Day 114
Miles hiked: 3.7
Mile marker: 2002.4
We get to awake at 6:00 AM, which is great because I actually am ready to go before our expected departure time at seven o’clock.
We hike for a couple miles where we enter into a stick drawing of the number 2000 written onto the dirt.
We hiked 2,000 miles!!!
Two thousand miles and a gazillion steps, hundreds of gross meals, and a dozen blisters brought me to this stick handwriting.
Two thousand miles.
That’s a long way to walk.
We keep moving. It was a bit chilly this morning, but as I push up the hill I warm up.
We reach the trailhead, where we sit at a bench. Our driver is right over there in the corner of the parking lot! We walked right past him!
He drives us to Sisters, where we hop out and grab some pastries. I buy a blackberry cream cheese pastry, a sticky bun, and a bear claw.
All are perfectly sweet.
Gosh, there’s not much in this world I love more than pastries.
We hug Voyager goodbye. She’ll be hiking ahead so she can make more miles and get to her friend’s wedding! We hop in the car and continue the drive to Bend.
The drive from the trailhead to Bend is about 45 minutes. It was cool of our driver — Papa Homey — to take us to both Sisters and Bend.
We eat breakfast at Black Bear diner. It’s pretty good, and we sit at the booth for a long time deciding what to do for our next couple of weeks on trail.
The rest of the day goes by in a blur. It’s full of showers, rest, and movies. It’s so nice to relax in a real bed in a hotel. I even got to take a bath! I also kept my foot buff, so I’ll be using that later on my feet that are starting to look like they’ve been chewed by a dog again.
Day 115
Today is an exciting day. I get to see my friend Emma! We haven’t seen each other in six years or so! We met in college, and it’s so cool that I’ll get to see her today.
First, I start the day with several bowls of lucky charms: my favorite cereal and one of the two options offered at the complimentary breakfast.
When Emma gets to me, we give one another a long and tight hug of two friends who haven’t seen each other in years. We keep up with one another on the phone though.
We go to the gear shop where I get my new shoes, then off to a super cute coffee shop. I order a lavender, honey, almond brioche bun that is absolutely incredible. Emma and I chat for a long time, catching up with each other on all the latest problems and philosophies of life.
We head over to a park after that. The rocks are good to sit on and the water feels so cold as I put my feet in.
The sun is hot and I feel my skin burning and cool my warm water bottle in the water.
We head back to the hotel room. Emma has to go to work, and Rafiki, Bumper and his friend and I are all going to float the river!
Man. That brioche bun was so good. I ordered another one before I left and want to try their fluffy egg avocado on yummy looking buns.
The river: it’s cold, lazy, and calm as we gaze at rich people’s wooden lake houses and hang on to each other’s orange tubes.
It’s hot, the waters cold, and I’m glad I wore sun screen!
Soon, the rapids call. I’m holding onto Rafiki’s tube as we crash down the rapid. It feels like I’m the one getting the big waves of cold water that chills me immediately! Bumper and his friend are close behind us.
It’s so fun that we get out of the rapids, walk back to the beginning of it to do this again! We go through the rapids a total of four times!
After tubing we get Japanese food. I want to eat ramen but I’m not hungry enough for it. Leftover ramen isn’t good.
My curried potatoes, onion and carrots in a puff pastry are amazing too! As is my Thai iced tea!
That night, Rafiki and I go get our resupply at Walmart for 3 carries. We’re planning to go to Snoqualamie pass.
We spent an hour or so looking at the map and the fires. I’m quite disappointed when I realize that my trip might actually end early. It won’t end at the border of Canada at the terminus. I won’t get to hike through a lot of Washington.
This is so sad. I want to hike the PCT all the way through, on this hike. Not on another hike. I want the closure of living out here for months, pushing through something I don’t love to do, walking through my second home (Washington) and reaching the end.
Instead, it might just end… wherever it ends.
Walmart only takes 1.5 hours… not bad for three resupplies! Our uber drivers are friendly and the Walmart staff seem excited about us hiking the trail.
People in Bend are really nice.
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