.
Not much water in this section.

08/10/02
I'm in the sleeping chamber at the 1900-mile mark after a 28 mile day. I was listless and grumpy this morning. I felt like I had no conditioning on all the uphills. It felt worse than the first day of my trip. I was angry and pessimistic. It passed as I walked on. It seems walking is the solution to most mind problems on the trail, which is a good thing. Walking is one thing I do plenty of.
Did 17 miles by lunch so we could be at Summit Lake for lunch. The miles were easy despite my mood and lack of steam.

A little island near our lunch peninsula at Summit Lake.

I'm blaming my foul mood on the crappy food I ate at Crater Lake Rim. I know better.

We can see lots of lovely mountains near and far. The volcanic peaks and landscape structures are very different from the familiar Sierra.
Drinking water is starting to get a little more abundant. So are the mosquitoes. Though they do not yet rival the Sierra when we passed through.
Today (and yesterday) I was thinking of a shopping list if things I'd like friends to bring to the gathering: mangoes, avocados, Annie's Spread, bananas, Annie's Goddess Dressing. These fresh foods were dancing through my head as I hiked.

08/11/02
Shelter Cove was almost a bust, but it got better before it got worse, so in all, I can't complain. This morning DLow, Yogi & Ivan went ahead from camp. I'm reclaiming my own hiking pace, and liking it.
As I got off-trail and closer to Shelter Cove, I saw DLow going into the Trapper Creek public campground on the lake. As I moved to where I'd seen DLow, I saw the sign. It could have simply said "Trail Magic," but it said, "PCT Hikers -BBQ and pancakes in Site 1-Sat & Sun." DLow, Yogi, Ivan, Tin Mouse, and Raven were there along with some section hikers: Summer and Johnny. Everybody was involved in a plate of pancakes. I had some raw corn on the cob. Our angels were Steve and Peg. He'd hiked sections before and had a hope of hiking the whole trail. She wasn't going to let him.

Later, I went on to the store at Shelter Cove. They found my box on the second try. The guy who retrieved my box said, "So you're Cupcake. I was wondering what somebody named Cupcake might be like." I thanked him for the box. We took showers and did laundry.

What what was the bummer? The only public phone half worked. You could listen, but could not be heard. It was fine for me to listen to my voicemail, but frustrating that I could not respond to a message from my Dad. The owners of Shelter Cove insisted that the phone worked for some people. Maybe if I was a god-fearing Christian it would have worked.

The message from my Dad was good news: New Balance has replaced both my 11.5 and 12 pairs of 805s (that had started to fall apart prematurely). So now I'm a happy NB customer. He also said, however, that he was shipping them to Olallie Lake, which has no outgoing mail and needs a two-week lead time. I need the outgoing mail to send home the shoes I bought in Ashland, and we don't have two weeks to get them there. Enough of that.

I got packed and ready to go in time to grab lunch with the trail angels, Steve and Peg. I had two hamburger patties and two ears of cooked corn on the cob. Yum. I headed out as everyone else was finishing packing up. Summer and Johnny had already left, but not before Summer drank some denatured alcohol in a water bottle. The best way to avoid this is to not grab a water bottle sitting among solvents and fuels that's not yours and marked with an 'A'.

I passed Rosary Lakes, which would be a nice place for a first backpacking trip. I bet it gets crowded though.... It was not crowded on a Sunday afternoon. The only people I saw were Summer and Johnny, napping. She seemed fine.

At some point, dinner time started to roll around. Earlier, I left a note for whoever was behind me that I'd be at Bobby Lake for dinner, but then I decided to eat before that. As I was finishing dinner, I wrote this to explain my next location:

Here I ate in a repose-ed state,
Nowhere near Bobby Lake
Until the mosquitoes I began to hate
And I knew my leave I had to take
Knowing tonight I must climb to a saddle
Where, camping with you, the bugs we'll not battle.

Yogi and Ivan caught up with me as I was transcribing it. The three of us hiked to Bobby Lake, me for the water, they to eat. I moved on and found a place on the saddle as darkness fell. The bugs here are moderate, not bad. I like going at my old pace. Ivan and Yogi pulled in before too long. The goal when camping with Ivan is to enjoy his company but not be awakened by his snoring. When Yogi and I camp with him, he often looks a little in excile: She and I are comfortably close, and he is off a ways.

08/12/02
Long day of hiking. I will be very glad when I make my rendezvous at McKenzie Pass and can drop my miles back to the 20-22 per day range.
I saw the most amazing thing today. I was sitting at Taylor Lake getting water when I looked up. About 15' above the lake was a 10' length of gossamer spider web floating with multiple strands and tattered shorter pieces on the edges. It floated, backlit by the late morning sun, toward me then drifted to my right. It was stunning.

Met Bob at dinner. He'd been out fishing, moving each day only 3-5 miles. It's like he lives around here, and isn't really camping. We'd gone a little off trail to look at what turned out to be a non-shelter, or a former shelter. Age and vandals had taken their toll.

A couple had a dog that nipped at my heel. They said he was just playing, but who wants an early end to such a long trip because of a misbehaved, unrestrained pet in the wilderness? Not me.

I have not written about my trash relocation program, but it's time. Near roads, I come across trash that is likely thrown from an auto. People throw trash out of their cars into the bushes. From the road, it's out of sight, but from the trail, it's visible. So, I pick up the trash and put it on the shoulder so the drivers have to look at it. Why should hikers have to be the only ones to suffer the litter?

08/13/02
Mosquitoes in the morning-lots of bites. Met up with Raven, then, surprise, Sam-I-Am, who had spent 10 days off in Bend. I was taking a longer break than the others and was alone when Sam-I-Am came over the rise. I said, "Where did you come from?" It was good to see him. He used to live in Bend, so he was visiting and making some money to finish the trail.

Raven departing Shelter Cove.

