Thursday Jun. 29, 2023
- Start: Telephone utility road (PCT mile 1737.8)
- End: Grizzly Creek (PCT mile 1752.1)
- Distance: 14.3 miles + 0.7-mile detour to horse camp
Last night was one of those weird nights where you wonder if you made a mistake in your campsite selection. Poledork and I set up camp on an abandoned telephone utility road less than a mile north of the Green Springs Summit TH.
We picked this site because it was flat and didn’t require us to carry our water any farther. What we didn’t realize, though, was that this utility road was sandwiched between the PCT and Old Hyatt Prairie Road, a lightly trafficked dirt road leading to one of Oregon’s small lakes.
The first sign of our mistake was the gunshots ringing out in the night. Then we were treated to a truck coming down the dark dirt road around 10 pm, its headlights illuminating our tents as it rounded a bend. All told, it was just a weird night. And it left me glad I wasn’t camping here alone. That amount of activity when you are a solo female can make you want to pack up and change campsites in the middle of the night.
Are those apples?
When we woke this morning, our tents were completely soaked with condensation. All the vegetation growing beside the flat telephone utility road had been the equivalent of camping in a grassy meadow. So the first order of business was to find some patchy sunshine and move our tents there to try to dry while we ate breakfast.
Poledork and I didn’t fully pack up or start walking until around 8:20. This is an hour later than I normally would get on the trail if I were hiking solo, but I wasn’t bothered by the delay. We were planning to hike a shorter mileage day, so we had plenty of time to linger over breakfast.
The PCT began with a decent uphill climb, and today was a noticeably warmer day than the first few days on the trail. I’d checked the weather forecast for Ashland — the closest town of any size — and discovered it was supposed to reach 91 degrees there today. Yikes! I’m glad we’re at a higher elevation, but it’s still going to be warm no matter what.
The morning’s miles were filled with wildflowers and these little round weird things that looked like apples. Poledork, who knows far more about flora and fauna than I do, informed me that they’re called oak galls. These tumor-like growths are caused by tiny gall wasps and grow on oak leaves and branches. And they are definitely not apples!
Off in the distance, we could see views of Emigrant Lake, an 800-acre crescent-shaped reservoir at the end of the Rogue Valley. Meanwhile, yellow wildflowers lined the nice, gentle trail as we passed in and out of the pine forest on our journey north toward several big lakes this morning.
Our first stop of the morning was Little Hyatt Reservoir. Water poured over the dam’s spillway, forming a long, uniform waterfall into Keene Creek, and the river below the dam was clear and cold.
There was another PCT hiker already gathering water here, and he was on his phone. We both took this as a good sign. I immediately dumped my nasty water from last night’s trip down to Keene Creek Reservoir and filled up with some refreshing, cold water. Meanwhile, Poledork took advantage of the limited cell service available here to check in with her husband and let him know we were both still alive and on target with our progress up the PCT.
It’s interesting to see how other couples communicate when one of them is on trail. I’ve hiked around people who only check in with loved ones when they get to town. And I’ve been around hikers who turn on their phones every time they get high enough on a climb to have half a bar of cell service.
I fell into the first category while hiking the AT, and I think that set the tone for my future hikes. Keith doesn’t expect too much from me. Yet whenever I’m hiking solo or out on a super-remote trail, I try to remember to use my Garmin to send a “proof of life” message each night when I make camp.
Tattos and Trees
As we continued north beyond the dam, we crossed paths with a SOBO section hiker named Ms. Kiltty and stopped to trade intel on the trail conditions in each direction. She had some serious tattoos on her arms and legs, and the most recent ones ran up the inside of her forearm from her wrist to her elbow.
Ms. Kitty was super cheerful and chatty, and I suspect she was mostly just happy to meet some fellow hikers on her solo journey. I know the feeling. I’ve been that hiker many times myself.
Our next stretch of the PCT was memorable because it had some of the largest blowdowns that I’ve seen on any trail. Many of these trees had to be over 200 years old, given their massive size. So naturally, Poledork and I took turns taking photos of each other whenever we came to a really big one (and had to begin the chore of trying to scramble over it without breaking our necks).
This obsession with the downed trees on our path caused us both to completely miss the side trail down to Hyatt Reservoir, though. Our plan was to stop for lunch at the reservoir’s horse camp, where we’d read there were picnic tables along the water’s edge.
