Day 5, 2022 - Elk Lake “Campground” , OR

June 21

Bush Berry (related to dogwood) from the trail. Near Elk Lake, OR

I stayed up too late reading and then still didn’t sleep so well. During the night I started obsessing with the logistics for the next couple of days. For one thing, I decided to grab the “First come, first serve” of the campsite next to me for the next couple of nights and just eat the money I already paid for the “Resort” spot. I was worried with the weekend coming I would end up searching and campgrounds seem to be really busy around here on weekends. I finally got up at 0530 and put a few things at the next campsite which no one had occupied during the night staked my claim. Then Beau and I walked up to the trailhead where Runningbird would come down from the PCT later on in the day on a 1.2 mile detour down to Elk Lake. From there it wouldn’t be far but after the high-mileage day she had more extra steps she didn’t need. From there Beau and I walked to the Resort to see about coffee (they don’t open until 9 AM!) and the options for Runningbird to get a shower (again, no one there to get information from until 9 AM!). There were a couple of hikers lingering about there and we chatted a bit. One of them had met Runningbird and was there when they got the trail magic of bacon, beer, peppers and other goodies. The other hiker was “Lingo”, a language teacher from Calgary.

Beau and I returned to the trailer and prepared it for the short move to the campsite next door. I did a bit of house cleaning and got things a bit organized and had a second coffee and went back over to the Resort. I told the desk I would not be using the spot I had reserved and found that the showers were five bucks for as long as you wanted and included a towel, shampoo, and soap. Not a bad deal. Last call for a shower was at 1800. I also found that the restaurant had a veggie burger available for lunch or dinner and the cafe closed at 1830. Considering the 23 miles Runningbird had to cover to get here, I doubted she would make it time. We went to the ice cream window next to the office and Beau got a single scoop of vanilla ice cream in a cake cone and I got a single scoop of Kona Coffee in a waffle cone. We were both in heaven and Beau was drawing a lot of attention as he lapped at his cone.

Again back at the trailer I tried to work on the blog but was having a hard time uploading photos with just one cell bar. I went out and sat in the truck with my phone in the booster but still no luck. I finally decided to drive back down the road a ways and hit the four bars spot again so I pulled over. As Gomer would say, “Shazam”. There’s the love. I had been fighting to do that, on and off, much of the day and there it was done in seconds. Just needed four bars.

While I was sitting there on the side of the road Runningbird called. I hadn’t been watching the Spot and she was just a mile away from the cut-off trail. Wow! she had made really good time. Beau and I went to the trailhead and headed part way up to meet her. Her day had started at 0600 and she had covered 23 miles in 10 hours. She did great but was exhausted, hungry, and thirsty. Fortunately she had time to get a shower and that was the first thing she wanted to do. I had a cold bottle of Gatorade for her and drove her right down to the resort and Barb at the desk escorted her to the shower. Good thing as Runningbird was not processing things too clearly and didn’t know what to do or where to go even after being told. While she was in the shower I ordered her the Veggie-burger and a small salad. I got the Turkey pesto sandwich and sweet potato fries.

From there we went straight back to the trailer and Peggy ate like a hungry girl back in from the trail. She announced that she was going to take a “Zero” day tomorrow and wanted to go into Bend to the REI and get a new pair of shoes. The pair she had bought just before we left home were more of an experiment than proven trail shoes and were now toast. As a result her feet were also toast and she had some gnarly blisters. So, a zero day it would be. We had a look at what that would do to the schedule and it would all work out. I would stay here at the campsite another day and everything else would fall into place. She would be putting in all high-mileage days from tomorrow on out. I just hoped her new shoes, whatever she ended up buying, would stand up to the challenge.

In the early evening I was Peggy called me over to the trailer screen door and back window to see a creature passing by just outside. It was a small fox with a very large bushy tail. I was too slow to grab my phone to snap a pic but it was pretty cool to see. And there was Beau crashed out on the floor not even noticing. Would have thought he would have smelled the fox but maybe just in his dreams.

Runningbird continued to eat eat into the early evening - roasted vegetables I had made, a Cesar Salad, more hydration, and then she zonked out. Then up again to find the fish crackers hidden in the pantry. So glad to see her eating. A body can only take so much.

This is where the show hits the road.