By not setting my alarm last night, I had pretty much ruled out the option to hike another 35+ mile day to make it to the Flat Iron Rock trailhead by tonight. Yesterday I was driven to see what my limits were, what could I do in a day, and I was happy to have made the miles! If I was on the other side of the state, not within 30 minutes of home, I would have done what I needed to do and gotten up early, but I was close to Kirk and Bend, so sent him a message asking him to meet me at a road crossing about 25 miles ahead. 25 miles is still more than I’ve done the other days I’ve been out here.

I took my time getting going, and it was devine. I’ve been hiking my perfect kind of days out here. No alarm, coffee – unrushed. Maybe a bit of reading or blogging in the morning, then walking…stopping every 2 hours for a break, longer at lunch – with nap of course! In camp by 6ish (now that it gets dark at 7:30…Later in the summer is fine). Some dinner, chores, and reading before hiker midnight at about 8pm. At least that’s how I’ve been rolling lately.

I started walking in the pine forest…it was a calm morning and I saw no people at all. I was now in the Deschutes National Forest, and the route through here sticks to the roads. There were cows about, and that meant some water troughs still had water! I even came across a wildlife guzzler with water.

It was a fairly uneventful day, but at lunch I stopped in the shade of some trees only to have a swarm of bees descend on me. I packed up and moved on, only to have it happen again.

By mid afternoon I was climbing the southside of Pine Mountain. It was hot again, and so dusty I was covered in dirt, especially where I was sweating. Blah.

There was a small fire here this summer

I made to the observatory where Mark, the manager there, had let me cache water a few weeks before. I retrieved my gallon, filled up water containers, strapped the empty bottle to my pack, and continued down the north side of the mountain.

The old road was steep to get back to the sea of sagebrush below, but finally I was down and within site of the road where Kirk would pick me up.

Just as I was sliding under the last fence and walking down to the road he pulls up! What great timing!

Mt Jefferson ghosting in the background

We then drove to the Flatiron rock trailhead and hung out for a few hours. He brought burritos, water and beer. What a man! I had skipped 13 miles of the trail to get here for my hike with the reporter in the morning, but it will be easy to come back and knock out these miles sometime soon. I’m section hiking anyway…works great!

One more day in this section. 

I woke up around 2:30am as has become habit…usually for the call of nature or something, and it was taking me awhile to get back to sleep so I started messing around on my phone. Later as I was trying to get back to sleep i picked it back up again to survey my last three days of hiking when I realized with a start there were too many miles. Too many miles to hike in 3 days!

I had arranged to be at the Flat Iron Rock trailhead in the Badlands on my final morning to meet a reporter interested in the trail. He was going to hike the last section with me, but almost 80 miles lay between me and the 2 days I had to get there. ^!&$^#& How had that happened?? A small miss calculation in miles when I was planning back in the office…everything was set so I hadn’t even looked ahead.

Ok, time to figure it out. I started to see a couple of options: 1) hike 2 35-40 mile days to be there in time (no matter I’ve only hiked 37 miles once before…3 months into my CDT hike last year when I was in great shape). 2) have Kirk pick me up wherever I ended and take me to the trailhead the night before (he was already planning to come out and bring dinner the night before my meeting anyway). 3) hike as much as I could over the 2 days, and get up really early the day of my meeting and try and finish the rest before the final 9 mile hike.

Ok, I had options, but either way I needed to start hiking NOW. I packed up..my room had been a yard sale of stuff, my resupply still in the shopping bags. I made some coffee and went to work. By 4:30am I was ready.

I put on my down jacket, hat, mittens, headlamp, and headed out. I was on roads, paved then dirt. The stars were amazing, I saw the Milky Way and a shooting star before the road got uneven and I had to turn on my headlamp.

Just under 2 hours later the sun came out. Not a terrible way to start the day I suppose… I took a breakfast break, switched shoes and started heading cross country towards Crack in the Ground. So cool! A 2-mile crack you could walk through. I think this will be a popular alternate.

Then I walked, and walked, and walked. By noon my legs needed a break. I was by the East Lava Flow, a wilderness study area, and I had already made 20 miles! I treated myself to an hour break, popped some Ibprophen, and lay down for a while. Times up. More walking walking walking. I played some podcasts to keep my mind off the miles ahead. More cross country, more old roads.

