Tuesday 9/4/12
Miles 1852-1876 (24 miles)
Well I'm feeling somewhat better. Still really tired though. Oh! I forgot to mention, the day coming into Mazama Village, I met a really cool older German couple. They were familiar with the PCT. I saw them again hiking on the PCT, the day we left crater lake. How funny is that? We also met an awesome couple from Arizona. Even the travelers I meet in Oregon are awesome! What a cool state :)
Oh!! I met Leslie!! She is an awesome and amazing southbound hiker (canada-->mexico) from Banff who was reading my blog prior to leaving. I was so stoked to meet her finally! She's an ultra runner. That's so nuts. In my opinion, the three most impressive types of athletes are gymnasts, ultra runners, and downhill mountain bike racers. Gymnasts, for their incredible amount of athletic prowess and discipline, ultra runners because they're just absolutely nuts, and downhill mountain bike racers for the sheer amount of balls it takes to do what they do. Seriously though, who the hell runs 100 mile foot races? FOR FUN?!? Lol. Geez. You just gotta be on a whole different mental level. Perhaps that's why all the ultra runners I've met are so awesome. They're just all crazy. Hence we operate on a similar level. :D
Oh! Leslie also houses a lot of the continental divide racers in Banff. She said theres a guy that rode the divide on a fixed gear bike. WTF?!? A fixie?!? Hahaha!! Holy crap. She said it took him 7 tries. By the way, the continental divide ride is a really gnarly trail. Even on a mountain bike with really good gears. I figure, if someone can complete the ride on a fixie bike in 7 tries, surely I can complete it in one go, on a bike with good gears, right?
The trail in Oregon is awesome. Even the ups and downs aren't so bad. It is rumored that Oregon is quite flat. And, I wouldn't call it flat, but the elevation gains and losses are a lot less strenuous than anywhere else on trail. And all the shade from the trees is really awesome. Trees are so cool. I like trees :) I'm surprised at how infrequent the water sources are. I mean, the last few days it was 11, 16, 25 miles of no water. That was surprising. I didn't think Oregon would be so dry. The 25 mile stretch had a water cache. That was amazing. Thank you anonymous trail angel who stocks that water cache!! <3
I managed to make 24 miles before sundown, which is pretty amazing considering we don't get started til around 9am, which is really late by hiker standards. Ah well. The last part of the hike was a ridge walk on the spine of the ridge. Those are my favorite :)
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