The weather is a little hot, but it's mitigated with a little wind. No complaints from me about the weather.
There's a 4" bump in the neighborhood of the Three Sisters. We walked over it today. The whole area has risen since they started keeping records. Can you say Lava Chamber?

Cupcake with North Sister.

Ivan has moved on, choosing to keep Sam-I-Am's pace.
The Three Sisters are amazingly diverse, geologically. It's cool to see glaciation on volcanic rock. On a similar note, got some obsidian today.
Last night, Yogi and I were camped at a small but lovely site on the edge of a lava field. We had a view north of Mt. Washington, Three-Fingered Jack, and Mt. Jefferson, and west to the mountains that way.

Mt. Washington, Three-Fingered Jack, and distant Mt. Jefferson.

I'm a little scared about leaving the trail tomorrow for 4 days. My time off trail is something I planned from the start, but I'm still fearful. I fearful that I won't get back on, or that I'll get on, only to get off again, say at Cascade Locks. There's no basis for my fear, other than:

1. In visualizations I did of the trip before my departure, I always seemed to get hung up at this part of the trip.
2. It's a long time to take off so late in the trip. My Carson City/S. Lake Tahoe time was before the midpoint.
3. I'm tired and my gear's starting to break down. I need a few new things, and they'll be hard to get.

My motivation to walk these days is to finish the trail, to complete this thru-hike. Of course, I enjoy parts of most days when I get a view, or come across some flowers blooming their hearts out, or see light doing amazing things, or put my feet in a cool stream. But now I'm not hiking for those little pleasures. They are secondary.

Thru-hiking is not a vacation. It can be hard to get up every day and go, go, go. Town stops are an important list of chores. When it's all done, then maybe you get some downtime.

We've been walking through blooming lupine again. The late snow up here delayed their spring. It has been a long time since we've seen spring-fresh lupine. It's (what else...) lovely.

My attitude has shifted since I wrote that last bit. My time off the trail will be fun, that I know. Since I'm choosing to break the cadence of my hike, I'm not dooming it to failure. I'm just changing it, which will give me new opportunities. I'm actually excited about getting back on the trail. It will be a new trail with new people and maybe even new issues to solve. It feels great to have that fear turn to excitement. I deal with excitement much better than fear.

08/14/02
Big day. Yogi and I parted company this morning at McKenzie Pass. It was much less emotional that I thought it would be. She was focused on getting in her miles, and I was focused on where my day was headed. She and I hiked over 1500 miles together.

We left our great campsite at the edge of the lava fields and moved in and out of them all morning. It's a strange landscape that's hard on the feet.

I learned something this morning. One reason people with pack animals say hi is the expected result that you'll say hi back and perhaps continue talking. While they may be just being friendly, I learned that it also calms the animals to know that you are human.
Three people, two on horses, one on a mule, came up the trail at us. We'd seen so many pack animals and their shit on the trail, that neither of us felt like talking to them. We did what we were supposed to do: step off to the side and stop walking. The mule, which was in the middle, got spooked and the rear rider informed the mule rider that the mule would jump sideways as he passed us. Neither of us wanted to get bashed by a mule, so we just got out of there.
We passed a huge pile of fresh shit covered in loud flies within a half a mile. Shitting on the trail is not very friendly.

Yogi and I parted at about 10:30AM, and I made my way the short distance up Highway 242 to the Dee Wright Observatory. I had told Tom, via voicemail only, that I would be there by 2PM, but might get there as early as noon. They were not there, as I expected they wouldn't be.

I decided that I had enough time to hitch into Sisters and back before our 2PM rendezvous.

Within a half an hour, I got a ride. I'd talked to the people who gave me a ride a bit about my trip as they returned to their van after checking out the observatory. I'd seen them come in and knew the van was full of people, but I did mention that I was looking for a ride, or access to a working cell phone. They headed off, but a minute later, they were backing down the parking lot toward me.
They slid the van door open and one said, "If you can fit in here," pointing to the floor at the base of three women's feet, "we can give you a ride." I said sure. We shoved my pack in on top of their packs, I crawled in, and we headed off.
In our conversation, I mentioned that I was headed to Breitenbush Hot Springs for a twice-a-year event. They wanted to know more, and I told them it was a radical faerie gathering. They were curious because it turns out that "The Twins from Springfield (OR)" know Brookrod, a faerie who I'd likely met at other gatherings, and who might be at this one.
It was a great ride. I got to Sisters, a western version of my former haunt, Carmel, and got to work. First I ordered food, then I checked my voicemail.

Voicemail had a little surprise. My cell phone message to Tom, made from Shelter Cove, he reported went something like this: "Hi Tom. It's Cupcake. So we are set. I'll meet you at (static) at (static) on (static). See you then."
It was now less than 3 hours before we were to rendezvous, and the only way I could contact Tom was via his voicemail.
If I hadn't come into town, I would have been sitting up at the Lava Lookout, waiting and waiting.
I had three options:

1. Try to revive the rendezvous with Tom and Matt
2. Hitchhike to Breitenbush, about 50 miles away
3. Call my uncle Barry and see if he could take me

I left a voicemail for Tom, not knowing where he and Matt were, and if they were checking voicemail. I said that I'd wait until I finished lunch to decide, then I went to eat. Eating first is always good when I'm hungry and trying to figure out what to do.
I talked to a local in the Mexican restaurant who said a hitch down Highway 20 to Detroit wouldn't be much of a problem. I knew that once I got to Detroit that I'd be able to get a ride with someone coming to the gathering.

You might be wondering why calling Barry was third on the list. He was interested in meeting up with me, but I'm just getting to know him, and wasn't sure how much of an imposition it would be to drive so far on short notice. Plus, I knew we'd have a visit after the gathering. I just wasn't sure.

