I was awoken at 5 am by Ice Cream’s alarm going off. I thought that I wouldn’t have to hear that sound for these four months, but alas. It was actually good to get up and out of camp early since we had a big hill to climb and it was going to be hot later in the day.
This hill was even bigger than the Belden Beast: it was 4,300′ of climbing in 8 miles. Red Bass and Thunder took off like rockets and I had a hard time keeping up.
I spent the first part of the morning hiking with Red Bass and learning his life story. I hadn’t talked with him much before and our easy conversation made the time and hill go by quickly.
When we reached the top of the big hill, we took a break and then I hiked with Thunder for the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon. We were going through sections of rolling hills and Thunder pounded up them at breakneck speed. It was great to talk to him and learn about his hobby of body building.
We went through some beautiful meadows and the sunlight made the grass look golden.
The four of us hiked together until 6 pm when they stopped to set up camp. By then we were only 6 miles from the Oregon border and although I had already gone 27 miles, I really wanted to go for it. Once I realized it was mostly downhill I was set on sleeping in Oregon that night.
I made it to the border around 8:30 pm and celebrated with Breathless, who soon approached.
I hiked just two more miles after the border so I could fill up on water for the night. Oregon welcomed me with this amazing sunset.
