Now at 1,600 miles with 450 Oregon PCT miles complete!
From Ashland to Cascade Locks, battling snow, heat, long water carries, tree blowdowns, and mosquitos. But the pay-off was gorgeous Cascade views and weekends with friends and family in Bend.
“Help!”
That’s all I manage to blurt out to KarMMa as the log I’m climbing rolls and I lose my balance. I’m four feet above the ground, crossing the 200th blowdown of the day, when I fall backward, landing on my backpack, my legs sticking straight into the air. I don’t feel any pain but worry about my pack. What if the fall punctured my two water bottles? For the past few hours we’ve labored with five forces: downed trees, scarce water, heat, snow, and swarming mosquitos.
As I roll over and squirm to my feet— all body and backpack parts intact— KarMMa doubles back to me.
“You ok? Maybe this is a good time to get more water?” pointing to the unexpected snowmelt pond behind me.
Eager for a break from today’s CrossFit session, I filter two liters of water. But I’m still out of sorts when I transfer water from one of my bottles to KarMMa’s. She offers feedback on how to pour water from one narrow bottle to another without spilling. I have filtered approximately 3,200 liters of water since March 25th, so I’m NOT open to feedback. When KarMMa says, “Let me do it,” I react like a two-year-old, yelling, “NO!” as I inadvertently knock over the bottle, losing half a liter.
At that moment, the phrase “Don’t be shitty when it’s shitty” rings in my head, shutting down whatever stupid response is about to roll off my tongue. Two hours later, when we set up camp in a quasi-mosquito-free site with a dramatic view of the Oregon Cascades, I have largely recovered.
I start with the worst that Oregon offered to balance the very good we found along its 450 miles. We’ve now completed the Oregon PCT, bringing our total journey to four months and 1,600 miles. The Oregon PCT was a very different experience given Bend friends and family picked us up each weekend and deposited us in the air-conditioned sanctity of our Bend House. Luxury!
Some highlights:
We finished the Oregon Coast Trail on June 12th and Grammy Pat delivered us to Seth and Annie Meyer’s house in Ashland. We loved Ashland’s hippy chic fashions, “trustafarians”, gorgeous parks, abundant restaurants, Oggy’s Hazy IPA from the Great Notion Brewery, and rich theater life.
Our plan was to restart the PCT in Old Station (just north of Mt. Lassen) but we decided to let the snow melt another week. So we hiked 100 miles out and back on the Rogue River Trail just north of Ashland. There was lots of steep hiking above the river and two nights in the gorgeous Paradise Lodge— near the end of the trail and accessible only by foot or boat. Then we doubled-back to the start where Seth Meyer picked us up.
A view of the Rogue River from the narrow trail a few hundred feet above it:
Upon our return to Ashland we faced the rare instance of our two daughters (Kelsey (27) and Brit (25)) asking us to spend time with them over the 4th of July weekend in Bend (!?). Looking at a map, we realized that if we rejoined the PCT in Ashland we could make this happen, then attend a friend’s wedding in Bend two weeks later.
The approach to Crater Lake was tougher for KarMMa than me— there tends to be a conservation of shittiness so that when one of us is down, the other stays up. As KarMMa said, “I can handle mosquitos, snow or blowdowns but not all three at once.” But when we finally arrived at Crater Lake it was fun to have a bonfire with the twenty-something hikers in the Mazama campground and to do a quick lake photo tour with Kelsey and her boyfriend Ruchit.
Our approach to the PCT has been to “Just Keep Hiking” so I was apprehensive about going home after three months on the trail. But the five day weekend was lots of fun with all four Biddle-Hege’s in the same place at the same time. We hosted two dinners, went to book club (“Less”), floated the river twice, and even hosted trail magic by the river, courtesy of Trail Angel Dave Jablons who shipped us fresh bagels and cheese.
Here’s our family plus Ruchit and Helen in Bend:
We re-joined the trail at Shelter Cove, courtesy of Trail Angels Doug and Teri. The highlight of this 50-mile Oregon section were daily lake swims (when we could avoid the mosquitos). Trail Angel Christy picked us up at Elk Lake, delivered us home, then took us back to the trail the next morning. It’s good to have friends!
The highlight of the approach to Mt. Hood were serial 20-mile-plus days with three days circumnavigating Mt. Jefferson. Jefferson is gorgeous from every angle.
KarMMa, coffee, the infamous one-pound chair, and a glacial stream flowing from Mt. Jefferson:
Halfway between Mt. Jefferson and Mt. Hood— near Olallie Lake— we noticed a “Mini Trail Magic” sign. We equivocated on whether to head a half-mile off the trail, but after four months, we’ve learned to lean in. As KarMMa stopped halfway I urged her on: “We’re explorers, let’s explore.” It was worth it: Trail Angel Cheryl Moody hosted us to Margaritas and Starlink internet access from her decked-out Sprinter van. She even rented a forest cabin next door, so we slept there. We awoke to homemade strawberry rhubarb pie from Cheryl’s garden. Luxury! If this is “mini magic” we can’t wait to discover what happens when Cheryl hosts “full” trail magic.
