There are a lot of mellow hills along the PCT in Oregon. None of them are very long or steep, which makes the hiking pleasant and pretty easy for the most part. It’s a lot of hiking through the woods, but today we went past several beautiful lakes.
Rocky and I hiked together for most of the day, but Fox took off early like a bat out of hell because he was excited to get to Elk Lake Resort for “real food” and beer. It was 23 miles from where we camped so I didn’t try to push it too hard; I knew that I’d be there by mid afternoon.
We entered the Three Sisters Wilderness and were hoping to see the mountains, but the skies were overcast with low clouds which obscured the view.
It helps to have a goal to hike towards each day and the prospect of restaurant food is one of the best. Sometimes the hours are long but today they pasted by pretty quickly.
When I was about two miles from Elk Lake, I encountered some guys out doing trail maintenance. One asked me a few questions then asked to see my permit. He was really nice about it and explained that it’s mostly to ensure that people are using the trails and that money is needed to maintain them. It was the first time anyone asked to see my permit. I had hiked 1950 miles.
Shortly after that it started to rain. It was a good shower for a few minutes and I was really glad when it let up quickly because I didn’t have my rain jacket. I had sent it home for a few hundred miles and would only get it back at my next resupply place in a few days. Luckily the storm passed and I was dry by the time I got to Elk Lake Resort.
It was a bit cool, but we sat outside and had an early dinner and ice cream, relaxing for nearly three hours. It was a great break and I felt re-energized afterward. We even hiked another ten miles that day for a total of 33.7 miles before dark. We camped near Mirror Lake, seen below.
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