So, I finished my lunch and was excited to hear that I had a new message since I last checked. As the seconds unfolded, I knew I'd be seeing Tom and Matt soon.
But the message was from Barry! He knew when and where I'd be getting off the trail closest to where he lived. He had called to say he thought, since he hadn't heard from me, that everything was going smoothly and that he's see me on Sunday or Monday. And, if I needed anything, to let him know.

That pretty much cinched it for me. I called him, and he said he could drive me. I left a message for Tom saying that I'd see him at Breitenbush.
Barry was going to be 2-3 hours, so I got in an hour on the Sisters library computer, did some post office chores, and ran some other errands. It was great.
I even got the five mangoes I was dreaming of, along with other goodies, for extra food during the gathering.
Barry and I hooked up, had a good conversation during the drive, and soon were pulling into Breitenbush.
Here's an uncle I'm just meeting for the first time driving me into one of the wildest environments I know of. I tried to check in quickly so that he could be on his way, both so he could get on with his day and so that the faeries didn't make too much of an impression on him.

I've never known how to explain the faeries to most people. For most people, I believe that who we are and how we are is beyond so many lines in the sand that it either boggles or creates fear. I wasn't worried too much about Barry based on what I know about his life and our conversation during the drive. Yet no quick answer could explain us, and it didn't seem like the right time to give it my best shot either. So a quick good-bye seemed best.
Only his car would not start.

Soon men with various combinations of tattoos, pieced nipples, sparkly jewelry, skirts, big bellies, nakedness, clear plastic, and combat boots were listening to the failing attempts at turning over the engine, naming car parts that could be broken, and deciding the best way, in the forking, crowded parking lot, to try to jump start his car.

We got his car going with a rolling jump start, and Barry was on his way. I proceeded to dive into the gathering, heading first to my cabin, my home for the next few days. Meanwhile, back in the parking lot, Barry had returned. It seems he had spied my Ziploc wallet on the floor of his car and had returned to make sure I had it. He gave it to Jim who handed it off to me after teasing me a bit.

This is the place in journal I should try to explain the radical faeries to my readers, but it's not going to happen until later. Sorry. There's too much fun to be had. You'll get some impression from the journal I keep during the gathering.

Yogi, after listening to bits and pieces about the gathering and faeries, summed it up like this: "It sounds like you all act like 10-year old boys who like to dress up as women." That's only part of it. I will say that many of us didn't get a chance to be the 10-year old boys we wanted to be when we were 10, so that may explain some of our behavior.

08/15/02
I'm journaling to keep in the habit. My time at Breitenbush is not really part of my PCT hike. If you don't want to read about it, here's a link to where I leave the gathering.
Time has already started to warp. I love being here with nothing much that I have to do. Of course, there is lots to do, and lots that I choose to put energy into.

Matt and Tom jumped in my big bed when we woke up, then we went soaking in the Medicine Wheel first thing. Tom brought a bunch of drag, more than he might have because I asked him to. We left the cabin in a frightful state.


Breakfast was a lean affair. The only non-diary fat was olive oil, and I wasn't desperate enough. There was some toasted coconut so I piled it on my groats. As always, there's lots of fruit.
At registration, we'd been asked by the Queen Registrar to switch from our assigned cabin, B-4 to B-3, so we did. It turns out that if the three of us were in the four spaces in B-3, the fourth would be half a couple in B-4, so today B-3 and B-4 switched cabins. It was good because Jayson Spaceotter and Talking Water Spirit had a ton of drag, and there was just not enough room in one cabin for theirs and ours. So Tom, Matt and I settled, for the second time, in B-4. We have lots of room now.

Tom was asked to host the Fashion Show, the traditional Thursday night event. He accepted, then backed out, telling everyone he was handing it off to me; that he had changed his mind. It was part of the plan.

The three of us spent the better part of the day planning our hosting of the Fashion Show, now named the Fashion Attack. The BB fashion show is a chance for grown men to dress up like women who have never existed, to show off fetishwear, or to do something else zany.
The show went pretty much as planned, except that Cayenne came forward to help 'me' with signing up and organizing participants. He did a 42-year old French assistant who could do anything, but preferred to be out of the limelight: a very plain but efficient career woman. His help was great because we had so much up our sleeve.

A little background: At the winter gathering, for the talent show, I did a character named Kitten Kaboodle who, after reciting the words to Marianne Faithful's Why'd Ya Do It?, shat on the stage, much to the horror and delight of the audience. (The shit was chocolate frosting, but don't tell anyone.) (Kwai Lam took the great photo -->.)

So, the French assistant started the show, which, at the beginning, had 21 participants, but ended up with 25. She introduced Kitten Kaboodle, who was elegant and lovely, and opened the fashion show and introduced the first four participants. The last one was some bizarre gas mask-attired, large crescent wrench-weilding dancing monster.

That was enough for Kitten to get flustered and nervous enough to shit right there, but just then two ladies in perfect Muslim black gowns and scarves came in to take their seats in the audience. She was fearing the worst (bomb, box cutters, etc.), but they were just making a dramatic late entrance. Then DD's character, subtitled the Daughter of Gollum, came in from some prank. Kitten was ready to shit and started squatting right there. The audience started roaring, then Tom, as a brassy woman, came down the aisle screaming, "No more shitting on the stage." Over and over.

She knocked me over and used my shoes to kill me. She then, having taken over the show, introduced the next four participants. That is, until Matt, as a boy, came on complaining of her bitchiness. He killed her, introduced more participants and was strangled to death by the French assistant. The French assistant introduced the next act, then, wanting to be out of the limelight, conjured with the audience to get a new host.

