No wonder I have already almost fallen asleep. In the first half of the day I climbed over 5,000 feet to meet back up with the ODT on top of the Trout Creek Mountains. Tired.

I fell asleep early yesterday and as a result woke about 3am this morning feeling rested. Hmm, a little early, so I laid back down until 4am when I could see a hint of dawn coming. I was walking before the sun popped up, and fortunately, I would need those extra hours of sunshine to get myself up in the mountains.

Good morning

The hiking continued for a few miles on the well maintained dirt road before it was time for me to leave the security of the road and start climbing cross country. There were no trees, and the cross country was pretty easy since there was’t much sagebrush. I had to navigate over and around rock outcroppings, each time thinking I’ve made good progress, only to find I had more to climb and thousands of feet left to climb. I took semi-frequent breaks and continued climbing. Finally almost to the top of it all I took a long lunch break under a stand of trees that had escaped being burned up by a big fire that whipped through here a few years ago. Then for the final push up to the top…and whew, there is a road that runs the length of these mountains, a road on a flat top, almost like a mesa. It reminded me of the CDT last year, it could have easily been in Idaho or Montana.

Once I connected my alternate back up to the trail I took a nice long break. The next few miles would float up on top of the world.

Camp in tucked cowboy style away in some sagebrush. Tired.

I slept better last night, but my desire to camp perched on a cliff meant a windy night. The tarp flapped, flapped away. Still worth it.

I had looked up the weather, and it was forcasted to be a clear, dry week! I really am lucking out with the weather. As I wound my way down the cliffs to the open range land below I had a slight breeze, and the temps were quite pleasent. I was a long dirt road walk into town, but in those moments I like to pull out a podcast and give my brain something to chew on. Before I knew it I was in town.

Coming out of the mountains

I went to the Ideal Market to retreive my box and get a few suppies, then headed over to the Say When Casino to have lunch at the cafe. A fried chicken sandwich and slice of apple pie later, I picked up my things and headed over to a picnic table I had seen down the street at the Library.

The library isn’t open on Fridays, but the table was shaded, there appeared to be a plug so I could charge the electronics, and a spigot on the front of the building was on. Score!

I spent some time repacking and reshuffling, did a little reading, a little laying around on the grass, and finally about 2:30 decided to head out. I had hiked 10 miles this morning, and I would be happy with another 5-10. It was another road walk out of town, but it was a treat to be walking towards the mountains and wondering what my “alternate” route would be like. Already this side of the valley seemed dryer. I have 5 days of food and 5 liters of water…all that adds up to a HEAVY pack, and it looked like a lot of the next 20 miles would be climbing up into the Trout Creek mountains. So worth it.

I made my way up into the foot hills, and found a spot tucked into a sagebrush ravine. There are a few cars about, I saw a sign on my way in about rock hounding…maybe I’ll find a rare and beautiful stone while I am out here!

My legs are aching. The first week or two of a long hike there is always some pain…it’s just that since I’m only doing 300 miles I’ll be done just as my body is getting used to it.

Well, starting off the hike with some miles! Sometimes I forget that winter makes my feet soft, but I think I did pretty good today.

I woke up when the sun just started over the side of the canyon. Mike was up already and had made the group coffee. Very nice way to start the day! We had a campfire and the group ate their breakfast around the ring, talking about the day. Soon I was packed up and the group saw me off. First up was to cross West Little Owyhee, which we had driven over last night, so I had my chacos on and splashed through the water while the others waved goodbye.

The morning was clear and I enjoyed the easy walking on a variety of roads. The way dipped in and out of little canyons, and everything had water. There was much much more water than was referenced on the ODT maps. With all this water were wildflowers. I had really hit this section at the perfect time.

Soon I started some cross country sections, and while the navigation was pretty straight forward, the sagebrush and rocks everywhere made for some deliberate walking. To not pay attention would be to twist an ankle or fall, which I only managed to do once today.

I didn’t really pay attention to my pace, but stopped when I was tired for breaks. I can feel the ache of a first long day of a hike, plus I didn’t sleep well last night.

There's ticks! So the long gaiters go on.

Regardless I enjoyed the day, and marveled that there was still snow in the Little West Owyhee canyon. Beautiful!

I started on an alternate that will take me right into McDermitt, and found the perfect perch on the side of a series of cliffs. One of my top campsites for sure.

Traffic jam

I woke early. It was time to head to the trail! Out the door by 7am, I first drove from Bend to Frenchglen to drop off one of my resupply packages at the Steens Mountain Resort where I had rented a cabin in just about 2 weeks time. I had been in touch with Debbie there, and she was very willing to help out and she will be a great resource for hikers to come. The Frenchglen Hotel is a popular place to stay, and serves great meals, but I had been too late in calling them about availability, I’m hoping I’ll be able to have a meal there, but those get reserved fast too!

Next I drove to Fields, which is a one-stop shop kind of place, and unfortunately their rooms had been booked too, but Sandy who owns the store is letting me drop off a resupply box there. I could have completely resupplied from the store, and they have a grill to I plan on visiting when I hike back through. I did get one of their famous milkshakes though.

The snowy Steens

Next up was McDermitt, which lies just over the state border in Nevada. I went to the Ideal Market, really the only game in town, and had a good chat with Ken and Deva who own the place. Ken even remembered Sage, the first ODT hiker, from when she hiked through 3 years ago. VERY friendly folks and more than willing to help hikers out.

It was at the ideal market that I met up with the ONDA crew. I was driving a work truck out to meet up with a volunteer crew that would be heading to the Little Owyhee for a few days of inventoring, so I would be able to leave the truck with them for someone to drive back to Bend after the weekend, while I hike out tomorrow.

It’s a real treat to get to hang out with these folks tonight, in fact I met Pace again, a PCT thru-hiker I had met in February at an ALDHA-WEST hiking event in Cascade Locks. Small world that he is on the ONDA trip! Lots of questions about the hike and the route, and we all sat around a fire enjoying the dry evening. It has been a very wet spring, in fact there are still patches of snow out here, and it literally snowed over most of this area just last week. As fortune will have it, the temps look to be warming and the skies clearing, at least for the next week. I’m so excited to be out here, and will be hiking tomorrow!

Camp