When we realized our mistake, we had to decide whether to backtrack or just have lunch along the trail. With no rush to get big miles today, we turned around and hiked down toward the lake, and it was totally worth the detour for more reasons than one.
The horse camp was an established campground right on the shores of Hyatt Reservoir. It had picnic tables, a vault toilet (with toilet paper!), and some wonderful views of Mt. McLoughlin set against the water for us to enjoy during our relaxed lunch break.
Mt. McLoughlin served as a nice visual landmark during lunch. Our destination for this section of the PCT ended just south of Mt. McLoughlin, and this reminded us that we didn’t have far left to go. It was only another 30 miles between us and Highway 140, where Keith would be waiting for us at Fish Lake Resort tomorrow!
As I relaxed in the shade on our extended break, Poledork broke out her watercolor kit and began working on a quick bit of art. She had the clever idea of painting the landscapes we were looking at on the PCT map sheets she’d brought out here with her. I wish I had a fraction of her creative talent. The best I can do is take a photo.
The floor is lava
After our relaxing lunch, the PCT began a long ascent in the hot sun. This was where the trail transitioned from forest to lava fields, which only made our surroundings feel warmer. It felt like walking next to an asphalt road in Las Vegas. The heat seemed to emanate from the black rocks, and I was sweating like a fiend as we hiked uphill in the exposed sun.
When the trail eventually returned to the tall green forest again, we weren’t home free. The sun might be shielded, but we’d come back to the PCT obstacle course of downed trees that we had to work our way over, under, or around.
All the joy and relaxation I’d felt looking across Hyatt Reservoir seemed to disappear as the temperature rose and the trail became more challenging. And then something wonderful, and totally unexpected, happened.
When Poledork and I reached a road crossing leading to Crane Prairie Reservoir, we found a fellow named Skeeter doing trail magic in the woods! What an absolutely delightful surprise!!
Skeeter had quite the little setup going this afternoon, too. I was thrilled to discover that one of his coolers was filled with ice-cold cans of Blackberry-Lemon seltzer water, and the other one had sliced watermelon. It was like Skeeter was reading my mind on this hot summer afternoon!
Grizzly Creek
After our little pick-me-up in the forest, I was ready to get the final hour of our day knocked out. We only had two more miles to Grizzly Creek, where we’d planned to camp tonight. With Poledork down to just a one-liter bottle, it made far more sense to camp near an easily accessible water source.
Once we hiked beyond Grizzly Creek, the PCT made a 6-mile climb to 6,160 feet. I was not in any sort of mood to carry all the water we’d collectively need up that ascent to dry camp. Not in this afternoon’s heat. And I know Poledork was in total agreement.
However, before we could reach Grizzly Creek, we had to cross over the aqueduct that drains to Howard Prairie Reservoir. The dark water in the aqueduct appeared to be 4 to 6 feet deep and wider than I’d expected. The concrete retaining walls lining its sides immediately reminded me of a lazy river at a water park.
A wooden bridge led PCT hikers across the dark water, while nearby signs warned us not to drink water from the aqueduct. The water was unsafe, even when filtered, because chemicals upstream often contaminated it. We were 100% encouraged to head slightly up the trail to Grizzly Creek instead.
Unfortunately, Grizzly Creek was not as easy to access as the aqueduct. Plants growing along the banks pretty much forced hikers to get their feet wet, but this wasn’t a huge sacrifice for me. I had so much black lava rock dust covering my feet and legs that I looked like I’d spent the day running barefoot through a coal mine. I would be washing my feet off one way or another, and rinsing them in Grizzly Creek was more effective than using baby wipes.
After gathering enough water for our dinner and breakfast, Poledork and I looked for the first available flat spot where we could pitch our tents before the 6-mile climb. Unfortunately, there were no obvious campsites in the vicinity of the creek. There was one extremely narrow, flat area 150 yards above the water that might once have been a side trail. We had few options, so we decided to squeeze onto the old path and try to set up our tents.
In all my years of backpacking, this spot might have been the narrowest one that I’ve ever tried to pitch my tent on. One side of my tent fly was staked to an uphill slope, while the other side was staked downhill. But the bulk of my tent floor was fairly level. So as long as we didn’t want to walk anywhere and were careful when getting out of our tents, it would be just fine.
For now, I just want to hang out with Poledork, chatting about our day and playing a game or two of cribbage on the travel board I packed just for this occasion.