What she got was the three of us in evening wear and new wigs. We came out with a little dance routine and announced that it was now a beauty contest because you can't have fashion without beauty. We were Mandy, Randy, and Candy, former beauty queens from Alabama, Arkansas and Alaska. We proceeded to introduce each participant as they had requested, then, when they were finished with their runway walk, talked about them as beauty contestants.
A typical introduction was something like this: "This contestant is from Boston and her talent is juggling five poisonous snakes. But the snakes were confiscated at Logan Airport. So, instead, we are going to ask her to lip sync."
We then gave them a difficult song to lip sync as we went out to change into our matching-theme costumes. After our evening gowns, we had 70s jumpers/pantsuits, crinoline clown wear, psycho mime outfits with plate cover hats, country bumpkin dresses, and finally formal gowns. We ended by getting into a bitch fight over the microphone and tearing the formal gowns off each other. The French assistant then killed each of us by hitting us over the head with her clip board and closed the show.
It was fun, but a lot of work. I went back to the cabin and went to bed.

08/16/02
I started the day with a long soak with good conversation. I usually don't like to talk when I'm soaking.

Tom, Matt and I went down to Humbug Campground to jump off a rock into the Breitenbush River. Lots of fun.

Matt and Tom rehearsing as hillbilly chicks. They didn't do this act for anyone but me. What love.

The Doughnut Puncher's Ball was a messy affair. I got to be a doughnut decorator, but my design did not win. Just remember, sprinkles are always on top. I never thought that a costume could be created with just glazed doughnuts and cling wrap.

08/17/02
Played a tame game of naked Twister on the lawn today. My thru-hiker muscles were not meant for that kind of contortion.

David Weissman showed his recently-completed film, The Cockettes. It's a good film about an amazing bunch of people in the late 60s and early 70s. Thrift store garb, glitter, acid, and musicals come together in what was probably pretty bad theater, unless you were on acid. David did a great job.

The Talent/No-Talent Show was outrageous and fun. Helvetica Bold was a stagehand who mostly dealt with microphones. She had fun.

Helvetica Bold after the show.

08/18/02
As fast as it started, the gathering ended. Tom, Matt and I walked the labyrinth as our last time together at Breitenbush.

My laptop was with me, so I was able to get my Palm and keyboard up and running again.

I'll try to write more to supplement my gathering journal, but no promises. I wish there were more photos, but when you are participating, there's no time for photos.

Mick gave me a ride to Eugene, and I'm staying with Tim and Kent in their lovely home.

08/19/02
Woke up at Tim and Ken's in Eugene with a lot to do. They both headed off to work early, so I had the house to myself. I got my boxes and food together, and finally called Julie at around 9AM. Julie, with her two little ones, Claire and Brendan, arrived in a tiny pickup truck. The four of us squeezed in and went to Keystone, one of my old haunts when I lived in Eugene.

The four of us up front.

Keystone offers eight vegan breakfast options in addition to the numerous egg-free breakfasts, and standard breakfast items. I ended up with a yummy potato, spinach, tempeh, dish with hot peanut sauce, a vegan breakfast, to which I added two eggs, over easy. YUM. That hit the spot.

While we were circling for parking, I spied the REI store. Julie and the kids had the time, so we got to go in. I got new pants, replaced my lost Photon, and got a lighter-weight, more effective water filter, a PUR Hiker. It was a well-timed REI visit.
Next we hit the post office. I had five boxes going out. They dropped me off back at Ken and Tim's when the boxes were on their way.
It was great to see Julie. She and I went to the University of Oregon at the same time getting our Urban Planning degrees.

Back at the house, I did not have a moment to relax. I had a 2:30 bus to catch. I finished up what I had to do at Ken and Tim's and left for Sundance, another old haunt, this time a grocery store. I got fresh food for the trail and lunch, and continued on my way.
I would not have made the bus had a couple not picked me up. They had a 16-person passenger van (a small bus, really) which was converted for hippie living. They took me to the terminal, and I hopped on the bus.
I was headed up the McKenzie River to meet up with my Uncle Barry who would take me the rest of the way up to McKenzie Pass.

Barry showed me around his house, and I learned many interesting things, including how to tell, based on a skull, whether a wolf was raised in captivity. We had a great drive up to the pass talking about many different subjects.

Soon I was on my way, hiking the PCT again. I felt like I was starting a new adventure. I learned from a southbounder that there were five thru-hikers ahead of me, and from a note from Siesta at Santiam Pass that those five were Blackhawk, Strawberry Girl, Restless Wind, Flutterby, and Bed Bug. Yippee!
At some point early in the day I passed the 2,000-mile mark of the hike. Wow.
I settled for the night beside the trail.

08/20/02
Awoke during the night to rain on my bag. I pulled out my sil-nylon tarp and threw it over me, opened up my umbrella over my head and went back to sleep.
Morning was wet, but it was not pouring. I stopped for lunch, the sun came out, and I put my bag out to dry. As soon as I started stuffing it, the sun went away. At least my bag was dry on this wet day.
Hiked until Rockpile Lake, where I thought I was just stopping for dinner, but ended up camping too. It was still wet, but I don't know if it could be called rain. Just before I got there, I saw a lone horse. It was a little startling.

I had been leapfrogging all day with two guys from Bend out for three or four days. The three of us ended up camping together and playing Yatsee in the door of my tarp. They were fun. I won both games and settled into a comfortable sleep.

08/21/02
The trees were still pulling moisture out of the sky and the lake was still creating mist when I awoke. The two guys from Bend didn't even make a sound as I had breakfast, broke camp and departed.
In the whiteness of hiking in the clouds, the color of the flowers tickled my eyes. The lupine, Indian paintbrush, and alpine heather were abundant and fresh. I passed large clumps of blooming bleeding heart.

Two trail marker in the white landscape.

At some point, even though the weather was like fall, I felt like I stepped into spring. The blooming shooting stars convinced me of that.

No shooting stars here, but lots of happy flowers.

At some point in the day, I had to cross a river which was constantly milky because of volcanic sediment. Until I was faced with the crossing, I didn't think much about it.
The opaque water kept me from using a number of visual clues that I use to safely cross water. Was the rock I was considering standing on large or small? Was it balanced or solid? How deep is the water if I don't keep my foothold? I was surprised at how much the transparency of most water helps in crossing. I made it across with half a wet foot.

