Robert Francisco

Destination: Water before Honeymoon
Starting Location: Highway 140
Today’s Miles: 27.40
Trip Miles: 1809.10
Highway 140 (1780.6, 498.4) to Water before Honeymoon (180.8, 6650) ascent (3927) descent (2247)

Being self conscious about my half burned off beard I walked through the forest thinking of solutions. And the forest provided the answer – lichen. I took a big bunch and worked it into my beard – kind of like adding synthetic hair to corn rows. It must have been a huge success based on the number of photos taken once I rejoined the group. On the trail you must be able to improvise. I removed my beard piece and put it in a safe place so I can readily apply in Crater Lake in order to blend in with the summer vacation crowd.
I have been hearing about Bonnie & Sandy for nearly six weeks from Thunder. They hosted him in San Diego, and Sandy’s parents Dick & Irene provided us magic way back at Ebbets Pass. Given we are supposed to meet them today I sought to verify that Bonnie is the woman & Sandy is the guy right? Who is Bonnie, his name is Bonnie Thunder replied and his wife’s name is Sandy. Okay a guy named Bonnie? Finally Sunny helped out and reminded me that our friend from the south island of New Zealand does not pronunciate “R’. And thus I was prepared to meet out trail angels Barney & Sandy.
Not knowing what trail they might hike in on, Thunder took the Sky Lakes Trail & Sunny, Tadpole & I stayed on the PCT. We got it right and thus got the homemade chocolate cookies before Thunder arrived. We are all camped together & will hike into Crater Lake where Barney & Sandy will help us tremendously with our resupply needs.
The trail broke out of the trees today and we had a beautiful ridge walk where we could still view out old friend Mt Shasta. We have been seeing that volcano for nearly 3 weeks now & today should have been our last view. I am going to miss her but falling from view signals northern progress.
Met my first government official on the trail today. It took 1805 miles. Super nice guy monitoring the trail conditions & ensuring forest rule compliance. He commented that they see very few problems with PCT hikers & that made me happy. Didn’t even ask for our permits & sent us on our way with warm wishes for a successful journey.
Met some long distance section hikers today and noted a phenomenon we have seen before. The woman was really beat up with bad blisters and we easily recognized the painful walk. When we asked how far they were going they commented that they “had” to make it to Cascade Locks. We suggested they consider slowing down in order to let her feet heal and they repeated that they had to make ti to Cascade Locks because that was the plan and they needed to hike 21 miles per day to do it. Now we are all obviously goal driven as we head to Canada but these aggressive section hikers seem even more so. Go to Sisters or Timberline Lodge – do 15 miles & enjoy yourselves more. Our group does not have to be to Canada on any particular day & I am really glad about that as we are driven but more flexible. We came to a nice spot and someone suggested we stop. Everyone thought that was a swell idea. About 15 minutes later the injured hiker walked by with 3 more miles to go that she “had” to do.
Foot seemed better today even if only slightly – good sign. I have slowed my pace & am soaking my foot when possible.
Shooter wanted to interview us and so we waited after two hours of hiking. Unfortunately we forget how fast we hike and after waiting 40 minutes we moved on. Rainskirt later told us Shooter turned back after about 5 miles. We had gone nearly 7 miles in two hours before our first break. Hiking machines. We entered Oregon Tuesday (4 days ago with a half day off in Ashland) and we have walked 20% of the state.

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