Trail Magic with Cheryl:
The approach to Mt Hood was lots of work with back-to-back 26 and 23-mile days to make it to dinner at Timberline Lodge in time for a Thursday night birthday dinner with trail angels Kit (the birthday girl!) and Stuart, who took us back to Bend to attend Doug and Teri’s wedding— a riverside picnic in Bend on Friday followed by a wedding reception at Worthy Brewing on Saturday.
Kit’s 65th birthday dinner at Timberline Lodge:
Duncan, a twenty-five year-old who lives in our house and refers to himself as our “house chief of staff” (he ships our resupply boxes and coordinates guest visits) drove us back to Timberline on Sunday morning and we crossed the Washington border by early Tuesday morning. The highlight of this section was Eagle Creek with its gorgeous falls, dramatic punchbowls, and a cliffside tunnel that passes behind one waterfall.
Here’s the tunnel thru Metlako Falls. The hiker is “Hangry”:
We spent the night in White Salmon with Trail Angels Dick and Sally Huey who took us to a seven-course dinner at a pop-up restaurant above the Gorge. It was a worthy celebration now that we are Oregon Double-Crowners. Seven courses is about right for our high caloric needs. Yummy!
If not clear, we’ve taken our “luxury light” thru-hiking to a new level with the many local friends, family and trail angels in our new home state. Many thanks to all!
Reflections
Our bodies have adapted well. I have lost 15 pounds and while having a toned, sixty-one year-old dad freaked Brit out— “your arms are skinny!”— my weight loss is healthy. My feet are bigger— size 11– and appear to have grown new blood vessels. KarMMa has lost a few pounds and her feet are doing well, too.
We’re both more flexible and adaptable, and each of our pivots requires less time for debate. Some of our craziest decisions— hiking the Oregon Trail from north to south to let the snow melt— are now highlights of our trip. Our weeklong Rogue River trail required no more than an hour of planning and prep. When we followed Google Maps to the Rogue River trailhead and discovered a road closure KarMMa and I collectively shrugged our shoulders and hiked the extra five miles in. No problem.
We don’t bicker about pack weight as much as we used to. We split our base weight 50/50 so each of our backpacks weighs 14.5 pounds without water and food. When we add food to the mix— three pounds for each day— KarMMa takes all the freeze-dried meals and breakfasts while I take the lunches and most of the snacks. The result: My pack is typically 4-5 pounds heavier than hers. When we head out on a six-day food carry, my pack with food and water is 28 pounds while KarMMa’s is 23.
Our next big weight saving opportunities are two new Atom packs we have on order, saving us each an additional two pounds in base weight, as we go from 3.5 pound to 1.5 pound ultra-light packs. The weight of our packs is included in our base weight, so this is a dramatic improvement. For Christmas, I’m hoping Santa will give me a down quilt, saving an additional six ounces for next summer’s journey. (I promise to be good and not whine about weight.)
We are now capable of doing back-to-back twenty-mile-plus days but are holding ourselves in check. We have watched lots of folks ramp up the pace in the semi-flats of Oregon, lose body weight, then hit the wall as they try to maintain that same pace in the big ups-and-downs of Washington. The result of increasing miles and poor nutrition: overuse injuries. Eighteen to twenty-mile days is a good compromise for us. We’re sixty dammit.
While we were worried about returning home and losing both our momentum and conditioning, the weekend trips to Bend were lots of fun, plus they gave us time for rest and recovery. But as much as I hoped to write essays on my very own computer, friends, family and “life maintenance” (paying bills, fixing sprinkler systems, etc.) came first. PCT hikers refer to “getting vortexed” by trail towns — causing them to return to the trail late and hungover. My writing got vortexed by different forces.
What’s next?
I’m finally writing this essay on my iPhone while cowboy camping in Trout Lake, WA, 85 miles into Washington’s 550 PCT miles. We’ve received entry permits to cross the Canadian border around August 22nd. Then it’s back to Bend to reset our gear before we return to California where we will fill in our now snow-free PCT gaps. We plan to hike through most of September and will return to San Jacinto (near Palm Springs) in October when things finally cool down there.
By the late fall, we will have hiked 2,650 miles over six months but with our Oregon Coast Trail and Rogue River “bonus hikes” we’ll need to return to the High Sierra in 2024 to complete the entire PCT. We plan to do this with our new Canadian friends Luc and Lucie, though reports suggest they’ll need to train all winter to keep up with us on both the luxury and light fronts!
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Happy Trails!
Pudding and KarMMa
(Gib and Kristen)
PS. For more photos, you can follow us here:
PPS. If you want a best guess of where we will be when, or to see the crazy spreadsheet that powers our PCT resupplies, click here.
For the record, amongst blowdowns, snow and mosquitoes, I can handle 2 of the 3 concurrently, but not all 3 at the same time.
For the RECORD, you 2 ARE JUST soooooooooo darned amazing how you navigate EVERYTHING so beautifully. You are inspiring MANY people and I am leaning into all that you share. Thank you for sharing all of these fabulous details!