The whole day I was working toward making it to Jefferson Park. I delayed dinner so that I could have water and a view of Mt. Jefferson, which I had not been able to see earlier in the day because of the fog. It was worth the wait.

Mt. Jefferson from the north, late in the day, from my dinner spot.

I hiked two more miles and 800 feet up to the lookout where I slept out in the open. It's weird to sleep out in the open. I feel so vulnerable, but it's also cool. Tonight the almost full moon is my constant companion. Too bad I'll sleep through most of our time together.

08/22/02
I lost all the data on my Palm. Unlike the last time where all the data was backed up, this time I lost data: my journal for the last few days. Ug. I'll do my best to recreate the brilliant writing... If you are reading this in sequence, you just read it, starting on 8/19.

Walked into Ollalie Lake today. Before I got there though, I thought, when I was walking into Breitenbush Lake, that I had arrived at Ollalie Lake. What a disappointment. When I'm hiking alone, I only look at the Book of Lies and the Data Book when I need to. That's usually when there's a confusing junction, I need to assess my water situation, or I'm trying to determine what spot might offer good sleeping opportunities.

I was not feeling well today which is why the false Ollalie Lake arrival was a letdown. I was convinced I had meningitis, but I was only dehydrated and perhaps a little sunburned. Sometimes I have all the drama I need by myself. Who needs others for drama?

In my resupply box at Ollaie Lake were my new shoes: New Balance 904s. They are welcome additions to my hike, but I have to carry my Vitesses to the next spot with outgoing mail, Cascade Locks.

I started feeling better after drinking some apple juice and water, but not as good as I felt when I heard Strawberry Girl yell out, "Cupcake!" It was Strawberry Girl, Blackhawk and Blackhawk's parents, "Mr. & Mrs. Hawk."

Mrs. & Mr. "Hawk:" she's Janet, and he's Roger.

Restless Wind was soon with us too. We chatted about our hikes, who was ahead, who was behind, and what our plans were.

Restless was showing us his shoes. A few nights ago he left them too close to the fire and he'd melted the heels. Unable to satisfactorily reshape them, he asked a fisherman for his serrated knife. Restless then proceeded to cut the heels out of his shoes. At least hiking in them was better. Somebody staying at Olallie Lake had drifted into the conversation. He went to his car and came back with a pair of suede slip-ons. "Would these work?" he asked. Restless tried them on and accepted them. Restless brings a special kind of trail magic to himself.

Soon it was time for me to leave, but I departed knowing I'd see them, plus Flutterby and Bed Bug, real soon. In 30 miles to be exact. I'd put in 10 more miles today, and they'd do 30 tomorrow, slackpacking, while I do a normal 20 mile day.

I don't recall if I've defined slackpacking. Slackpacking is hiking the trail without backpacking it. Someone usually assists by driving packs to the end of the day, or picking up hikers and returning them to their packs. Slacking makes the walking easier because their is no load on the hikers back. Slackers do carry food and water, and usually extra layers. Slackpacking is not for me on this hike, but others seem to be having a blast while slackpacking.

So I headed out knowing I'd have great hiking companions for while, although they were set up for days of slacking and I wasn't sure if I'd want to do their miles.

I camped at Lemiti Meadows with two guys out for a few days. A large squawking bird, a raptor of some sort, I think, circled the meadow as dusk fell.

Ran into Nona for the third time who reminded me for the fourth time that I could stay at her house in Vancouver, BC. The first offer was at the Kick Off. I also met Goggles, my first encounter with a southbound thru-hiker.
I approached three bears as they were enjoying blue huckleberries in the evening sunlight. I only got a good look at one. It was a cub, so I assume the others were mom and sibling. They soon were thumping away from me.
Once piece of trail gossip: John & Julie who are also Puget and LE, are off the trail. I think they got tired.

08/23/02
My hike has radically changed. I was enjoying getting caught up with Pete and Ed ("The Canadians") at lunch, making a repair to the broken stay in my backpack when Flutterby caught up with us at Warm Springs River.

Ed is the dad, Pete is the son in red.

Flutterby had done 20 miles by lunch, five 4-mile hours. It was great to see her. Flutterby is a lively redhead who's good at telling heartfelt stories. I hadn't seen her since Whoa Nellie Cafe near Tuolomne Meadows in Yosemite, more than 1300 miles ago.
She and Fancy Nancy have parted company. Fancy is making independent decisions on the trail, but I hope I get to see her before it's all over.
Flutterby and I moved along the trail, chatting and getting to know one another. Soon we were near the end; our rendezvous point with Blackhawk's parents at Skyline Road 42.

That's when we ran into Ken and Cindy camped near the trail with dog Buster. I'd last seen them at Kennedy Meadows at the beginning of the Sierra. They were the ones with the caravan of support.
Ken and Cindy had to get off the trail because of the Colorado fires. Once the danger had passed, they went to Manning Park and now are southbounding it. Great to see them too.

As Flutterby and I were talking with them, the thunder really started to make itself be heard, growing louder and closer. We said our goodbyes and hurried on to Highway 42, arriving in just a few minutes. Blackhawk's parents were not there, and we had a potentially long wait.
Since I had not slackpacked, I had all my gear. Flutterby and I set up my tarp, which is huge, just before the sky opened up. We ducked under and enjoyed the downpour, then hail, from our dry, cozy vantage. We laid down and talked, making room for Bug when he showed up, and then for Strawberry Girl when she arrived. Strawberry reported that Restless Wind and Blackhawk were huddled under a tree not too far back. Soon Restless Wind was under the tarp. By 6PM, Blackhawk had arrived and the six of us laid around and chatted. All was well.

