We woke up at the Pole Creek trailhead and began our hike out. The wind had blown all night and the fire looked bigger. As we got close to the highway, we saw some US Forest Service fire fighters heading out to the fire. Shortly after, we saw some locals driving away from the fire and they told us they were being evacuated. The fire was about 4 miles from the road.
Lucky for us, we made it out before they closed the road and trail so we just spent the day in Sisters. It was a cute little town with lots of restaurants. We ate food all day and resupplied for the next few days of hiking.
Unfortunately, Mother Nature had different plans. The fire we saw early spread fast and closed the highway we needed to get back to the trail. Now, only about 10 miles of trail we’re open before the next closure in the Mt. Jefferson wilderness. A woman in town offered us a ride to that trailhead, where we could hitchhike farther up the trail. Not long after she dropped us off, a man on his way back to Portland from a quick overnight trip offered us a ride. He said he would take us to Olallie Lake Resort, the next decent road access in the trail. It was about 20 miles up a crappy dirt road and pretty far out of his way, but he seemed happy to help. I’m still amazed at how awesome people are. we skipped about 60 miles of trail, of which only about 16 are open and accessible.
When we arrived at the resort we had to decide what to do. We could hike north from here and we should be good until the border. It’s about 50 miles to Timberline Lodge, home of a famous all you can eat buffet and this section is supposed to be one of the flattest on the PCT. Instead of hiking out, we hung out. We’re going to try and do a 50 mile day tomorrow.
So I’m just camped by a lake, reading a book, and getting ready to go to sleep early. We’re going to leave at 4 am and hike until we get there, probably around 9 or 10. Then we’ll sleep and feast in the morning.