September 14-16, Breitenbush to Timothy Lake

total miles this hike: approximately 50 (including non-PCT)

Friday, September 14

In order to get an early start, we spent the night with Steve and Amanda that way, we could get up early and only have 1 ½ hours to drive to the TH. At 5:10 am, Steve and his dog Riley, Jeff and I were on the road. Jeff and I didn’t sleep good that night so I slept on the way. Right from the get-go this hike was a mental battle. We were so late getting to the TH and I was grumpy and discouraged and was already thinking, “let’s just scrap it this time and hike elsewhere.”

Our plan was to be dropped off at woodpecker trailhead which would only mean a short mile hike to the PCT but when we got there (#1), the road was gated off and from all appearances, was closed. We looked at the map and decided that entry from Pamelia Lake TH would be the next closest entry point so we drove there (#2) only to find it was limited access only and a $200 fine if you didn’t have the permit. So we debated about whether or not to invest another hour or more in getting permits or just to go back to the South Breitenbush trail (the trail from H last time) #3. Even though we knew the trail was horrible, we knew where it was, what to expect, and decided to endure it.

Steve & Riley

Steve and Riley hiked in with us for ½ mile or so, enough to stretch Riley’s legs and give her a taste of hiking. It was cool as we started but quickly warmed up as we hit the uphill grade. When Steve turned back, we shed our extra layers and got down to serious hiking. Then the stomach cramps hit me. It got hot, the trail turned notoriously nasty and I was sick. It took most of the day just to get the 8 miles done. We met 4 hikers coming down after a week in Jefferson park that were nice and encouraged us. Things only improved slightly once we hit the PCT as it was still rugged trail and uphill, but at least there were some views and a few more hikers.

The trail. from ...

Mt. "J" and the wilderness

Climbing up the crest

We started climbing out of Jefferson Park area. Both of us were panting and thinking we’ve really got to get in better shape when we finally crested and found out we were at 7010 feet. No wonder we couldn’t breath we’re not used to the elevation and boy could we tell. 

Elevation 7010

  

We crest somewhere in the right 1/3 of the photo

 
The view from the crest was fantastic. We saw some smoldering fires and burned areas from the fire that closed the trail a few weeks ago—wow.

smoke from the fire

1st view of Mt. Hood

Then we started down. There was still some large patches of snow and rather than doing the long zig zag down them, we boot-skied down. Jeff made it look easy so I got up my courage and did it too. Hopefully the video will work for you. I apologize as I forgot what angle I was holding the camera, you might have to turn on your side to watch it. (If it’s not on our blog, stay tuned, we are working on it!)

Here's where we boot skied.

Another angle of our boot skiing

Breitenbush deer

  
At Breitenbush, we stopped at a spring near the campground. I was taking photos and talking to the friendly neighborhood deer while Jeff filled water bottles. Breitenbush had campground, but we weren’t ready to stop. Another hiker asked if we’d seen his daughter but realized she was coming from the north so then asked that if we did, to please tell her he was at the campground. We continued on and met her in the next couple of miles where her dad had found her also. The man, 60 something said he was going to hike the PCT next year so naturally we had to chat.

More of the lovely trail                                 Mt. J is almost a thing of the past now              

 

Due to the late start and lack of miles, we opted to hike in the dark so donned our headlamps only to find out that one of them had been on all day (with brand new batteries) and was dead. Fortunately, we carry extra batteries and were soon up and working—lesson learned. 

Night hiking allows for some wonderful sunsets!

Our plan was to cowboy camp (no tent) so in order to avoid bugs we knew we didn’t want to stop by any water we also knew that finding flat spots when climbing was often tough. So about 9pm we started looking in earnest for a site. Our original goal for today was  Olallie Lake, but due to the circumstances, we allowed ourselves to be short a few miles. Finally we found a semi level place and laid out the mats and sleeping bag. It’s funny how something so simple as not putting up the tent messes with your routine! We feared it would be colder, especially without the tent so I bundled up a bit more and we both totally enjoyed laying there, gazing at the stars. There was an annoying flash coming from the area of Olallie Lake. It wasn’t lightening as it was quite repetitive and consistent. We figure it must have been some sort of tower light. Regardless, we were quite tired so it didn’t bother us long. I was doing some tossing and turning, when I heard the gentle pit pat sound of rain…then I felt the splash of big drops. RAIN! I yelled at Jeff who was obviously sleeping better than I had been that it was raining and we had to get the tent up NOW! I was up and had my shoes on before he really woke up. Once he caught on, he grabbed the tent while I wadded up the sleeping bag, trying to keep our little warm feathers dry. It’s a good thing we keep our packs in a large plastic bag at night as that’s where I stuffed our bag while  we set up the tent. It’s amazing how fast a tent can go up and in about 5 minutes, we were inside the tent preparing for a night of rain that was, incidentally, over. Yep, all that fuss for about 3 minutes of very wet rain. Sigh.

