What is the Best Section of the PCT?

Part 4: Oregon

Miles 1698 to 2144

Oregon Sections A-H, California/Oregon State Border to Washington State Border

Summary

California/Oregon state border: 03/08/17 – 22/08/17 :Cascade Locks

Oregon was the section of the trail where I had my biggest downs for several reasons. A) The Oregon fires closed off multiple sections of the trail right before I arrived; I often needed to seek alternative routes or hitches to get around them. B) The closed sections were ALL the highlights of Oregon! C) I had my SLR camera stolen hitching around a fire closure.

Not all was bad however, I had met up with a fellow Australia hiker ‘Rattler’ whom I’d met on many occasions before. I ended up hiking with him until Cascade Locks at the border of Washington. Both were in ‘down periods’ in our hikes for different reasons, but we turned our negatives into positive hiking and had great moments together! We experience some of the best trail magic in Oregon when it was most needed – Sparkles taking the no.1 spot by cooking burgers and hot dogs with beers!

Oregon had its fair share of lakes and brief patches of snow around Diamond Peaks, but also had its fair share of bugs! There were a few days when my bug net was needed, and cowboy camping was too painful. You begin to appreciate the Desert again, or even the Sierras, where there were no bugs due to the lack of standing water.

Although most will tell you Oregon is easy and flat – they mean it’s flatter than other sections. This just means less steep climbs in general, but you’re still going up and down quite a bit. I didn’t end up doing extreme miles at all in the sections I could do due to the number of fires – in fact, it was the only section I didn’t break a 30-mile day!

Oregon is just going to have to be hiked properly in another year! I’d like to see all the parts I missed, as I have heard they are spectacular!

Favourite Section

Mt Hood 

I didn’t really get to see much of Oregon (about half due to ongoing fire closures). Mt Hood was pretty spectacular, and I had a new camera again by that point, which improved my morale. Ramona Falls was gorgeous and a delicious breakfast at Timberline Lodge was a very memorable moment.

Least Favourite Section

Fire Closures

Without a doubt, I think you’d find most people strongly had negative feelings toward fires by the end of the PCT. I was lucky enough to get through the ones in Northern California. However, in Oregon I hit every closure, and as a result – I missed Sky Lakes Wilderness, Most of Crater Lake, The Sisters Wilderness (including Obsidian Falls), Mount Jefferson, and the Eagle Creek alternate route.

It was unfortunate, but that’s nature! Some people chose to road walk around the closures – I chose to get back to real hiking and skipped past them!

Favourite Town

Cascade Locks 

PCT Days! I made the event, and I was reunited with almost everyone I had hiked with on the trail. There were good pubs and great milkshakes, and plenty of happy moments! We had a bit of a tent party with 6 people in my two-man tent – good times!

Least Favourite Town

Mazama Village

I had sent myself a box here and even though there was a fire closure on both sides. I still decided to hitch in to pick it up (this meant going all the way out to Klamath Falls and back further north). It was this hitching to where I had my camera stolen too.

I stupidly left it on the side of the road when a trail angel (Devilfish) picked me up at Fort Klamath, after realising and returning with him 20 minutes later – it was gone. There is literally nothing to do at Mazama Village, and you’ll want to get out fast unless you find transport to get good views of the lake. The Wi-Fi is abysmal and there is no 4G reception! Not good when you’re trying to research fire closures and process insurance claims!

Main Hiking Partners

Only one partner for this section!

Rattler – mile 1818 to 2144 (Mazama Village to Cascade Locks)

Was Oregon the Best Section of the PCT?

Absolutely not! This is mostly due to the fact I missed so many of the ‘good’ parts.

~ Read more about the next section review in Washington here ~

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