After all the excitement of yesterday, we decided to sleep in a bit today. We had agreed to not get up until 7:30. Stated another way, Bear had to lay awake for two hours playing on his phone while Sassy continued to sleep. Actually, we were all a bit shook up after nearly losing Dancing Dog last evening. This is the closest to a real catastrophe we’ve ever come. It made us sit down and talk about contingency plans as a group. Bear was in heaven.
We made it out by a little after 9. We knew it was just a short day, but we weren’t certain if the bus was still running from Timberline Lodge to Government Camp because of COVID. It may be short miles, but it was all uphill. If Bunny was not feeling any better, it could be a long morning.
The hardest part of the climb was right out of camp. It’s easy to see we’re near a tourist area because people were already coming through our camp at 6a. We starting passing people immediately once we started hiking. I am amazed at how well everyone is handling face masks and physical distancing here in Oregon.
It was an uneventful morning. We got spread out a little bit in the first mile, but we took a break at a melt stream about a mile and a half into the hike. From that point on, we stayed together as a group the rest of the way to Timberline Lodge. We easily passed 50 people on the trail with half that many dogs. I, of course, tried to pet every dog we passed and reluctantly talked to the people (I’m a pretty quiet and reserved person by nature). Fortunately, Bear and Dancing Dog make up for me.
The highlight of passers-by was when I saw a Great Pyrenees. I still love the breed. I killed by 6th one last year so we could go hiking without any attachments back home. I’ll list my dogs by name to see if anyone can detect a pattern: Nahani, Amangi, Holpe, Allumes, Nutiket, & Ilana.
We made it to the lodge by 11:45 to find that the next bus would arrive at 12:30. The place was packed with cars and people. There are still 2 ski slopes open and a lift running. The US ski team trains here year round. We had had a bit of time to kill. What’s the number 1 draw for thru-hikers coming to civilization? Whoever said food, nice try, but that’s actually number 2. Whoever said number 2 is number 1, you are correct! We took turns watching all the gear while evacuations took place.
Bear and Sassy have a couple of trail angels (Miles and Linda) living in Portland who have agreed to resupply us for several stops. Today is the first time the rest of us get to meet Miles (we met Linda in Cascade Locks when she brought Bear and Sassy to town). The only time constraint we have today is to hook up with them this afternoon.
Standing without walking kills my lower back. While everyone was finishing up job 1 (which is actually #2) I decided to go get in line for the bus so I could sit. There were already a couple people in line. Bear came out a few minutes later just as the bus pulled up. That’s when we saw the sign that due to the virus, only 10 people are allowed on the bus at a time. If the girls make it out, there will be 9. I was afraid they’d dally too long and that more people would show up and cause some tension while we argue for space, but it all worked out. The trail provides. And not only does it provide with Angels taking care of us (Miles & Linda dropping food, John & Jenny giving us refuge, Alice watching over us and sending food and gear), it also provides FREE (normally $2/person) transportation to town. Because of the virus, the bus isn’t charging hoping to encourage people out. DD had already given me money for the 5 of us to ride the bus. I tried to give it back but she said keep it. I am finally a professional hiker. I’ve received my first cash payout!
Once we made it to town, we decided to drop our gear at the hotel. Job #2 is now job #1—food. Bear texted Miles and Linda to let them know where to meet us. Just as we sat down to order, they pulled up. We went out to get the food drops and meet the whole family. They brought their cute little girl, Puff.
Food arrangements became the next highest priority after we got done eating. I found this to be an ideal arrangement. By deciding the next 4 days of food after finishing a big town meal, my back will be noticeably lighter than our normal walking up and down every aisle in the grocery store and grabbing everything that sounds good.
With all the big items out of the way, we just had showers and laundry to go to finish off town chores. While Bunny was showering, I took advantage of the balcony we had on our room and dried out all of our gear. I had to get this done before Bunny headed out to laundry since every item of clothing I have is dirty. I didn’t want to get arrested for an early moonrise in Government Camp.
EFG