Day 131 : Blueberries

28th August 2013
Mile 2042 to mile 2073.5 : Breitenbush trail junction to Warm Springs
Mileage : 31.5

Average mileage since day 101 :

My plan to use my tent as a cover instead of as tent did not go well. I had again assumed that most of the wetness came from the humid night air, and not from myself, and that by covering myself with my relatively impermeable tent I would escape the worst excesses of the condensation. This turned out to be a mjor error on my part and I woke up in the early hours of the morning wet both inside and outside my sleeping bag. I was less than happy with myself, but at that stage decided it would be better to keep the cover on rather than let the wet sleeping bag start to freeze in the near freezing temperatures. In the morning, it took a lot of energy and willpower to get up and moving, but was finally on the road just before 8am, a very late start in the world of thru-hiking. Minutes after starting, I ran across both of the only two Scots on the trail, I think there are about 10 Brits still on trail at this stage, and 5 of us are hiking within 24 hours of each at the moment it would seem. One of the Scots, a young guy of 21ish told me a harrowing story of some trail magic gone wrong in Bend, the other town to which I could have hitched instead of Sisters. He said he had had the best day so far on trail, and possibly the worst night of life. The best day involved being driven around on a mobile bike-bar in Bend having all his drinks paid for by fellow drinkers, so far so good. Towards the end of the day he was doing exactly what I had been doing looking for a place to stay for the night. Before long he had found somewhere and was probably feeling pretty pleased with himself. After arriving at this gent's house however he realised he was in the house of white sumpremacist, and he said Edward Norton's character from the film American History X about summed this guy up. Poor Lighthouse was at this stage stuck, he had had a few beers and so was not at his most sober, it was dark, and he knew aboslutely no-one in Bend to call who might have been able to help him out. In the end had to endure this guy ranting and raving all night long before he finally passed out drunk. With the guy passed out and the day finally dawning Lighthouse made his exit and found his way back the trail and the world of normal thru-hikers. As he recounted this tale I was thinking to myself how easily that could have been me in Sisters instead of him in Bend. Thru-hiking on the PCT is a very safe activity in just about every respect. The nature element can throw things like lightning bolts at you from time to time, but mostly is benign if you know what you are doing out there. The human element however is a bit more unpredictable. Although I am sure there have been a few other harrowing encounters on the trail, this is the only one i have heard of in 131 days of being out here and it is not the norm. The norm, is much more like my experience in Sisters where the overwhelming experience is positive, but it just goes to show that every once in a while as a thru-hiker you are going to encounter odd people, and as a thru-hiker in many respects we are fairly vulnerable. But also we are very tough knowing that these encounters are few and far between and that a bad expereience like this just makes all the positive ones just that bit more positive. Lighthouse was packing up as I bumped into him aand I didn't hang around as the morning was cold and I was behind schedule, but a few minutes after that I bumped into the other Scot, a woman called Ingrid, and her 2 american hiking partners Tracy and someone else who's name i don't remember. These three were munching blueberries that they were picking from the bushes lining the sides of the trail. I joined in with gusto for a few minutes before reluctantly continuing up the trail. I have seen berries appearing on the trail for a couple weeks now, but have been unwilling to eat any of them for hear of eating some that i shouldn't and getting really sick in consequence. With confirmation from Ingrid and co though I enjoyed picking a few berries before realising that time was aticking, and that i hadn't done more than a mile. For a long time now the trail has been a green tunnel so havne't had many scenic views, and with the inclement weather any mountains i have seen have had their heads chopped off by the clouds that have dogged my progress since Crater Lake. But in climbing up to a ridgeline on the north side of Mt Jefferson I was treated to views south as far as 3 Fingered Jack, and north up to the massive hulk of Mt Hood. Tomorrow evening I'll be there! After more delays Ollalie Lake, and then some frantic speed hiking I the miles i needed to cover in order to make it less than 35 to Timberline Lodge the next day.