The boot

I had an appointment with an orthopedic specialist this afternoon & after doing lots of poking, prodding, twisting, & pushing plus an ultrasound - she couldn't find anything obviously wrong with my foot!  Because she couldn't find any real tender spots on my foot, she doesn't think it's a stress fracture.  She wants me to "rest" my foot for 1 to 2 weeks & see if there's any improvement (ie the boot).  I have another appointment in a couple weeks & if there's no improvement she may want to do an MRI to get a better look @ the tendons & bones.
So, it looks like the rest of the PCT hike is postponed.

Well, it's over for now!

I started having pain in my left foot a day & half ago. It got worse yesterday afternoon, so we "pulled the plug" on our hike this morning when Allison, Keith, and Mom & Dad came up to Willamette Pass to resupply us.  I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow morning, so hopefully it's something that can be "healed" in a few days of rest and we can get back to the trail in a week or so!
Below is a photo of me after my shower, but before shaving my face.  If I look a little thinner, it's true.  When I started the hike I weighed 163 and before my shower this morning I weighed 150 - less than when I was in high school!  Allison has now got me on a high calorie diet to try and gain back a few pounds.  I'll keep you updated as I find out more information.
For the birders in the crowd, I had an interesting experience this morning just as the stars were fading and the sky was lightening.  I had what seemed like a large bat fly over the tent and appear to land a short distance away.  As I was mulling over what I just saw, the "bat" started calling and it was a Common Poorwill.  Being so close to it while it was calling, I could hear the 3 syllables very clearly & also some soft clucking - somewhat like a chicken.  Other notable birds last evening & this morning were calling Northern Pygmy-Owl, 2 Am. Three-toed Woodpeckers, and calling Red-shouldered Hawk.  We were camped at a small lake just south of Midnight Lake on the Lane/Klamath County line - on the Klamath side according to my PCT maps & GPS.

Windigo Pass

After a 17 mile day, we made it to Windigo Pass this afternoon.  It was nice to see some familiar sights this afternoon (ie Big Marsh, Odell Butte, etc).
Weather was cool today, so nice hiking.  There is some buildup this afternoon, so we'll see if we get any lightening tonight. We should make it to Summit Lake tomorrow - only 13 miles to the campground, but lots of uphill.
There's a water cashe here because of the long distances between water on the trail.  Thank you Mid-Oregon Trail Angels!

Tipsoo Butte

We're @ Tipsoo Butte for the night - it's the highest point on the OR/WA portion of the PCT @ 7560' unless you hike the rim trail @ Crater Lake like we did, then there's a point there that's 50' higher.  We did about 13 miles today with the last 5 miles carrying extra water for our dry camp.  Nice views of Mt  Thielsen north to the South Sister today.
The weather has been been mostly sunny w/some clouds & a cool wind out of the east today.  The last three mornings have been quite cool - meaning I start hiking with long pants & shirt instead of shorts & T-shirt as before, but I won't complain.
Trails have been good in the park & today.  The trails in the Sky Lakes Wilderness needed lots of maintainence with many logs across the trail, portions that seemed like dry creek beds, and portions on steep rocky side slopes that were almost wide enough for both feet.  One miss step & you would have ended up many hundreds of feet down slope in a big heap!
It seems we just missed numerous fires south of the park, so we're hoping your luck will hold!

Mt. Thielsen 2

We're @ Mt. Thielsen this morning.  We were planning to stop @ Thielsen Ck for the night, but given the time we'll get some water and continue north.  We spent last night @ the North Crater trailhead w/4 through hikers.  Yesterday we got a "little" help from Allison, so it was an easy day.  Thanks for the raisin cookies & cherry tomatoes mom!  Maybe more later.

Mt. Thielman

Our typical trail day

We get up at 6am (Tom has an internal alarm) eat, tape feet, and pack up putting us on the trail at 7:30. We usually take a couple morning  breaks before lunch for potty and food. We take a longer break for lunch, which can be anywhere from noon to 2pm (I always enjoy these times). We try to make it into camp no later than 5pm, but we have had a couple longer days. We're then ready to pitch our tent, wash feet and clothes, and eat our delicious freeze dried dinners. 

Crater lake

Little update

Day 3 we hiked to Island Lk (14.5 mi) & had a great swim even though the water was cool.  Trail down to lake was bad from down trees & skeeters were worse!
Day 4 long hike over Devils Peak w/narrow trail on steep slope & long uphill climb.
Days 5&6 hiked about 10 each day - night of 5th day was a dry camp, so carried extra water which made the packs too heavy!  Now at Crater Lake w/Allison.

Quick update more later

We're about 8 miles from meeting Allison @ Crater Lk.  Everything has been going well, just heavy packs, lack of cell coverage,  & a few bugs.  Some great views & a nice swim in Island Lake!  Photo was Nanc texting this morning. More later.

Day two - water & lightening

A lack of one & too much of another!  The lack of water along the trail forced us to hike 18 miles today, so we ended the day @ highway 140 - a day ahead of schedule!  The lightening storm started a fire west of our camp, so we have lots of copters flying around.  I talked to one of the BLM fire people & it sounded like they pretty much have it taken care of.  Nanc & I just about said "uncle" a couple times today, buy lack of water forced us to continue.  Hopefully, a little easy day tomorrow.  Photos was our campsite below.

First day

We put in a 13 mile day today - about 5 miles more than planned!  We were both feeling the weight of our packs - especially this afternoon.  We're camped near Big Spring - north of Howard Prairie Lake.  Our original stopping spot for the day @ Grizzly Creek didn't have very good looking water & no place to camp, so we hiked on.  A very warm, uphill five miles, but made it!  Photos of us @ the starting point & our camp.

On our way

We're heading south on I-5, to spend the night at Greensprings Inn east of Ashland. Man I hope I didn't forget anything vital!

Haircut

Yesterday I got a haircut to last for the month on the trail.  I don't think I've had my hair this short since I was in grade school!

Success

I got it all in the pack and with a little last minute juggling the pack weighs in under 40 lbs, so I think I'm good to go!

Time to pack!

Now that it's only a couple days until we take off for trail, I decided it's time to pack.  Here's a photo of everything I need to get into my pack - hopefully it will all fit & not weigh too much!
This morning was my last training walk/hike with a 30 lb pack, mostly water.  I've been doing a 9.5 mile route which includes the flats down to Amazon Park & the hills behind the house along the Ridgeline Trail three times a week.  On the other days, I've been doing my normal 4 mile route on the Ridgeline Trail with the pack.

More photos from trial hike

Here are two more photos from our trial hike in July.  One from Four-in-One Cone, the other along the Scott trail with all the Beargrass in bloom.

Trial hike

We did a trial hike into Minnie Scott Springs on 13 July & found lots of snow!