August 3-5

Mardon Skipper Butterfly

Rare vista in Oregon.  

Oregon Grape?

What is this tree? It has tiny black berries that our German friends make jam from. 

In the past 2 days we have been walking through the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. Yesterday we walked around A rock climbing area called Pilot Rock. Seemed like it might entail a 3 hour approach to  climb to the base unless there is a road I don't know about

Princess in Forest. 

. Hikers who have done Oregon call it the "green tunnel". There are lots of forests,rolling dry grassy hills, and a few naked looking lakes, no rock or trees bordering them. Nothing much around them. We have shade and the temps still make it into the 80's. It's still humid. The smoke is an added feature that pretty much obscures distant vistas like volcanos and mountains. Long distant visibility is nil. The light resembles that which you see during an eclipse. We do not fear for our lives... yet. FC is reminded of the book, "The Road", by Cormac McCarthy where some kind of catastrophe has occurred and the world is grey and ash falls from the sky.

This is the sun. With smoke. 

     We have been hiking with Princess and Mr. Sandals since Seiad. It's a lot of fun and there is plenty of laughter. We may make it to the finish line with them. They do approximately the same mileage and walk the same pace as we do. 

   We crossed highway 66 a few miles from Fish Lake Resort, and there was a sign put up by the Forest Service alerting us that the PCT was closed due to fires. Princess decided to call them to make sure. Everywhere it's burning and FC is washing her underwear, TC is doing the same, Mr. Sandals is taking photographs while Princess, once again is taking charge eventhough she is not from this country and English is not her first language. She makes our life so much easier because she is so quick to decide on a course of action  and so competent. She has never done the PCT before but she is becoming our personal guide. She could definitely become the  next Governor of California. Mr. Sandals is a quiet, thoughtful man. 

TC's has named this "star spice" cuz it looks like that. It would make the perfect Xmas tree. What is it?

         The other day we hiked down to Klum Campground and lake. The showers were hot and free. The bathrooms had soap and paper towels.this does not happen in California. Only toilets and cold water are provided. Oregon rocks.

1800ile marker. 

       We walked by a sign asking us to stay out of a certain adjacent meadow because a certain butterfly (the Mardon Skipper) was endangered.It likes to hang out in meadows and eat clover. It looks more like a moth because it's body is thick and hairy. The first photo you see in this segment of the blog is that very same butterfly. 

Mt Mcloughlin. Big volcano. 

       We have upped our mileage to 22-25 per day. We se to be able to get that done in 12 hours. We are still too tired and would prefer a 15 mile day but we just wouldn't make it in time. We now have an end date: Sept25-26. Our friends from Canada( Janet and Lory) are going to pick us up In Manning Park and have a surprise for us so we've committed to being finished by a certain date. This is definitely encouraging us to keep the pace up. 

Tiny water hole. Hopefull FC trying to get a dip. She is sinking in muck. Mission aborted. Yuck!

        Today was more of the green tunnel action but we did top out on a beautiful vista which included Mt. Theilsen, also known as "the Lightning Rod of the Cascades. It has been struck by lightning so many times the rock at the top has turned to glass. It is considered a volcanic plug which is comical. Could anything plug an active volcano? Just asking. Imagine trying  to stop that kind of pressure? It's just not an appropriate term. Volcanic remains might be better. We have been traversing through volcanic rock and lava fields. They go on forever and are usually near a volcano. For two days we have been circling Mt. McLoughlin and its prehistoric innards. Not too much farming around here. 

        At the top of that vista view we also saw 3 or 4 more fires that are being put out. This is where a lot of the smoke that has been engulfing is originating from. One entire valley was sending up white smoke. The planes and helicopters have been flying for days. The thunder and lightning storm that we had last night (this time accompanied by rain)probably helped tamp down the fires. It poured on our new tent and we stayed dry as crackers in your mouth. We love our new tent. It was probably designed for the Pacific Northwest. It was an exciting night but we slept through it. Nothing keeps us awake these days. FC did have a few giggles before falling asleep as the sky lit up with light and the ground shook beneath her. 

These flowers look like they been to the beauty salon. 

     Tomorrow we are on our way to Mazama Village. Stay tuned.