This is Day 2 of my Pacific Crest Trail Report. (Day 1 was: http://www.portlandhikers.org/forum/vie ... f=8&t=5685)
We started Day 2 on the Sandy River after spending the night at the Rushingwater Creek campground. The weather was absolutely great!
Spending the night and waiting for morning turned out to be a good idea, because the water was going over these logs when we decided not to cross during the previous evening.
We hit Ramona Falls during the morning. That was pretty neat to see, and I don't think any of the pictures that we took or any of the pictures that I've seen on the Internet really do it as much justice as it deserves!
After Ramona Falls, we hiked up Bald Mountain, which really wore me down. It was hot and steep and I felt like all my conditioning hikes with the extra heavy bag did not help at all. Fortunately, we made it to the top (no thanks to me slowing the team down) and after a short rest and some flat ground, we were burning up the miles down the hill to Lolo Pass, where we didn't find any water! So, we decided to keep going to the next water source beyond the power lines on the way through Bull Run...
...when we encountered a mighty cougar!! (not the actual photo, of course, but I couldn't post about something as awesome as seeing a cougar without any visuals!). As we were crossing the clearing through the power lines, we saw movement to our right (west) and I immediately thought "deer", but then, when my eyes caught it, I was looking at the muscled out back end and tail of a cougar. Fortunately, it was headed in the right direction--away. Anyway, it was still awesome seeing one!
Anyway, about 2 miles North of Lolo Pass, you will run into Mosquito Nirvana. You will be swarmed by squadrons of aggressive, kamikaze mosquitoes. You will want sleeves and mosquito repellent. They are insane. Fortunately, they were not that interested in biting, but they had a knack for buzzing around your ears. Unfortunately, we couldn't get out of them, so we spent the night with them at Salvation Springs campground.
15 miles in one day, not too bad for my first backpacking trip!
Here's my full blog entry about Day 2 with additional pictures and videos if anyone is interested:
JkbWorld: Backpacking the Oregon Pacific Crest Trail: Day 2
PCT Timberline to Eagle Creek - Day 2 (7/26)
Re: PCT Timberline to Eagle Creek - Day 2 (7/26)
This is a fun report. Keep it coming. Cool that you got to see a cougar (I think).
- Splintercat
- Posts: 8328
- Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:03 pm
- Location: Portland
- Contact:
Re: PCT Timberline to Eagle Creek - Day 2 (7/26)
Wow! Cool that you saw a cougar -- something I hope to see someday, albeit with 43 years of hiking in Oregon and no luck so far... I did see a Lynx, once... but still want to see the baddest of the bad cats... from a respectable distance...
How was the narrow slide section along the approach to the Muddy Fork? I haven't seen much about that lately...
Great report, looking forward to the finale!
-Tom
How was the narrow slide section along the approach to the Muddy Fork? I haven't seen much about that lately...
Great report, looking forward to the finale!
-Tom
Re: PCT Timberline to Eagle Creek - Day 2 (7/26)
We took the Ramona Falls trail from the PCT to Ramona Falls and then followed it around to meet up with the PCT before the Muddy Fork. If I recall correctly, the trail wound through some thick trees and then there was a thick tree trunk bridge across a muddy stream, which I am pretty sure was the Muddy Fork, which we crossed it without any issues. In fact, my buddy uses the Stick-Pic, so he can make cool Survivorman videos, and I'm almost certain that he made a video of us crossing that bridge. If so, (and he uploads it to youtube any time soon) I'll post a link to his video on my blog when he gets it up.
Was that the narrow slide section you were talking about, or was it before or after?
Was that the narrow slide section you were talking about, or was it before or after?
Re: PCT Timberline to Eagle Creek - Day 2 (7/26)
Splintercat (and others): Here is the Muddy Fork Crossing
Re: PCT Timberline to Eagle Creek - Day 2 (7/26)
Here is the link to the forum post for Day 3:
http://www.portlandhikers.org/forum/vie ... f=8&t=5792
http://www.portlandhikers.org/forum/vie ... f=8&t=5792