Walking, and more walking. By evening my legs ached and feet felt the pounding of the long miles. Keep going! My goal was to get to one of my water caches where I had also left myself a beer. A beer! That became my carrot. And the water of course. I had left Christmas Valley with 7 liters of water. 7! That’s 15 extra pounds on my back for this task!! Turns out 2 water sources had water…but I didn’t know that before and couldn’t have counted on them, cause if they didn’t that would have been a long dry stretch…and it was bloody hot.

Walking, walking, walking. The sun set. I was still walking, although I was getting close!

Finally at about 7:30 and 15 hours later, I got to my cache. The beer tasted like success. My first 40 miler!!!! I don’t think I’ll do that again any time soon. 

​I took a slow morning today. I didn’t set up my tarp and the night had been clear. But all the recent rain left me covered in dew even though I camped beneath a tree…camping beneath trees will often help keep you drier than out in the open. I dried out sleeping bag, finished the book I had picked up in Paisley and sipped coffee.

I walked cross country toward the Black Hills just south of Christmas Valley, and stopped by a few reservoirs that were on the map, curious if they had any water. Nope…and once I got near the cool rocky spot, hooked up with a dirt road that finally turned for a direct shot at town. 

It was a 4 mile straight road…which can often feel longer, but I finally rolled up about lunch time, and headed straight for the Pine Cafe where I had a ruben and a chocolate shake. Mmmm. That out of the way I did my resupply next door at the Sagewood grocery and headed over to the Desert Inn Motel. Only $45 for a room!

I spent the rest of the day chillaxing.

I’m planning my route north of here, and could be a 40ish mile water carry. We’ll see…I’m checking out some water sources, but the reality is I’m not sure so will probably walk out of here with at least 7 liters. Ouch. But that’s what you gotta do in the desert sometimes! 

​It rained off and on all night, and then the wind changed direction. I had been deliberately tucked in the sagebrush and behind a slight rise in the terrain to block the wind. Then it changed, and although it blew away the clouds I was left with the flap flapping of my tarp the rest of the night.

It was a quick climb up to the rim, and, wow. Wowowowow.

I would be walking the whole rim and beyond today. What a view!

My poor words can’t describe how amazing the walk was.

I made some friends along the way.

And climbed Diablo Peak.

By early afternoon I was off the rim and looking back at where I had come.

But I still walked, and by the end of the day could barely see the top of the peak I had climbed. Just incredible.

Late afternoon I left the ODT route for another alternate of my own creation, this time to walk in and out of Christmas Valley. I will get there tomorrow to resupply, eat a meal or two, and have a stay at the Desert Inn Motel.

I had dropped some water in an awkward spot since I didn’t make it all the way in to where I had wanted on my caching run 2 weeks ago, so ended up walking there instead of the route I had scoped out on Google earth. No matter, it will work as well!

I INHALED my mac and cheese with added tuna packet and am hoping the sky will cooperate so I can cowboy camp tonight.

My legs and feet are feeling the half day of cross country in rugged terrain. Ouch.

​It did rain last night, which was quite fitting as I realized that with the change in the weather came the change of the seasons! Today is the first day of fall, and as I finished packing up my camp this morning, looked over to see snow on winter ridge above summer lake. Goodbye summer!

As the sky was heavy and dark, and was supposed to be so all day and tonight, I decided to only hike to the edge of the Diablo Rim instead of over it, which would make for a much too long of a day, and too much exposure for a forcast that included wind gusts up to 30mph.

Despite the threat of rain, I was dry most of the walk. The clouds and shadows that covered the land were beautiful, and I very much enjoyed the hike.

I had lunch at a dry waterhole on my climb up to the rim, but it was at the next water source that I found incredible views. First, there was still some muddy brown water at the Inter Mountain waterhole, and the dried out earth around it was flat and white…which glowed as the sun breifly hit it, with dark dark clouds in the distance creating incredible contrast. Wow.

I only hiked a little further and stopped early in the afternoon. Soon after I set up my tarp (a MUCH better pitch than yesterday) the rain started, and I burrowed in my sleeping bag content to read all afternoon.

I’m excited for a clear forcast tomorrow and a walk along the top of the desert.

