Irish Lake to Elk Lake trailhead

We were up about 6 AM and on the trail shortly after 7 AM both mornings.

 A couple small frog/mosquito ponds early in the morning, and a mushroom coming up through the forest duff (for Jenny & Russ).

Two views of Brahma Lake - from south and north ends.

Nanc walking through the true fir/mountain hemlock forest.

A very old "PCT" sign that's almost grown over.  It's very similar to the Skyline Trail signs as compared to the new "PCT" signs.

After Nanc twisted her ankle, there weren't any stops except to drain the bladder or grab a quick bite to eat, so that's the last of the photos.
We had many, many trees across the trail in the southern end of the Mink Lake basin, which made the going slow, especially with Nanc's ankle!  I guess it's quite a ways from any trailhead and the crews hadn't gotten there yet this year.

Bobby Lake to Irish Lake

Our second day was hiking from Bobby Lake to Irish Lake with a stop at Charlton Lake (13 miles).

Nanc cleaning the dust off at Charlton Lake.

American Three-toed Woodpecker in tree at Charlton Lake.

Charlton Butte through snags from the 1996 Charlton Butte Fire.

 We had about 3 miles of the Charlton Butte Fire to hike through in the afternoon on a very warm day.  We both were a little pink and ready for camp after that!

Tom on the PCT through the Charlton Butte Fire.

Crane Prairie Reservoir from Charlton Butte Fire near Lily Lake.

We camped at the north end of Irish Lake, just inside the Three Sisters Wilderness Area.  Unfortunately, someone was camped at the primitive campground between Irish & Taylor Lakes that liked to target shoot, so we got to listen to gun fire for 2 to 3 hours that afternoon!  The swim in the lake was quite refreshing after a hot afternoon of hiking!

Two views of Irish Lake near our campsite.

  We were in the tent both nights by 7 PM to try and keep the mosquito bites to a minimum.  I guess it helped, but we both still ended up with numerous bites!

Bobby Lake addendum

Here's a few photographs from our first day on the trail - from Highway 58 to Bobby Lake.

Lower Rosary Lake.

Middle Rosary Lake.

 Tom at overlook of Middle & Lower Rosary Lakes, Odell Lake, and Crescent Lake.

Nanc's view of Tom on trail to Bobby Lake.

Also, Allison made the 4 mile round trip hike into Bobby Lake in the late afternoon to bring Tom his forgotten walking poles - much thanks!

In the middle of the night Tom awoke and heard what sounded like the "wok" call of a Black-crowned Night-Heron.  I've never heard of them being at 5500' in the Cascades.

It wasn't meant to be!

Monday, while hiking from Irish Lake to Elk Lake for our resupply from Allison, we ran into numerous down trees across the trail.  Nanc was climbing over a large one and placed her foot wrong on the other side, twisting her right ankle and knee while falling to the ground in pain.  After making sure nothing was too badly hurt, we started the long, slow hike out to the trailhead and Allison.  It ended up taking 8 hours instead of about half that time.  We hiked the whole time, because Nanc was afraid the ankle would swell up and she wouldn't be able to walk on it.  So, Allison was at the trailhead for about 4 hours wondering where we were, trying to text us to see what was up, but we had our phones off because we didn't have any cell service!  The three of us ended up spending the night with our other sister and her husband in Bend and drove home Tuesday morning.  Nanc got into a doctor that afternoon and nothing was broken, just badly sprained.  So, now she's the one sitting at home with her foot up, icing it.  Below is a photo of her ankle at the doctor's office.

I plan to add more posts with photos of our three days on the PCT in the next few days.  I thought of continuing on solo, but decided that wasn't what I really wanted to do.

Bobby Lake

We made it to Bobby Lake for lunch, 10 miles.  Nice water for a swim & just enough wind, so it not too hot!  Lots of nighthawks in the evening & this morning.

We're ready to try again

It's August 2016 and we're once again getting ready for our PCT hike from Highway 58 to the Columbia River!  We didn't get to try last year because of my (Tom's) continuing foot problems, but that all seems to be in the past now - we hope!  We're scheduled to leave Highway 58 on Saturday (20 August) and be at the Columbia River on 6 Sept.  I'm sure that might change as we go along, we'll just have to see!  We're cutting down on the number of miles per day and the number of days between resupply locations, to keep the packs lighter and less time on our feet - hopefully that will prevent any foot problems from cropping up during the hike.
Below is a photo of everything I'll be carrying on the first segment of the hike (Highway 58 to Elk Lake) before it's packed into my pack - it weighs in at just under 30lbs.  You might note a few new things (pack, sleeping bag, etc) - new lighter things to keep the weight down!