Day 118, 2,000 Miles!

Part 4, Oregon, Day 118

2,000 Miles!

Miles: 27.67

Total Miles: 2024.85

I slept pretty good and woke up around 5:30, but I was too tired to get cracking. I forced myself to get going and was hiking by 6:45am. I hiked through an exposed burn section for much of the morning, and I crossed a highway at Santiam Pass.

I crossed into a new wilderness.

The trail went uphill for many miles through this burn area. 

I came upon a huge milestone and found this marker:

I can tell you that the last 2,000 miles had been a real adventure, though I have t had time to fully process it. It's very exciting. Only 660 miles to go!

The morning was filled with smoke and the smell of fire. I thought new fires might be around since the smoke was blanketing the hills and valleys. 

I reached the top of the first climb and began seeing views of Three Fingered Jack through the smoke.

The other side looked much better.

What a badass mountain.

Here's Three Fingered Jack and Five Fingered Brett. Just a couple of dudes... Out on the trail.

The miles went by slowly today. I have a heavy pack with 9 days of food, and it's mostly uphill today, and the air is hot and filled with smoke. I don't know. I just wasn't crushing the miles. I'm tired.

I walked through another exposed burn area.

In the Morning, Mt. Jefferson was clouded over, but it looked like he was coming out to play.

I met hikers who were turning back due to the smoke. The wind was actually carrying the smoke away South though. I got water at Rock Lake.

I met a hiker named Tent Fire here. She almost burned her tent down in the desert. We discussed the imminent storm as the clouds began to darken quick.

Here's a look behind me at the storm.

The thunder and lightning started and the rain followed, and after that hail. It either rained or hailed for the next 4 hours. It was a massive storm and very exciting. I finally got some great views of Mt. Jefferson.

I love this mountain.

It rained hard for a bit so I hiked fast. I was headed about 7 miles to a creek to camp, all downhill. It seemed to take forever. I was dead tired.

The path followed a deep forest. 

I finally hit Milk Creek after what seemed like forever. I was done. My body was done. It started raining again.

Had to backtrack into the woods to set up my tent with some shelter from the  rain. 

I'm taking it a bit easy tomorrow afternoon and will make an off-trail stop. I still have to hike about 18 miles to get there though. Did I mention I'm tired?