Distance hiked today: 33.3 miles / 53.6 km.
It was a cold night, and today I walked over patches of snow. Oregon and Washington had a very high snow year and late winter, but it's melting quickly in this heat. I passed the highest point on the PCT for Oregon, at 7560 ft. It was a random bump in the woods. I guess it's all downhill from here! 🤣
I didn't take any breaks in the morning except quick pee stops, and reached a water cache 18 miles in for lunch. There were chairs (yay!), and in this long waterless stretch the cache is a life saver.
I passed the 3,000 km mark, but missed the rock marker.
The mosquitoes are getting bad, and I walk with my headnet on while trying to keep them off my hands and shoulders. I try to cool off a bit with snow, which melts instantly on my face.
I wanted to stop for dinner by Summit Lake, but the mosquitoes were determined to flush me out so I continued to the camp spot we'd planned to stay at. And then it became apocalyptic - millions of mosquitoes swarmed me while I rushed to get my tent up and get in as fast as possible. Even though I only had the door open for a few seconds, there were hundreds in my tent. I spent the next 15 minutes killing them one by one.
When Giggles arrived shortly after she went through the same chaotic routine, running around camp trying to escape them, dive bombing into her tent and getting her foot stuck in the zipper, and still having hundreds to kill. I was not going to open my tent door for anything, until I was ready to walk in the morning.
Day 6 Oregon Challenge done. While I'm very tired from lack of sleep, my muscles aren't as sore as I expected and it's going relatively well. If either of us start to feel any overuse injuries coming on we'll slow down, because finishing the trail is more important and overdoing it can really mess you up. But until then, 14-day Oregon lives on.
Total trail mileage: 1893.7 miles / 3047 km