Blackhawk's parents called on the two-way radio before too long, and soon were pulling up. They joined us under the tarp, making a total of eight under the tarp. We decided that Blackhawk, Strawberry Girl and the folks would go into Government Camp and either return with food or return to get us if they'd found an affordable room for us all.
So, Flutterby, Restless Wind, Bug and I got to hang out under the tarp even longer. At that point the thunder clouds were above us, dropping rain, but the sun was low in the sky, so the light was amazing.

Mr. Hawk came back to get us. The estimated 15-minute drive was more like 45 minutes. There was a 10-person ski bunk room for $120. Sounded good. Yippee, in fact. An added bonus was that the restaurant next door was open 24 hours.

One thing I haven't mentioned is that Hawk Folks had driven from Boston and were helping Blackhawk's sister move her things to San Diego. They had a mini-van, but it was 3/4 full of furniture, the final 1/4 was back at their hotel room.

The room was big, the TV had a VCR built in, and nobody had to share a bunk. We ate, showered, and slept.

08/24/02
I got up early and had halibut and eggs, a self-made combo from the dinner and breakfast menu. My combo included hash browns and french fries. It's hard for me to eat in many of the restaurants we find ourselves at, so I often have to be creative. Most places don't seem to mind, and I'm usually satisfied. I then went back to the room, where everyone was still asleep, and got back in bed.

We decided at some point to keep the room a second night, making it easier for the slackers and saving us from another potentially damp or wet night on the trail. We would have survived, but for $20 a night, I certainly choose dry, shower, and nearby toilet.
Restless Wind, Flutterby and I took the early shuttle. Everybody but me is slacking again today. I feel a little peer pressure to slack, but I'm holding my ground. As I said, it's not for me on this hike.

Did 24 miles today, ending at Timberline Lodge. Flutterby and I hiked together most of the day. Restless held back and hiked with the second shuttle load. During the day, we ran into Hawk's parents at two separate road crossings. They drove all day, meeting the early shift at one place, then the late shift at another, then back to the first shift, then back to the hotel for a break, and so on. They seemed to be enjoying themselves.

When I walked into Timberline Lodge, Flutterby was talking with a guy who'd just walk away. She said to me, "I'm talking with this guy named Bailey, who hiked the trail last year." I looked up and it was Bailey who I'd hiked with last year. It was so cool to meet him again, and meet his wife, whom he'd married after the trail last year. They'd just hiked the Timberline Trail around Mt. Hood.

Mt. Hood looking nicer in the image than in person.

Two shuttles back to Government Camp rejoined the six of us hikers. We ate in the room.

The crew in the room from the loft.

Since I was on the early shuttle back, and so inclined, I went to the store, which also rented videos, and selected three movies, hoping one would be a fit for the crowd. The popular choice was Collateral Damage, a Schwartzenegger terrorist film. We tried to get through Moulin Rouge, but the day had grown too long for all of us.
We went to sleep knowing we could sleep in. We were not shuttling until later.

08/25/02
I was up early again and had breakfast alone again. How else was I supposed to get my journal done??? We were having so much fun the rest of the time, or hiking.
I was supposed to catch the 9AM early shuttle, but it didn't leave until 11. The sleeping in was widespread.
Government Camp was fogged in when we left, but we were above it all at Timberline Lodge, our departure point. Flutterby, Bug and I set out together, but soon I was alone. It was a draggy day for me. I had no energy hiking.

We did 17 miles. I wanted to do more, but darkness and wetness set in. The slackers were planning a 30 mile day tomorrow, and if I got in a few more miles, there was a chance we'd be in the same place tomorrow night. I chose to stay at the rendezvous point we set with Hawk's parents anyway.
I set up my tarp on the gravel of a parking area. Flutterby had already set up her Betamid in the only decent camping spot, but it was just out of earshot. We scouted places for Blackhawk and Strawberry Girl to put their tarp, since it was apparent they'd arrive after dark. Restless Wind joined me under my tarp rather than setting up his tent.

We still had the two-way radio system. I'd met Dad Hawk on my way down to the campsite, and Mom Hawk was at the rendezvous point with the car. She was anxious to get more information and kept screaming into the growing darkness, up the trail, "Strawberry!" until she showed up, and "Hawk!" until he showed up. These calls into the night alternated with screams into the radio: "Can you hear me?" or "Are you there?" She tried to have conversations with us, but was really focused on calling out or using the radio.
Everyone made it to camp safely and Mom and Dad Hawk left us to sleep.

08/26/02
For most of the night, there was rain or heavy mist. In the middle of the night, rustling woke me up. Something was digging through my stuff, presumably to get food. I could only see that the critter was larger than I expected and furry. I slapped my hand down on what I thought was my pack in an attempt to scare it off.
Restless Wind, half asleep, half awake from the punch I'd just given him, said, "What? What?" In my turned around state, I'd just whacked him. My pack was on my other side. He was just turning over. We laugh about it now.

After we were truly awake, Flutterby came by the tarp. She could talk to Blackhawk and Strawberry Girl in their tent and they could talk to us from their tarp, but Flutterby and Bug were just too far for us to communicate directly.

She suggested that we hang out there and take today as our planned zero mile day. Hawk's parents were on the way to facilitate all the slacking going on around me. The plan was that the folks would take us into Cascade Locks today, and we'd hike this last section of Oregon when the weather might be a little nicer. I said it sounded good, but the more I mulled what my day might look like, the more I just wanted to hike, even in the soup we were in. I opted out of the no-hike day. Then Restless Wind did. Soon, Blackhawk and Strawberry Girl decided they were hiking too. Flutterby and Bug reluctantly, only because we all were now getting a late start, decided to go with the flow and hike too.
The hike was, as Restless Wind said, like a car wash. I got some cracks about not slacking when the slacking was so good.

I started the day not wanting to do a 30-mile day, but made it anyway. The falls on the alternate route were amazing.