​Even though I’m in a dark room, I still wake at 6:30 like clockwork. I make a pot of coffee and start going through my gear and making a list of what to do today: resupply, laundry, post office, library, watch more TV until check out time, and connect with Nikki and Adrian when they hike through town!

I get the resupply done first, and I’m feeling daring so I choose a can of ravioli to pack out. Not ultralight!

I fail to find anything interesting on TV, yet again reminding me why I don’t have a TV at home.

I get through some of my other chores and the 2 hikers roll in about lunch time, so we head to the Homestead to eat. I’m excited to hear about their trip! They’ve seen wild horses, what they think are big horned sheep, and almost no people, and it’s exactly what they were hoping for. It’s great to share stories of what lies ahead for us in different directions,  and I’m still amazed this is Adrian’s first thru-hike.

After lunch I do laundry and stop by the library. I pick up another book to read on the trail…a paperback of course, and finally walk out of town about 3pm. The first miles north of town are a long road walk, but it’s beautiful out, and don’t mind at all.

I’m tucked into some sagebrush for the night. Rain is in the forcast for the first time on the trip…or the summer. This might take the edge off fire season. It’s supposed to be rainy tomorrow too, so I might stop short of Diablo Rim which is quite exposed…save that for the next day when it should be clear skies again.

The ground is all sand and I have trouble setting up the tarp. The wind keeps blowing hard enough to yank my stakes out of the ground, so I tried to tie off to sagebrush. It’s a contorted affair, but I think I’ll stay dry tonight.

Whatever smoke there had been the night before had cleared out of the canyon, but I could still see something billowing out of the west. Clouds? Smoke? I figured I’d find out more in town.

I had 8 miles to walk into Paisley where I planned to spend the night. I had both biked and packrafted this section before along the Chewaucan River, and think it’s one of the loveliest canyons around. There are plenty of camp spots along the river, and the fall colors gave everything a shiny edge to it.

It was a quiet morning and was passed by a few campers and trailers. Closer to town I passed the site of the Withers fire which had scorched a section of the canyon.

Towns are really pretty close in this section…I would never have to carry more than 3 days of food, what a luxury!

I had been to Paisley a bunch of times this year, and was looking forward to the stay. It’s a small town, and everything a hiker would need is just a few blocks from eachother. I would be staying at the Sage Rooms hotel, but another option would be the Summer Lake Hotsprings just 6 miles north of town. There are beautiful cabins you can rent with radiant floor heating, or you can camp…and soak of course! I’ve done both before and wanted to try out the Sage Rooms and experience all the options.

I walked into town and headed to the Homestead Cafe where I polished off a chicken friend steak. Next I headed over to the Paisley Mercantile to pick up a package with the next section of maps I had dropped off when I was caching water. Ralph, the owner, is very helpful, and set up Nikki & Adrian with a place to park their car since they need to take a few days off from the trail to go to a wedding.

Apparently no one knew anything about a fire, and it was suggested it might have been a huge dust storm from Summer Lake. I was doubtful since I had smelled fire, but couldn’t find anything online about it either. Strange.

I walked across the street to the park where I sat in the sun and chatted with my good friend Allgood for a while. He had just finished his CDT thru-hike this year. I took him to the CDT kickoff this spring and passed on the CDTC ambassadorship to him after my hike last year. It was great to hear his stories, and also talk about the gathering coming up next week where I’ll be getting my triple crown!

Next up was the Pioneer Saloon where I had a beer and just happened to meet Terry, an ONDA member who will be on a stewardship trip with me in a few weeks! We talked trail, and also had the attention of some endurance motorcyclists riding dirt roads across the desert. John the owner of the Saloon, and Ralph at the Mercantile, have hung ODT posters up, and it was awesome to see the recognition of folks in town…oh, you’re hiking the trail!

I then headed over to my room, a cozy and spacious spot. After a shower I went back to the store and rented a few movies to watch on the DVD player in my room.

A pizza at the Saloon later, and I was ready to call it a night. What a great stay. Tomorrow, town chores.

​Another warm night, another night I wore my sleeping bag like a blanket. In 7 nights I have cowboy camped every night.

