Mile 1716 - 2084

Trees, volcanism and well, more trees. That's Oregon in a sentence.

So far its been a long green tunnel of green, shade and a steady grade. From Ashland, we went 283 miles to Sisters. It took us 14 days at an average of 20.21 miles a day which includes 5 neros (near zero mileage days) and no zeros (zero mileage days) which puts right where we need to be. We need to keep this average to finish on time throughout.

Hate to beat a dead horse here but those people doing 30 miles or more a day are doing it at a cost. Thru hikers are injuring out like crazy right now. Foot infections and torn ligaments are all the rage. Peru and I? Injury free and still smiling. Our friend Hodgepodge was showing us her foot infection which went septic and has to get off trail. I commented on her lose of 8 toe nails and she and everyone else present looked at us inquisitivly and were like "well, haven't you lost any?" No we haven't. We address every scrape and cut no matter how small. Were also probably the cleanest ones out here which is why were slower. We take the time to bath, address cuts and do laundry on the trail. I say this because not only are foot infections and injuries peaking at the moment, but there is apparently a bug going around causing a serious stomach illness. I believe it's simply due to bad hygiene and nothing more.

We clean , disinfect and tape up the smallest of cuts and blisters immediately so they are no worse than an annoyance.

Oregon wouldn't be Oregon without a protest.

With so many trees, blowdowns are a common obstacle.

Which are a pain to climb over, duck under or go around. There could be as many as 20 blow downs a mile over many miles.

 Southern Oregon is surprisingly dry and right on queue, trail angels come to the rescue

                   Chips and fresh salsa!

And trail magic! Lots of magic in Oregon. Four locations thus far with really good stuff. Thank you Oregon.

Cross country ski hut thats been left open for us. complete with solar panels and a sleeping loft.

                          Crater lake

 Original pct blaze

 We aren't PCT purists meaning that we'll take alternate trails and road walks to shave miles when they present themselves. This one was an equestrian trail that shaved off 10 miles.

  And on it were many lakes and in this case, ducks.

Peru assisted these trainers to teach their horses to not be afraid of hikers and backpackers.

Peru and I are no longer counting the miles hiked but the miles left. I personnaly have some mixed emotions over this. On one hand were tired, sore and long for modern comforts. On the other, we've been out here so long that this is our new normal and don't want to leave. I answer to my trail name Popeye as if it was my birth name. I highly doubt anyone even knows my real name. Also, I'm really enjoying my time with Peru.  We never fight and are always laughing and smiling. I'm so proud of her maturity and positive nature. Im truly treasuring this experience and will be sad when it ends. I could only hope she feels the same about her time with me.

 Obsidian falls. This entire face is obsidian. Another difference between us and most other thru-hikers is we went off trail to check this out while we watched others walk right on by without even taking a glance. They're just laser focused on the finish line and nothing else. But not us, we're enjoying everything everyday. We live by the mantra 'It's the journey not the destination' which seems to make us the odd ones as we mostly talk about what we saw and others talk about how many miles they've done.

More Obsidian

And even More obsidian

 Leg burner up a lava rock mountain.

When not in forests, we're walking through lava fields.

Leaving Sisters now. We have a quick jaunt through Jefferson and the Mt Hood wildernesses and than on to the Cascades of Washington.

*Good bye Raven, you'll be missed.

**Sorry to lose you Shorts. Hope you all is well
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SAM: Dificil de creer y ya casi en la ultima quinta parte de la caminata completa, 1 semana mas y ya estamos en washington :D

Oregon ha sido lo que todo el mundo imagina en una caminata y aun asi algo por lo que no hemos estado caminando hasta ahora, bosques y bosques y bosques sin parar, arboles y lagos de cuando en cuando, pero algo que lo ha hecho interesante han sido la cantidad de volcanes y areas de lava petrificada, es un terreno algo dificil, la piedra se calentaba y hacia el ambiente muy caliente, pero lo hacia diferente e interesante.

Despues de un trecho largo saltando sobre troncos caidos llegamos porfin a Crater lake, no podiamos esperar, es un antiguo volcan que explotó hace 7000 años, dejando un enorme crater que fue sellado cuando la lava se endurecio, como no hay aberturas y esta completamente sellado, el agua de las lluvias y la nieve derretida fue llenando el crater poco a poco hasta convertirlo en un gran lago con la forma de un circulo casi perfecto, obviamente el crater no es un circulo perfecto, pero se entiende la idea xD 

Despues seguimos caminando, un poco saltando de resort en resort y solo parando unas horas para conseguir comida, desde que salimos de Ashland no nos tomamos un dia libre hasta ahora y hemos conseguido hacer 20 o 21 millas al dia consecutivamente, cosa que no conseguiamos hacer antes y por eso estamos bastante felices:D

El dia en el que ibamos a llegar al segundo pueblo en oregon, pasamos por una pequeña seccion que estaba llena se obsidiana:O o vidriagon 7u7 ejejejeje

Y llegamos porfin a sisters! Nos hemos tomado ahora un par de dias libres y ahora nos dirigimos a cascade locks que es en la frontera con Washigton:D 600 millas para llegar a Canada T_T wiii:3