Day 4.
The first order of business, after retrieving our bear bags, was to cut as much line as possible off of his snagged bear bag line, so, I pull it as taut as I can, Greg whips out the knife, and cut the line, and, as it snaps back, the bear bag slips gracefully out of the tree, as if nothing was holding it at all…Huh??? After all our tugging, and pulling, we could not get it to budge, and now this??? Oh, brother…It really was the tree that ate all of Charlie’s kites!!!
All Greg and I could do was look at each other with incredulity, as he wound up the remains of his now severed bear bag line. I was informed that for the remainder of the trip, we would be using mine. Before leaving the lake, I wanted to fill my Camelbak, so I go to the lakes edge, on the snow shelf, to start collecting water.
…all he can hear is, “Cr-r-a-aaaaaaa-a-c-k…YELP!!!!” Somewhere, behind the trees between us, I can hear his head shaking in disbelief…
However, before I trust the crust, I want to make sure it’s solid, so I kick at the edge with my heel, and start breaking off small chunks. About the third kick, I hear a loud crack, and stare in amazement at a 12 foot long fissure that opened up…Behind me. Avoiding a certain dunking, I skedaddle off of the ice, and decide that there might be a better place to get my water for the day. And, once again, I leave Greg wondering what in the world I’m up to now, as all he can hear is, “Cr-r-a-aaaaaaa-a-c-k…YELP!!!!” Somewhere, behind the trees between us, I can hear his head shaking in disbelief.
Once again, it’s a constant slog through snow for most of the day. About fifty feet before reaching Obsidian Falls, I do my own falls, once again…It seemed to me, at the time, anyway, that the snow crust was deep, and would hold my weight, as we were continuing to try and follow the trail up the steep hillside, when I plunged through, falling to my knees on the trail below the snow crust.
Great. I just can’t seem to get through one hike with being a stumble bum…Sigh. Pass the first aid kit, please…
Did I mention that we were near Obsidian Falls? We learned the reason for the name, as it appeared the hillside that the falls plunged down were made of pure obsidian, sparkling darkly in the afternoon sun. Very cool looking, all of that black, shiny, rock, kept gleaming by the constant spray. However, one drawback to obsidian is that it’s basically glass, and cuts just like it. The trail I fell on? Yep, had plenty of obsidian shards in the footpath, that opened my knee right up. Great. I just can’t seem to get through one hike with being a stumble bum…Sigh. Pass the first aid kit, please…
…One of the first questions he asked us, was, “Are your footprints easy to follow?”, and, I thought as I looked down at my size 14, “Well, following these Bigfoot tracks should be easy…”
It was here that we met our first person in over a day, a guy named Erin soloing this part of the PCT. One of the first questions he asked us, was, “Are your footprints easy to follow?”, and, I thought as I looked down at my size 14, “Well, following these Bigfoot tracks should be easy…” we replied more politely with, “yeah, should be…” He had a map, but had been following the footprints in the snow.
We traded notes, and if you’re reading this, Erin, hope you had a great trip!!! After saying our goodbyes, we continued on through some pretty alien terrain, lots and lots of obsidian everywhere, sparkling in the sun like gems. Boulder sized gems. The trail remains hidden, and we continue our trek across snow. When we were planning our trip, all we could do was try to find, mileage wise ,good stopping points for the night, and the point that we had picked for this evening was a place on the map called “Sunshine Shelter”. When the GPS finally said, “this be the spot!”, all we could do was stand in a clearing, and look around at 4 feet of snow on the ground. We saw no shelter, and were dejected…No real clearing to set up tent, and it was in the middle of the forest, so nothing even really to look at.
We drug out the map, and saw that about a mile and a half further up the trail, was a place called Sawyer’s Bar, right next to the lava flow, and a stream for water, called White Branch. We push on to Sawyer Bar, and boy, are we glad we did! It was an island of trees, poking into the lava flow, and under the trees, the sandy soil was bare of snow, flat, and made an excellent place to camp for the night!
…he divebombed me from out of nowhere, almost startling me to the point of losing my grasp on the pack. “Did you see that?” I yelled at Greg. “The little dude made another attempt at my Gel Pack!!”
Once again, as I opened my final Gel pack for the day, I was visited by Hummer, the Hummingbird, and again, he divebombed m from out of nowhere, almost startling me to the point of losing my grasp on the pack. “Did you see that?” I yelled at Greg. “The little dude made another attempt at my Gel Pack!!” It’s possible it was an entirely different hummingbird, but we liked to think it was the same guy, given his penchant for aerial acrobatics.
This routine would continue every day that I opened one of the packs From here, we watched a beautiful sunset, the rays reflecting off of nearby Little Brother mountain, and the lava around us. As this is in part of the Obsidian Limited use area, we (thankfully), had already acquired a limited use entry permit for camping overnight, so we were covered there.
The 46-mile circuit of trails around the third-, fourth- and fifth-highest peaks in the state is one of Oregon’s great multinight backpacking opportunities — and one that gives you plenty of those in-your-face views.
Yes, wish we had more opportunity to hike in Oregon, there are some beautiful places to see! Thanks for the comment!
The trail around Mount Hood is officially impassable at Eliot Creek, so the Three Sisters hike is a good alternative.
Excellent info, thank you for sharing this!
Three night backpack – camp at Camp Creek Trail junction, Moraine Lake, and a little beyond Sisters Spring.
Thanks for the info!