Crater Lake and Oregon

"America is all about speed - hot, nasty bad-ass speed .~"Eleanor Roosevelt.

Well I've been flying through Oregon. All the rumors were true, this by far has been the fastest and flattest section of the trail. Train and I have been moving at about a 4 mph pace and doing 30+ mile days like no one's business. I'm not sure if its my ipod Julia sent me to Ashland, the new shoes or the terrain, or maybe just being a well built hiking machine at this point but I'm definitely killing the miles.

Currently I am in a very nice hotel in Portland. Train's parents drove down from Seattle and picked us up off the trail for a weekend of relaxation here and over in Cascade Locks. The Widmaiers have been wonderful to me, treating us to a nice dinner and putting us up in the hotel where the tvs and showers actually work. (We're used to staying in the cheapest motel we can find in towns)

Cascade Locks is the border-town between OR/WA on the mighty Colombia River, which the trail runs directly through. They are having a big celebration and all sorts of activities for thru-hikers called 'PCT Days' this weekend. We were about 150 miles short of making it via trail, so thats why they've picked us up so we can partake in all the fun. We'll actually make the town by trail in a week or so. It should be fun, the PCTA has purchased two kegs for us, so that oughta make for a good time.

While Oregon hasn't had many towns, we've run through many mountain and lake resorts where they treat us like folk heroes because we've hiked so far. Free ice cream, pizza, beer, showers and camping have been some of the few perks they've thrown at us. Its been awesome.

The highlight of not only Oregon but perhaps the whole trail has definitely been Crater Lake. I've always wanted to go there since i was a kid when I did a project on it for school. I've seen many incredible things in my life, but I dont think I've seen anything so breath-taking as this natural phenomenon. Much like the Grand Canyon, pictures will never do it justice, and its something you have to see with your own eyes. The water was the bluest blue I've ever seen. The trail ran along the rim for about 8 miles, and while it was the steepest and most difficult part of the trail so far, every climb was worth the effort to get a different perspective of the lake. If anyone ever has the oppurtunity to visit Crater Lake NP, please dont pass it up.

Brandon flies into tomorrow night to Portland and we'll get back on the trail Monday at the Three Sisters National Forest. Its gonna be good to have him back. We're still on target to finsih by the end of September. Already real world issues are starting to creep back in my head like "What am i going to do when i'm done?" But i'm still very much living in the moment.

For those of you who dont know, my mother has been in and out of the hospital with stomach,liver,glabladder issues for the last 2 weeks. Please keep her in your prayers, I wish i could be there for her. Its a good thing her plans to visit at this time didnt work out, i might had to perform emergency surgury with my swiss army knife.

Huge Picture Update

All,

Caleb sent in his picture card. Check out all the new pictures tracking his journey. He has many videos that need converting as well.

http://picasaweb.google.com/blevinschurch/CalebSPCT

If anyone out west wants to meet up with Caleb, he will be at PCT Days at Cascade Locks August 26-28th near Portland, OR. Stop by, support the Pacific Crest Trail, meet other hikers, and get Caleb's autograph!

I'll be rejoining Caleb following PCT days. I'm scared of the limelight.

Send him lots of good stuff, the trip has 4-5 weeks left!

Brandon

Man vs Food

Well, I made it out of California. I didn't get every mile done in the state that I wanted, but it feels good to make it to Oregon. Mentally, it feels downhill from here on. Oregon is the flattest section of the trail, so hopefully it'll only take 2.5-3 weeks to make it to Washington.

Coming out of Etna through the Marble Mountain Wilderness was a real treat. Large granite mountains and plenty of lakes made for some wonderful photos. From Etna it took only 2.5 days to make it to Seiad Valley, home of the Seid Valley Cafe's infamous 5lb pancake challenge. I took it on with a fury. Long story short, I hit the proverbial wall after about 2 of the 1lb cakes. But not wanting to go down with only 2 gone, I powered through and was able to get a 3rd and half of the 4th. The owner said it was the 2nd best showing she had seen in 2 years. Only 18 people have beat the challenge in 22 years, last in '06. She told me most only get 1-1.5 lbs down before they throw in the towel. Although I failed, I still gave a "world-class effort." Downside? It put me out of commission for about 3 hours. We ended up staying the night and made the last 5,000 foot climb of the PCT out of Seiad.

The following day we hit the border and continued onto Ashland, OR, home of the world's largest Shakespeare festival. Ashland is a wonderful little town with a very hippie-shiek feel. Train and I took a couple of zero days to explore all the micro-breweries. We also met back up with Sunseeker. We're hitting the trail today and are planning to really crank out big miles to get through the state. I'm very excited to knock Crater Lake off my bucket list which is only 100 miles away. The only town near the trail between Ashland and Washington border is Sisters, so if you want to send me anything awesome (which I highly encourage) then please do.

Hold for James Church

General Delivery

Sisters, OR 97759

DonahuePass

YouTube Account

One of my promises when I got off the trail was to get better, and upload our footage. Well, I've accomplished both I feel. Check out our new YouTube channel for our videos. Look for more in the not so distant future...

See y'all August 26th, my hat goes off to Caleb for, not only, keep on keeping on, but at an excellent pace.

BlevinsChurchPCT YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/BlevinsChurchPCT

Etna (a little earlier than expected)

Its been a while since the last update so i'll give y'all a quick run-down of where i've been and what i've been up to.

Train, Sunseeker and I made it across the waterless desert stretch of Hat Creek Rim, there was a solid water cache in the middle that broke it up nicely. Prior to that we also checked out Subway Cave, a 1/3 mile long lava tube near Old Station. The views looking across the valley from the rim at Mt Shasta and back towards Mt Lassen for a solid 30 miles were spectacular. We made it to Burney Falls, which were also very unique waterfalls where the water spilled over and out of hundreds of holes in the walls of the rock face.
Train and I wanted to step up the miles and Sunseeker decided to hitch ahead 80 miles so we parted ways at the falls. We pulled 3 big days(83 miles) to make it to Mount Shasta, which was a unique little town just below to mountain. Shasta is the 8th largest mountain in the world and is pretty magnificent.

After a solid zero day there, where i finally caught Inception (and loved), we continued northward. Whats funny though is that from Shasta we actually curve south for a few days before actually heading towards Oregon. The trail is gerrymandered around logging lands and miner claims. After 3 days of of ridge walking we dropped into to Etna 40 miles earlier than we should have because of some trail magic and a thunderhead rolling in. We're staying at the "Hiker Hut" at the only B&B in town which is a cool little side building with 5 bunk beds, a shower, TV and Internet. The owner only charges us 20 bucks a night. Etna constantly ranks as a favorite town among PCT hikers. They have a small world class brewery here and pretty much one intersection. Its tiny but nice and everyone is very friendly towards hikers.

We're tryin to get back on the trail in the morning and then it should be only 2-3 days to Seiad Valley were i will attempt the 5 lb pancake challenge and then just 2 days to the border where i can finally wave goodbye to California and its 1700 or so trail miles.

Brandon Update: He should be flying into Portland on the 26th of August and finish out this thing with me. I'm looking forward to having my hiking partner back.

I say it a lot, but thanks for keeping up with the blog. I appreciate it.