Day 141&142 Miles 1840-1884

Day 141

Start: 1840 End: 1857 Total: 17

I had a chill morning drinking coffee and hanging out on the wifi at the store. Mantis and I organized our food and did some chores then got a ride up to the Rim Village from Dr. Delirious. He was hiking the trail with his son but got injured and is now driving around helping out hikers.

We got some food and then Dr. Delirious drove us around the rim and we got back on trail around 1pm. It was starting to get really cloudy and the sky was threatening rain. It got super foggy on trail and there were remnants of large hail droppings all over the trail. Some of the trail was even flooded with water. Evidentally a big storm had stricken there.

It soon started raining on us as well and we stopped to put on our pack covers and rain jackets for the first time in a long while. It wasn’t too hard and it didn’t last long but the foggy gray atmosphere did.

We chatted and hiked a flat ten miles until we arrived at a water cache. We filled up and started our first ascent of the day. The trail went steadily up for 5 miles until we summited at the junction of the Thielsen peak trail, a beautiful jagged mountain.

We talked to the first southbound we have seen, a girl named Lightning who hasn’t really seen or met any other SOBOs. We then had 2 miles to go to Theisen Creek where we camped for the evening among many other hikers and with a great view of Mt. Thielsen.

Day 142

Start: 1857 End: 1884 Total: 27

It was a beautiful, cool damp morning waking up below Mt. Thielsen. We walked through the forest that was coated in a morning dew. Nick and I have started listening to The Brothers Karamzov together and listened to that for a few miles. After five or so miles we crossed the Oregon high point!

We did 12 miles that morning and stopped for a short break. With impending dark clouds getting closer and closer we decided we would eat lunch really quick before it rained. About 5 minutes into our lunch break though it started to rain. We got on our rain gear and hurried to eat our lunches. Right when we were getting ready to continue walking the rain let up a bit. 

We kept our gear on and kept walking, practicing Spanish. Eventually we took off our raincoats because they were too warm. Soon after we went up a bigger uphill climb and it started raining again. It wasn’t a heavy rain but a steady light one. We have light quick dry longsleeves so we just kept going without putting rain coats on as they would dry off soon enough. There were some nice views up top along a ridge. 

We had an option to go to a steep off trail water source but since it had been so cloudy and rainy all day we decided we would make what we had left work. We walked through another burn section then another 4 miles downhill to where a water cache was. We ended up making 3 L stretch for 22 miles. There was a group of section hikers there who had brought out their parents for a 6 day stretch. We chatted with them a bit and Mr. Crabs and Roadie soon arrived. 

We all decided to take a short cut that would cut off 8 miles and a bunch of elevation. We hiked together down the road, onto another trail and did about 5 more miles on that trail before finding a spot to camp.