Bushcamp to Bushcamp
27.1 miles
Mile 2045.6
I woke on our ridge top camp to find a brilliant sunrise painting the distant peaks in deep reds. It was barely 4:30, but the temperature was comfortable as I packed my gear and padded off into the half light.
As I made my way down the backside of the ridge I was surprised by the amount of snow still remained.
I crossed a series of creeks before climbing up a burned section where I found this interesting sign.
From there, the trail descended down to Russel Creek, which was flowing well enough that crossing was somewhat challenging.
I found a large whitish rock that I thought would make a good bridge, but it turned out to be a dead horse…so that was sad.
Pushing on, I began the tediously long but scenic climb up Mt Jefferson.
The top offered excellent views of where we were headed, Mt Hood and the valley beyond.
There was a ton of snow on the way down, which made for great shoe skiing opportunities, so that was fun.
The final 5 miles to Ollalie Lake led me past a series large ponds through flat woodlands.
When I arrived at Ollalie Lake, I hit up the general store, where I bought a loads of candy and beer to enjoy on a shaded picnic table as I waited for Spikes.
Once she arrived we decided that the lakeside campground was so pleasant that we’d camp there rather than hike on as planned.
A group of hikers attempting a calendar year triple crown named The Prodigy, Graduate and T Rex joined us for a bit. Good times were had by all. When they left Spikes and I finished dinner, pitched our tents and hit the hay.
Cheers!
P.s. Originally I’d been planning on hiking the AT after getting to Canada, but recently I’ve decided to yo-yo the PCT instead. In about 20 days I’ll reach the Canada border, where I’ll turn around to hike back to Mexico…so I’m almost halfway done!