Restless and Hawk emerging from the tunnel behind Tunnel Falls.

We came across our first ripe salmon berries, but they did not appeal to my taste.

My plan in Cascade Locks was to get a room the second night, so our/my first task was to find a place to stay the night we arrived. The first trail angels were not home, the second all the way in Portland. So, after dinner Flutterby, Bug, Restless Wind and I headed to the free camping at the RV park at the east end of town. Blackhawk and Strawberry Girl had a room to themselves, courtesy of Hawk's parents.

This is the monument for the Oregon/Washington border, or so we thought. It's really a set of wood steps leading to a child's slide on the park in Cascade Locks on the Columbia River.

It turns out our campground is a municipal facility. We slept on picnic tables inside the food pavilion. The showers are not free as the Town Guide implies, but no biggie. We can look forward to westbound trains all night. The tracks are about 50' away. Oh boy.

08/27/02
What a great town day in Cascade Locks. My journal for today will be short so I can update the web site. More to come, I hope.

The trains did go on all night. It was worse than sleeping in a train. Restless didn't like it at all. The hotel gave us early check-in and a room between Blackhawk and Strawberry Girl and Hawk Folks. Early check-in: What can I say? It's even better than late check-out.

I had trips back and forth to the PO. I picked up my three larger boxes, plus some smaller ones, then walked my bounce box back so that tomorrow wouldn't be a total rush. I decided to pick up my tent for Washington.

My bounce box is too big. It has too much stuff in it. For the money I've spent on postage, I could have bought all the stuff in it. Next time, a very small bounce box.

We did celebrate Flutterby's birthday. Here are some images:

	R->L: Blackhawk, Strawberry Girl, Cheddarhead, Cupcake, Flutterby, Restless Wind, and Bed Bug posing on the spa in BH & SG's room.
	Flutterby, the birthday gal with birthday balloon.
	Some of the antic in the hotel pool: pop a balloon with your butt as you jump into the water. We all got good at it. A little later, in a pool word game, we came up with, "Donkeys sometimes fart on my chest." I guess you had to be there.

08/28/02
I tried to sleep in this morning, but it wasn’t going to happen. Restless and I were sharing a bed, and he got up before I did. Then Gerard, who showed up last night and crashed on our floor got up. I pulled out the laptop and went to the lounge, leaving the rest of them to sleep. The Web journal came together nicely.

I’ve given up on keeping on top of the photos for the photo section. I just get what’s essential into the journal. The rest will come later. Check the What’s New page for announcements of my progress.

I think I forgot to mention that Cheddarhead’s in our midst. He’s staying in the hotel across the street. Cheddarhead's in his late 30s, tall and from Wisconsin. Today Montana Max rolled in. It’s my first time to meet him. He’s a 25 year old tall, lanky sculptor from Billings.

The big discussion this morning was about whether to take the sensible alternate route or to take the real PCT. I decided to take the alternate route. The rest of the crowd had also decided the same.
The first steps of the day, across the Bridge of the Gods, took us into Washington State. Two states down, one to go.


By the time we got to Stevenson, it was 104 degrees. We, today, are Flutterby, Bug, Max, and me. We had lunch in Stevenson, which is one reason we let ourselves get such a late start from Cascade Locks. Stevenson was crawling with people attending a Christian rock festival. Seeing shiny-clean people with wacky, punk-leaning clothes and haircuts left me feeling like all is not right in the world. Whatever sells records.

During lunch Flutterby floated the idea of hitchhiking the rest of our road walk, which is the entire alternate route.

I have been so rigid in how I’ve been “hiking my hike” that I decided that it was time to do something different. This hike is about taking chances and redefining how I interact with the world. I’ve proven to myself all that I want to prove with this hike, except for actually finishing, so I said yes. Since it was so hot and we were doing a road walk, hitching seemed OK. It turns out it was a great decision.

An open jeep stopped for us. Flutterby, Bug, Max and I tied our packs on their rear grated bike rack, then Max and I hopped in the back seat. Lynn , son Joey (16), and daughter Hanna (11) were on their way back from Portland where they bought Joey a new cowboy hat. They were headed for a swim after their long drive, and they wanted to take us to the new swimming hole they found. So, they dropped us off at the hole and went back for Flutterby and Bug, all four packs still tied to the back.

Packs on Jeep, headed to Panther Creek.

At this point, you may be worried, as was I for a moment, about all of us losing our packs. I put it out of my head because Lynn, Joey, and Hanna did not seem like an organized crime racket. They were just a family looking to help us. Max and I briefly discussed the predicament we could be in, but chose to just enjoy the afternoon. The beach on the river was in the sun, and a rope swing hung from a tree leaning over the river.
Soon we heard Flutterby and Bug coming down the trail along with Restless Wind, who they’d picked up along the road somewhere. Our hosts had gone on to their house to get their swimming clothes, but this time with five packs. At least our group had been rejoined.

To no one’s great surprise, Lynn, Joey, and Hanna soon showed up and were in the water with us showing us the best technique to get the most out of the rope swing.

I’d been in the water before everybody arrived, and I had already dried off. Watching everyone do the swing, I thought I’d just skip it. They Flutterby said, to no one in particular, “You can’t not go on the swing!” I realized that she was right. I swam across to the tree, waited my turn, grabbed the rope, leaned back as I walked up the tree, reached the third knot from the bottom, and pushed off to my left. I was flying over the water then I let go. It was so fun, I decided to do it again.

The afternoon was moving along, so soon Max and I were piling in the Jeep.
Joey dropped us off at Panther Creek, our intended destination for the day. The packs came off, Joey went to get the others, and Max and I scouted for the best camping.

