Thursday Jul. 20, 2023
- Start: Near Diamond Peak (PCT mile 1899.3)
- End: Willamette Pass (PCT mile 1909.4)
- Distance: 10.1 miles
What a frigging night I had. The bad news started with my air mattress. I inflated my Therm-a-Rest when I got to camp near dinnertime. But by the time I was ready for bed, it was surprisingly low on air. I assumed I just hadn’t tightened the air valve enough and some air leaked out. So I blew it up again as much as I could at 9 pm. And then again at 11:15 pm when I woke up to find it 50% deflated. And again at 3:35 am, when it was down to maybe 25% full.
By that point in the wee hours of the morning, I just gave up and left it alone. It was warm enough overnight that I didn’t need the additional R-factor in the air mattress to keep me from freezing. It was just a matter of discomfort, with nothing to cushion the ground as I tried to get a few more hours of sleep.
Thank goodness it’s my last day of this section of the PCT. When I get home, I can figure out if I can repair the leak or whether I need to replace my air mattress entirely. But at least I’ll have two days to sort it out before Poledork and I return to the trail on Sunday.
The second unexpected situation was the hiker who rolled into camp after 9 pm. Not only did he spend an inordinate amount of time getting set up (while the rest of us were trying to sleep), but he was also one of those people who mutter to themselves constantly.
To be honest, it was hard to tell whether these disturbing conversations with himself were just a weird habit or if he was truly unwell. The mumbling was still going when I woke up to reinflate my mattress at 11 pm. And he was talking to himself at sunrise, spouting commentary almost nonstop for the next hour as I made breakfast and broke down camp.
Another Milestone
Sadly, the mosquitoes this morning were as ridiculous as ever. There wasn’t a lick of wind to abate them. My shoulders and arms look like I have chickenpox, and I’m glad I’m wearing the long sleeves of a sun hoody, so I’m not constantly trying to scratch all the welts. I’m just one of those people who have an outsized reaction to mosquito bites.
I brought this problem up to my doctor once, and he said it’s called “skeeter syndrome.” Some people have an allergic reaction to the proteins in the mosquito’s saliva, which gets into your body whenever they bite your skin. So while one person just gets a small bump with each bite, anyone with this immune response ends up with large, swollen welts that itch like crazy. There is no treatment — other than antihistamines and hydrocortisone — and the welts usually last for about a week.
I tried to put all this discomfort out of my mind this morning. Just try to be a zen-minded warrior and just focus on the remaining 10 miles to Willamette Pass. I had to merely get through one more morning, I told myself. Then I could head back home to lather myself in creams and chase it with a Benadryl cocktail
As I focused on the hiking, I spotted the number “1900” drawn into the soft sandy dirt beside the trail. I must be passing PCT mile 1,900. What a milestone for all the thru-hikers who began their journey down in Campo at the PCT’s southern terminus! It’s an amazing accomplishment.
I continued toward the north side of Diamond Peak, discovering that there was lots more snow beside the trail. There were plenty of snowmelt streams crossing the trail, draining into small ponds. I was now entering the volcanic lakes part of the Central Cascades.
I reached a junction for the trail down to Yoran Lake, and I assumed the small lake near the junction might be the trail’s namesake. But it wasn’t. As it turns out, there are about 100 small lakes and ponds between Diamond Peak and Odell Lake. I was now past the super-dry parts of this trail, where I’d been so grateful for water caches.
Odell lake vs. Shelter cove
After topping up my water for the remaining miles, I followed a beautiful section of trail lined with giant beargrass. These tall wildflowers remind me of enormous Q-tips, with their puffy, cream-colored blooms atop narrow green stems.
Despite its misleading name, these flowers are actually part of the lily family, not a type of grass. The flowers were named beargrass by Lewis and Clark during their 1803 expedition to the Pacific Northwest. And while the wildflower is native to Montana and can grow up to 5 feet tall, it can also be found in subalpine terrain throughout the PNW.
When I reached Pengra Pass, I finally got a bar or two of cell service where I could update Keith on my status and when I expected to arrive at the Willamette Pass trailhead. This area was also where I encountered a ton more signage for the surrounding trails. I was getting close to a popular trailhead used not only for summer hiking but also for Nordic skiing in the winter.
Pegra Pass was also the point where many of my fellow hikers would depart the PCT for their next resupply. I’ve recently discovered that hikers don’t refer to this area the same way the locals do. Most Oregonians like me call this area Willamette Pass (because of the nearby ski resort on the north side of Hwy 58) or Odell Lake (the 6.5-mile-long lake that lies on the south side of Hwy 58).
Meanwhile, many of the PCT thru-hikers refer to this area as “Shelter Cove.” This is because they can mail their resupply packages to the Shelter Cove Marina and Resort on the west edge of the lake. Their frame of reference is the micro-aspect of Odell Lake that’s relevant to them, since there aren’t any towns nearby. It’s funny how that works out. And now I wonder if some of the names I used for places on my Appalachian Trail thru-hike were similar.
As I continued north for the final 1.5 miles to Willamette Pass, I was surprised by two things. The first was the noise of the train horns I heard repeatedly in the distance. I knew that the Cascade Summit train line used to bring passengers up to Odell Lake in the early 1900s, but that route ended decades ago. The repeated blares of train horns must be coming from the freight trains using the tracks to get cargo through the mountains.
The second surprise was the trail’s slope. I assumed it would remain mostly flat as it made its way around the west side of Odell Lake. Yet there was a solid climb ahead, and it took me up to a bluff with a scenic overlook above the lake instead. I definitely wasn’t expecting to get a bird’s-eye view of the water.
Since I was ahead of schedule, I stopped for a leisurely snack break overlooking the water before I resumed hiking north toward my rendezvous point. It wouldn’t be much longer before I reached Willamette Pass, where the PCT crosses the busy mountain highway that connects my home in Eugene to the east side of the Cascade Mountains.
My section hike from Crater Lake to Odell Lake was officially done. It was time to head back home for a few days of rest and relaxation and a much-needed reprieve from all the dang mosquitoes!