Saturday, September 15

Up at our usual hiking time, we were on trail by 7:45. It took a bit longer as we were out of routine due to our chaotic night. After we had the tent up though I slept much better and was raring to go. Jeff on the other hand was not having as good of a day and was fighting the “mentals” as we call them. We knew we had a long day ahead with our goal being to reach Warm Springs River, about 25 miles. We eagerly looked forward to Olallie Lake resort anticipating some hot food and Diet Pepsi . 

Olallie Lake resort. What a view!

We were pleasantly surprised to find it only about a mile down trail which meant we got farther than we thought Friday. We guessed we did about 17 miles. The Resort was a disappointment. It was beautiful, the staff was nice but the store was poorly stocked, I’m sure due to the lateness of the season. There was no hot food or Diet Pepsi. We settled for Mars bars and a few munchies and rested a few minutes. While there, we met Scallywag, a through hiker. It’s pretty late in the season to only be this far but he seemed sure he’d finish. Just as we got ready to leave, 3 section hikers arrived. They looked like they’d had a pretty rough time—we’d never seen anyone look so trail worn. I hope they were ok. We lit out expecting to do some leap-frogging with them but didn’t see them until much later. The trail went downhill from there and was relatively good. A few good views and visiting with several hikers made the time pass.

Then, we started down. The trail greatly improved—finally, and the down was steady but not too steep. Jeff didn’t need his hood for sun protection as we were in the trees the entire way. Break out the MP4 players. After Lemeti Meadow, we began a gentle uphill climb. Growing tired of the trees, I eagerly anticipated breaking out of them at the Chinquapin view point (#4). We continued hiking seeing only forest and more forest. Apparently there had been some very good growth because we didn’t even know we’d passed the viewpoint until it dawned on us that we were definitely going down the other side. It must have been some view!

Much improved trail conditions

Did you know that easy trails can be just as hard on a body as hard trails? Poor Jeff, early in the day he began feeling the twinge of blisters. By noon, he was sporting several that he doctored during our lunch break. Naturally, we finally get a trail we can go fast on and the pain holds us back. I felt so bad for him but he kept plodding along. Ironically I had no blister problems this time, but I could certainly sympathize and cut him some slack. We finally called it a day around 7:30 short of our goal of Warm Springs River (#5). Thanks to the gentle trail, we were still able to get over 20 miles in. As we were setting up camp, Scallywag and one of the section hikers (we called him Red Beard) passed us. We went to bed and slept well from exhaustion and knowing that tomorrow was our last day. I hoped to get some cell reception to let Steve know we were a bit behind and probably wouldn’t make our noon meeting time. We both slept well which is good ‘cause Sunday was another day.

Sunday, September 16

As we broke camp, I told Jeff I’d dreamed that we hiked around the corner and there was Warm Springs River. We both kind of laughed and wondered how close we were. About  ¼ mile down the trail we crossed a small stream only to find a sign that said, “Warm Springs River”. Yahoo! That helped us feel better as we would have less distance to cover. Jeff was in a lot of pain due to the blisters. Not only did he have blisters on each heal, there was a whopper between his big toe and the one next to it extending to the ball of his foot so there was no way to bandage it. He was walking different in order to manage the pain which only made him hurt in other places as a result. I was so  proud of him and amazed by his resilience as he kept trucking along. We knew after we crossed the river we would have several miles of solid “up” so we were mentally prepared. Again, the entire trail was in forest so it was pretty boring. Again, my stomach started acting up so we had several breaks, but we were dumbfounded when we realized we were now going steadily down—we had crested and were now at the home stretch with only about 8 miles left. We should be done by 1:30 or so. Nothing motivates me to hike faster than telling me we’re nearly done and I picked up as much speed as I dared with Jeff’s injuries. When we came to some power lines, I took a chance that there would be cell reception and texted Steve and told him we’d be late. He replied that he was already enroute and should be there about 11:30. I hoped maybe he’d hike in and meet us. We couldn’t have asked for an easier trail. It was down, but so gentle that you hardly knew it and it was carpeted with pine needles. Still heavy forest it was easy to put our noses down and just push for home. Imagine our pleasant surprise when we broke out of the woods at our meeting spot at 12:05! Steve wasn’t there yet so we sat down and started to dig for some lunch when he came around the corner. We didn’t even have to wait 5 minutes for him. Talk about perfect timing!

Alas, most of the hike was easy, the mental battle was one of the worst we’ve had yet. We’ll let Jeff’s blisters heal then we’ll be back... We love hiking!

Love,

Jeff 'n Sue

Random scenes from the trail

What more can we say?

These friendly chipmunks loved to jump out at me

You never know what you're walking on

Gentle up

Turning vine maple near the end

Lightening strike?

friendly frog. We didn't refill our water here!