Under the shadow of the Sisters

We abandoned our usual MO of sneaking out of camp early in order to take our new bunk mates Peg and Joe to breakfast at the Elk Lake Lodge.  We had a wonderful time telling stories and getting to know one another.  They live just a few hours from our house and we all decided we should get together sometime after we finish the trail. We finally got back on trail about 11:00 and though it was good to be hiking on a beautiful day after a nice storm, it was a little sad to leave our new friends.

It was a beautiful day!  We walked through woods, meadows and prairies and finally had a good look at the Three Sisters mountain range. After a little climb and a sharp turn through the forest, we saw a little pika sitting on a pile of rocks. It is only the second time I have seen one of these elusive little rodents. As soon as he noticed us he disappeared, but we saw him peek out on the other side when we rounded the rock pile.  That turn put us out on the Wikkiup Plain, a large expanse of bunch grass that extended for miles beneath the shadow of the Southern Sister. 

The school teacher in me was so excited to be crossing a pioneer path; in my imagination I could see the native people’s wikiiups dotting the plain and hear the groan of the wagons and moans of the oxen as the pioneers passed through.  We passed some actual creeks too!  I got to scoop the cool, clear water out with my Sierra Cup, no filtering necessary! 

On the other side of the plain we began to ascend into the mountains again, and were passed by a

group of horsemen (and women) out for a ride. They warned us that there was a swarm of bees on the trail about ½ mile away in a pile of rocks.  After about ten minutes of walking every rock pile held suspicion and we approached cautiously, but each time the area was clear.  Apparently the bees had calmed down after being rousted by those huge animals and were not threatened by us. 

The creek we decided to camp near was almost hidden in a meadow, and the only place to camp right by it was too close to the water source (remember, must be at least 100 feet away) so we scouted about for a good, flat spot.  Snickers found a great one under a small grove of juniper, and we happily set up camp and made dinner.  It was the first time we had my sweet potato hash and I though t it was great, but my husband the carnivore had beef noodle soup instead. When I went back to the stream for water there was a tent pitched about 20 feet from the stream.  It belonged to a pair of local hikers who were out on the Three Sisters Loop trail, which we found out the next day was a very popular (and populated) trail.  We did not admonish them for camping too close to the water, though I felt we ought to have some polite way to talk to people about these breaches in trail etiquette. You never know if it is because they don’t know or they don’t care.  I offered them some of my hash, but being local hikers, not thru hikers, they declined, saying they had just finished a big meal.  That never stops a thru hiker.  We put up the shelter that night just in case of rain, and sure enough, we got a little sprinkling just before we fell asleep.  It might have rained more through the night too, but I never heard a thing. 

Broad meadows, burbling creeks and little lakes dotted the countryside below the watchful Sisters.  I kept getting that Sound of Music feeling, where I just want to throw my arms open wide and sing to the nature around me.  It happens occasionally.  This was one of those days where the feeling was too strong to overcome, but it is not as picturesque with a back pack on. I also usually wait until Snickers is out of sight- open displays of pure joy tend to embarrass him and ruin the moment for me.  I caught up to him in a small forest, tucking in between forest and meadows, when all of a sudden the meadow was interrupted with a cascade of rocks.  The lovely landscape was over taken by a moon landscape, and we were in the lava again.  

We did some hard climbing to get to a ridge, and looking behind us we could see the path of lava stretching into the distance.  There was forest around it and up to it in some places, but the dark red rocks were like a long scar on the land. We met many hikers along the way too- some day hikers, some out for the weekend, and a few thru hikers too.  We even met three south bounders, two of whom had musical instruments strapped to their packs.  What a treat!  They stopped and played for us for just a little while, some lovely, lively blue grass- just what I was hoping for.  The pair of thruhikers we met had decided to try to get to Big Lake Youth Camp by dinner time.  It was nearly noon when we met them and Big Lake was another 25 miles away, over lava and through a burn area.  We wished them well but doubted they would have time to get there before dinner.  A lake called Lava Camp would be our destination for dinner.

Enjoying a picnic lunch and a foot cool down at Mathiau Lake, we met a man who asked us if we could take his picture.  Hiking by himself, he said, he doesn't have many pictures with him in them.  He noticed my two pair of Keens and said something about them.  Turns out he is an executive in the product development area at Keens, and part of his mission in being out on the PCT was to test a new pair. I offered my services if he ever needed anyone to test shoes.  He replied that he couldn't do anything about that, but handed us each a card for a free pair of shoes!  Coolest trail magic yet! 

Snickers and Veggie at Mathiau Lake. :Picture courtesy Tim McGuire, Keens

We arrived at Lava Camp late in the afternoon. Snickers was hoping for a ride into town from there, but the only driver we saw turned us down- his (four passenger) vehicle wasn’t big enough, he said.  There was an outhouse in the campground, but no water spigot.  We scooped and filtered water from the lake and I sat and enjoyed the scenery, ate some snack and made Vitalyte while Snickers visited with the only camper in the place.  I was fully expecting the guy to take off soon, and then I would get in the water and have a nice scrub, but Snickers decided that this was not the place for us to camp, and we were off once again, though rested, watered and ready for a few more miles, sort of.  He got way out on the lava in front of me, and for some reason I got all fearful and had a bad time of it.  The going was difficult, the path really rocky, with sheer drop offs on either side. I called to him and he did not hear me, I gave my mountain chickadee call and he did not answer.  Stopping to have a little cry, I gave myself a peptalk, pulled myself together and marched on.  I was still a little mad at him for leaving the beautiful campground without talking to me about it, but I was no longer freaking out. 

The trail ended in a broad, flat area connecting to a trail head parking lot.  Some wonderful trail angel had placed a shelf containing four big five gallon water jugs in the crossroads of the PCT and the trailhead.  I helped myself to a liter or two and we found a spot to camp, pretty near the road, but flat and comfortable.  We fell asleep under the stars; we didn’t sleep well, the freeway was too noisy. But that gave us several opportunities to watch the slow ark of the quarter moon pass through the sky during the night. Also we had to get up in the middle of the night and stretch the ponchos out over us to keep us dry from the drizzling rain.