The Adventures of...: Days 112, 113

Day 112, 0 miles, still in Ashland

We spent the first hald of the day organizing food and splitting it up into our boxes for Oregon and Washington. It was a boring and annoying process. By early afternoon we weren't done, but needed a break.

Mary Pat, Josh and I headed to the small town of Jacksonville, about 20 minutes away, to do some exploring. Jacksonville is a very historic town, with nearly every building listing its construction date in the mid to late 1800s. The town itself looks like the movie set of a Doc Holliday biopic, with the saloon, drugstore, and bank all next to each other. You could easily imagine a dirt road running down main street and girls leaning over the second floor balcony of what we decided surely must have been a brothel.

We walked the streets, stopping frequently to read plaques or signs explaining the historical significance of various places. The town was a gold mining town back in the day; it is possible that the creek running through town still contains gold.

Before leaving, we grabbed drinks on the deck of a Mexican restuarant. Josh and I decided to go big: we each got our own 50 ounce margaritas, served in glasses bigger than my head. They were amazing.

Back at the hotel, our boxes are mostly ready to go. After two full rest days, we will hike out and get back on the trail, which will be nice. I am so excited to get to the rest of Oregon!

50 oz!

Jacksonville, OR

MaryPat and a vagrant.

A few food groups missing from out diet.

You don't get comfortable on this bed without 50oz margaritas.

Day 113, 11 miles, endpoint PCT mile 1738

We frantically finished packing up all of our resupply boxes for Oregon and Washington this morning before our noon checkout time. At 11:59am we were good to go. We loaded seven boxes into Mary Pat's car (it was a tight fit) so she could take them home and ship them out later. I did a quick post office run and dropped off two boxes to go out tomorrow; hopefully our first one at Crater Lake will be waiting for us with no glitches in a few days.

Josh and I always try to get back on the trail feeling completely stuffed, so the three of us went out to a big breakfast. After eating tons of food, we said goodbye to Ashland and drove ten miles south on I-5 towards Mt. Ashland and the trailhead. We took some group shots of the three of us next to the PCT sign, then we were off.

Hiking after taking a couple of days off is always a little strange. My legs were sluggish and my pack felt strange on my back. We entered the Soda Mountain Wilderness and passed by Pilot Rock, a large brick of a rock jutting straight up into the air.

11 miles in we stopped at a spring to refill water and camped down in a large, open meadow past the water. We are surrounded by long stalks of dried grass that wave at us in the warm breeze, the crickets are singing, and it was serenely peaceful as the sky turned pink on us at sunset. It definitely feels good to be back out here.