Trail Day 110: Tentsite (mile 1895.3) to Shelter Cove junction (mile 1904.1)

8.8 PCT miles, plus 1.5 miles to Shelter Cove Resort

I had hoped the smoke would blow away during the night like it did yesterday, but that was not the case. The wind definitely blew, though. There were several strong gusts during the night that showered me with pine needles. I was paranoid that it would make the fire jump closer to where I was, so I woke up quite a few times, scanning the area to make sure that I was OK.

In the morning, I got up, walked a couple miles and ate breakfast near a stagnant pond. I had been seeing quite a few of these since I left Summit Lake yesterday. The smoky haze does not improve their appearance.

Smoky, stagnant pond.

It was only a couple miles until the Shelter Cove junction where I would be leaving the trail to skip fire closures, so I didn't think anything exciting would be happening today. However,  soon after breakfast I passed a huckleberry bush. Since not many people had been hiking this section of the trail,  it was unpicked. I selected some of the best berries to snack on. They were tart and flavorful.

Wild huckleberries.

Huckleberries in a dry, dirty hand.

Not long after this I startled a group of elk. I'm assuming they were elk as they would have been very big for deer. Unfortunately, they disappeared before I could get my camera out.

They rest of the morning was spent walking through smoky forest and passing stagnant lakes.

I also passed mile 1,900.

Smoky forest.

Mile 1,900.

When I took the side trail to Shelter Cove Resort, I thought it would be smooth sailing. What I didn't expect to find was a log crossing over a deep creek. At least the top was chopped off to provide better traction. There was also half a railing on one side, but it was still an intimidating cross.

#unexpectedlogcrossing

I made it to Shelter Cove, bought a shower, and then a bacon cheeseburger with fries from the restaurant. I then hung out in the hiker area and fiddled around on the internet until my resupply package arrived. The ladies in the store were nice enough to come find me and notify me that it arrived.

Arriving at Shelter Cove.

The general store and restaurant. 

Odell Lake (well, some of it).

I have a friend from grad school  (Vee) who lives in Corvallis and offered to pick me up from the resort and take me where I needed to go. I had originally thought that I needed to go to Bend, OR to get a bus around the fire closures. However, I decided that I wanted to go to Trout Lake, and pick up the PCT with only one current fire closure afterwards. To do that I needed to take a train to Portland.

After some back and forth with Vee, we decided that I would come home with her to Corvallis where I could at least spend the night and she could drive me up to Portland the next day. She also offered that I could spend tomorrow resting at her house instead of running off right away.

The longer I thought about it, the more it made sense. My body was tired, I had more research to do on my next destination, and I was behind on blog entries.

Since I had time, and the resort had the facilities, I did my laundry. As I was walking to get my clothes from dryer, I had some of the resort guests ask me if I was a hiker. They had a lot of questions for me and I talked with them for a long time and got to regale them with trail stories and the difficulties of the trail this year.

I headed back to the hiker area again. As I was hanging out there for a while, I heard thunder. Eventually, it started raining as well. I was checking fire closure updates when I heard a woman say, “You’d better hurry up, honey. Get away from metal.” It took me a while to realize she was talking to me and that the nice awning I was under was supported by metal beams.

I went to hang out under the shelter near the patio by the restaurant. Some of the staff had come out there as well to watch the storm. Apparently last year they could see some of the lightning strike fires occur and called them in.

While we were watching the storm, one of the owners came out and offered to drive me into Bend tomorrow if I needed transportation. She also said I was the only hiker who came by today and that she was surprised to see me since the surrounding sections of trail were closed. I told her about how they were continuing to close behind me.

She said the staff was having a going away party for one of their members and offered me some of the leftover pizza. I think I had at least 3 slices. They are very generous people at Shelter Cove Resort.

After I finished my pizza, I realized that I had left all my stuff out, spread across the tables of the hiker area. Vee should be arriving soon, so I went to pack everything up before she got there.

She ended up getting there as I was packing up. We greeted each other with hugs, and got out of the thunderstorm, catching up as she drove me to her home in Corvallis.