I was short on water again, having dry camped without picking up extra water at the last water source yesterday, but I made coffee and ate gronola with powdered milk anyway. I’ll have a few sips of water to get me to my next source…which if all goes well, is just 2 miles more down the trail. The first fall hiker last year didn’t find much water out here, but so many of the sources have been running for me that I’m starting to count on them.

Oh no…while writing this at the end of the day the air is suddenly filled with smoke…I looked up from my phone, and I’m totally surrounded by smoke. I am trying not to freak out….I don’t have reception where I am, so fired up my Delorum inreach to text kirk to see if he can tell me more. To freak out or not to freak out…

I ate lunch on Morgan Butte,  an active fire tower in the Fremont. The view was amazing and there was definitely no fire then. I didn’t talk to the lookout guy because it looked like he was busy, so just stopped to take photos. I definitely thought we were lucky to have no big fires out here this year. There have been a few little ones, just outside Paisley in fact…

I have been extremely careful with my cooking…no woodburning stove for me on this trip as they are banned due to extreme fire danger. In fact when I was caching water I wasn’t able to drive in as far as I would have liked because there were restrictions on driving on dirt roads where there are tall grasses…fire danger is no joke out here.

Before the smoke

I moved my camp to the gravel parking lot near the river….of all the places to be this is a pretty safe place. Let’s hope it’s far away and is put out quickly.

I can’t remember what happened today now. Doesn’t seem important. I’m 8 miles from Paisley, camping at Chewaucan Crossing. 

It was warm last night and didn’t even have my sleeping bag zipped the whole way. I didn’t have a lot of water left, so made a short cup of coffee and passed up my gronola for a bar.

I was back to walking the road, not quite sure of how many miles it would take to reach the trail again.

Fortunately the next creek was running, so I stopped to fill up. A few more water sources ahead were flowing too, and I could see cows pasturing in a meadow below. 

I finally found the trail again after about 10 miles. I was nice to be back on the Fremont NRT, and after talking with Alan started making notes of what trail work could be done next year. There weren’t too many obstacles, but the tread could use some drainages and brushing. Later in the afternoon whole sections of trail were being overcome with grasses, and I could see how satisfying it would be to come back with some loppers, a polaski and a rake. Pine needles were inches thick on the trail and with a little TLC we could have the route looking good.

I wound in and out of the forest and mid-afternoon was rewarded with an amazing view of Abert Rim where I had been just a few days ago. It was stunning. And I was joined by some curious pronghorn who watched me for quite a while.

I was feeling low on energy later in the afternoon and stopped near a meadow that just barely has a view to the east. In a few days I’ll be back in the desert with no trees, so better soak them up while I can!

I slept great on Alan and Erin’s couch and even had their dog Junior join me in the middle of the night. Erin had to go to work, so I took Alan out to breakfast at the Green Mountain Bakery. Mmmmm, a huge plate of bacon and cheese omlette, hash browns and toast later, I knew my stomach would be full for most of the day. I headed over to Safeway to resupply for the next few days to Paisley, and soon was ready to start my road walk out of town.

Hikertrash resupply

Now I had been able to string together a great route to get me to town, but the Warner Valley is wide enough that there would be a big chunk of road walking no matter how I decided to go. The orginal route passes about 8.5 miles north of town, and I could have just walked the highway, but didn’t want to do that, so pieced together some roads to get me back on Forest Service land in 13 miles…it would be another 15 or so to meet back up with the ODT at waypoint 103. All in all I think the alternate route is about 56 miles as opposed to 21 miles plus a 8.5 mile hitch into town for resupply. I just want to give people options, and I think Lakeview is an awesome stop. There is a hotspring hotel, Safeway, restaurants, stores, museums, a great library…just big enough to have options but small enough to be able to walk around easily. AND it’s the biggest trail town after Bend on the route.

I took a break at the Forest Service boundary, talked to Kirk on my phone, read a bit of a book Cam and Christine had given me, and finally got back on the road about 3:30. Since it is hunting season I expected to see people… especially since it was a Saturday, but the dirt roads were empty, and I had the forest all to myself.

I finally pulled over when my feet were starting to ache. I have the start of a blister on my left foot, the first of the trip! Pretty impressive for my feet.

Not sure how many miles back to the trail…I’m guessing 6-7. We’ll see!