I am the bat

What a beautiful leg!

I have enjoyed this leg of the PCT much more than any I have in a long time. As much as I hate to admit this (for I don't want to inflate his ego), much of that enjoyment  came from hiking with Poulo. The reason for this is because a) it's always nice to hike with a good friend b) it has been a while since I have hiked next to someone (I'll explain that in more detail in a second) and c) I hiked less miles and thus was able to enjoy more sights and sleep in. What I mean about hiking next to someone is to have company while hiking. For the last 1100 miles I have hiked with people in the sense that I see them in camp or at brakes, but we all hike different paces and thus hike alone during the day. Which is fine in my opinion, but it is nice to have someone there. When you see a sight or animal or even do something dumb, it is enjoyable to share that experience vs. talking about it at camp. It also leads to more photos being taken and assuming my camera didn't corrupt them I will have a good upload when I get to Portland in a couple of days.

Poulo also joined me for a very special part of the PCT: the part i have already hiked. Timothy lake, Little Creator Lake, and Mt. Hood are all parts of trail I have done before. So in many ways I finally feel like I am home in the Pacific Northwest. It also helps that I finally saw a western red cedar (my favorite tree) which makes me happy.

This leg went from Big Lake Youth camp to Mt. Hood. My favorite part was the views. Back in winter I was able to see from my office "window" (the lineup line for snowboard lessons a Timberline lodge) Mt. Jefferson, Three Finger Jack and North Sister. Then on trail while standing on a pass next to North Sister see all the way to Mt. Hood. Now I have hiked that 100 miles of trail and I feel accomplished.

This leg has also started a trend that is not scary as in the sense of danger but fear of trail closures for I have now out ran seven forest fires on the PCT this year. The most recent of which was when Poulo and I passed the wilderness boundary between Mt. Hood and Jefferson. There was a fire that we didn't see until we were at the top of the pass (and consequently next to the fire) that was probably less that a mile away as the crow flies. Let us just say that it made for interesting camping. Poulo was dead tired (almost as if he had only been on trail for a day instead of three plus months) so we stopped early...right where we could see the smoke about two-three miles away. I only stopped because we could see in the trees and feel on our skin that the prevailing winds were driving the fire away from us. That didn't however stop me from double checking multiple times during the night that we were safe. Hopefully this trend continues in that the forest fires happen after I hike through a section. Though I would prefer that they didn't happen at all for my time in the B and B complex burnout was not very enjoyable...at all.

Well my next stop is Portland for R&R and a much needed shower. I may also pull my first 40 mile day on trial. That will depend on motivation and five hour energy drinks.