We decided we probably could get away with not paying at the official campground since there was no sign of the host, so we let Joey know that we’d be in site 30, far away from the few other loud campsites. While Max was scouting, he’d run into Cheddarhead, who would be joining us. He said we’d just missed Don and Leslie who’d moved on to camp further up the trail.
Soon we were settled, and eating in our home for the night. We had a picnic table, a relative luxury on the trail. Even more notable was that everyone sitting on one side of the picnic table was stoned and everyone on the other side was not. It made for lots of jokes and laughing.

Well after dark our new friends showed up with pizza and apples so we lit up a fire. They’d brought a guitar for Restless to play, so we enjoyed his strumming and a little singing while we visited.
Today is Flutterby’s actual birthday, so this is how it ended-a campfire and lots of talk and music. I think she was happy, although I also sense that she misses Fancy Nancy.

08/29/02
We left camp around 8AM. I didn’t look closely at the databooks before we started hiking, which is typical for me. Usually, I just follow the PCT because, no matter what the trail does, that’s what I’m doing too. It turns out we had a lot of climbing: on the order of 4000’. Still, since it was the PCT, it’s what we did. Oregon had made me lax and lazy with its relatively
flat terrain with easy tread. Washington’s fixing that.

We had views south that let us see Mt. Hood, and we got our first views of Mt. Adams, which is really close at this point. Flutterby, Cheddarhead, Max and Restless Wind were ahead of me most of the day although Restless and I walked and talked for an hour or more before lunch.
Bug was asleep when we all left camp. The five of us regrouped for lunch with no sign of Bug.

During the day, Restless showed me his shoes, Pumas with a shiny bright blue stripe. They have flat soles with a distinctive bull's eye under the ball. He'd gotten them yesterday in a thrift store in Stevenson for $3. He said they were comfortable.

When I rolled into Blue Lake, after passing Restless, I began to look for Flutterby, Cheddarhead and the Max. There was no sign of them. I saw Don & Leslie's Stephenson tent, but no Don & Leslie either. My search took me beyond Blue Lake and back, then down the spur trail that appeared to circle the lake. The terrain did not look like camping would not be possible, so I turned back.
Back in the logical camping site, I saw Don & Leslie, who had been cooking behind a large rock to keep out of the cold wind moving across the small lake. They hadn't seen anyone in my group. Leslie checked with some Boy Scouts camped nearby, but they hadn't seen anyone either. Perhaps my hiking partners had taken a wrong turn. Leslie took one at a confusing fork earlier in the day. Then Restless showed up. He hadn't seen them either.
I decided to cook. Behind the large rock, Don & Leslie and I got caught up as my stove struggled to boil water in the cold wind.
After a short while, Flutterby, Cheddarhead and the Max showed up. They'd tried to take a shortcut around a lava field and ended up on top of a mountain. Bug was not far behind them. We all cooked in a line in the lee of the rock as darkness fell.

Don, Leslie and Flutterby trying to get out of the wind.

Today we passed the 2200-mile mark. It's starting to feel like a countdown.

08/30/02
25 miles today. I did the 25 miles to stay with the gang although Restless Wind isn't here tonight. He was rumored to be holding back to wait for Blackhawk and Strawberry Girl.

Today's the day we ran into EzE and Friendly Bear. They hiked to Burney Falls then went to Manning Park, and are southbounding it. They wanted to avoid possible early-season snow, and, I suspect, to see everybody heading north. I enjoyed seeing them. EzE has a big, warm personality cultivated in Kentucky. We visited for about an hour. I last saw Friendly Bear in Big Bear.

L->R: Max, EzE, Cheddarhead, Friendly Bear, Cupcake, Restless Wind, and Flutterby.

Not much to report about hiking. We had less climbing today with lots of views of Mt. Adams looming in the north. We are constantly tempted by lots of ripe, plump, chubby blue huckleberries these days. I ate lots.
Today we may have passed Don & Leslie for the last time. We'll see. They do 13-15 miles a day with few zero-mile days. They may get ahead of me when I visit Sierra at Mt. Rainier, go to Seattle, or when I visit friends near Rainy Pass.

I like hiking with Flutterby. She's got a good attitude and a bright outlook. She and I can talk from the heart. She's from Maine. Max, or the Max as I've started calling him, is good to talk to for a while. Cheddarhead is quiet, but I am enjoying his company. He and Flutterby seem to have a tight connection. (Don't read anything into that: they are just pals.) Plus Cheddarhead seems to want to hike my kind of miles. I'm not really getting to know Bug yet.

Yesterday Flutterby and Cheddarhead wished for beer. Today they got it. I wasn't with them, but at the end of a road shortcut they took, I saw two bottles standing up by the edge of the road with a note sticking out. Sure enough, it was a thank you note to the "Dude in the truck." I thought they might have found the bottles and set it up, but they really got beer from a passing motorist. Cheddarhead yogiied it.

Felt better about my hike today. We have less than 500 miles, there are only four more town stops, and there are lots of good people on the trail with me. If the weather allows, I should have no problem finishing. The forecast is for five days of rain right after Labor Day - oh joy.

08/31/02
Forgot to mention that we saw frogs at our Swampy Creek camp last night.
We hiked through the Mt. Adams Wilderness today. Mt. Adams is impressive.

Here's the steep glacier flowing down Mt. Adams.

Huckleberries continue to be abundant. And yummy.
Hiked alone most of the day. Caught up with Cheddarhead, Flutterby, and the Max at the decision point for hiking up Mt. Adams. We didn't have enough information, like the number of miles to the top, to decide to go. So, after our morning break, we decided to hike north on the PCT rather than bag Adams.
I caught up with them again at lunch, where I actually cooked a lunch. It was bland but filling. I caught up with them a third time to cook dinner at Lava Springs. Bug was behind all day, but did catch us at dinner. I saw a small and a large frog at Lava Springs. Pushed on after dinner to do 23.3 miles.
Got our first glimpse of Mt. Rainier, which is bigger than Mt. Shasta. Lots of snow up there.

August has been harvested. It's time for September.