Today marks 3 months on the trail! Just 2 more to go, and about 1,000 miles. Fires have exploded all over Oregon. The fire we saw the day we entered Crater Lake has now prompted a trail closure of around 25 miles, so we are glad we got through before it got too bad. Sadly now we are stopped by a fire in the Mount Jefferson Wilderness that is 0% contained. With no current viable waking alternates, we will be forced to shuttle around it. It’s disappointing but a fact of life on the PCT: fire closures are basically inevitable.
In the meantime, we got into Bend this morning. We did laundry for the first time since Ashland and took showers for the first time since Crater Lake. It feels so good to be clean! All of my socks have holes and our water bladders do as well, so tomorrow we will hit the outfitters to swap them out. Then we will figure out how to get a ride around the closure from local trail angels and get back to trail hopefully tomorrow but possibly the next day.
