Day 3 (20 miles)

it's a resupply day. to a hiker that means a bunch of food awaits at the end of the day's trail. a carrot for the horse if you will. on the topic of food, i have adopted simple philosophy for trail food--there must be at least 100 calories per ounce of food for the item to find its way into my pack. everything else regarding trail food is up for discussion but that is not. the candy bar is, ounce for ounce, the most caloric, most tasty, and cheapest option. of course were not talking about the highest quality ingredients here so i recognize its not sustainable off trail.

when i arrived at fish creek resort i wasted no time ordering a double cheeseburger with large curly fries and a large chocolate milkshake. and the cook, seeing my "state", made everything extra big. consumed in minutes. after this brief meal i conversed with many resort guests who were passing by. when you have a thin layer of trail grease over you, people have a tough time pretending they don't notice you. oregonians, especially those that live in the mountains, seem to know a lot about the pct. a few strangers shared their own pct experiences, big and small, to show their pride for the trail.

one woman, trailname "one step" was hiking bits and pieces of the oregon pct this summer, with her husband offering car support. while her greeting was warm, the topic of conversation quickly took on a tone of fear
she warned me that mt. mcloughlin, which i would climb near tomorrow, was so covered in snow that it had turned back other hikers just the other day she went on to tell that crater lake, a few days away, was buried in six feet of snow. although i could tell her intentions were good, i knew her goal was to put some fear into me. maybe i was too obvious that i wanted to thwart her pessimism when i replied, "six feet of snow is no problem, as i am six foot two."

in all seriousness, snow was definitely on my mind. while i enjoy it for winter sports, it can be a source of anxiety for me on the trail. it boils down to steep icy slopes that can send a hiker downhill and into rocks. i have traveled across quite a bit of it in my travels, sometimes as high as my chest, but it will always be a concern for me, especially traveling alone.

anyhow i went to bed well fed and a little nervous about the upcoming day.