5 August Ran out of camp from the skeeters, ran down trail, took a break at a spring, ran from skeeters, took a lunch break (tuna, crackers, snickers, my favorite) ran from thunder and lightning and hail, ran down snow field over a pass, set up tent in record time, now hiding inside, close by Honeymoon Creek. Jersey Jim is camped with us tonight, the buzzing outside is so loud that I can't hear what he is trying to say...

9 August A Sierra-esque day of hiking. It's just Jim and I. The alarm went off at 5:40- I ignored it and woke up at 6:20. Had a bit of trouble finding the route this morning, crossed several roads and headed uphill, finally hitting Thielsen peak by mid morning. Lots of snow made the trail very tricky to follow, I got frustratingly lost twice, wasting about an hour walking up and down gullies looking for some semblance of a trail. But the afternoon was quite nice, great views and nice walking, had to walk fast to avoid the blood-suckers. Now it's storming again. Luckily Thielsen is nearby, deflecting all large bolts of lightening from our vicinity.

11 August Marc Weber met Jim and I at Cascade Summit tonight- just in time to avoid the bulk of the nightly thunder storm (2,000 strikes in Southern Oregon before 6pm!)

14 August Taking the day off in Sisters OR. Jim and I got hear this morning and Clarissa and Ray met us at the trail. The last two days were wet and long. We logged in 30 miles each day through drizzle and tons of snow through the Sisters Wilderness area. Yesterday we were wandering around looking for the trail when we saw three southbound hikers, who were also, unfortunately, off-trail. By 8pm last night we hit camp, and Jim, having found two beers on the trail earlier in the day, broke those out in celebration of a long but satisfyingly challenging day. Snuggled in my bag, in my dry tent listening to the drizzle outside, I ate a terrific dinner of rice, corn pasta, tomatoes, and broccoli (dehydrated courtesy of Leta). This morning, I had to force my way out of my wet nylon cocoon and down ten miles of trail, which was suprisingly beautiful- North Sister was just visible from behind the mist, and the black lava fields looked very dramatic against the gray sky. For now however, I am happily enjoying a few Lattes in town and look forward to drying my sleeping bag and clothes out before returning to the trail tomorrow. Jason and Lara are hiking behind me, they planned to go very slowly with Jason's brother and their friend Marc. Hope to see them somewhere down the trail though.

23 August - Cascade Locks, OR. I hiked a long and very scenic 35 miles into town today, taking the Eagle Creek trail instead of the PCT for the last twenty miles. The trail followed a gorge with a half-dozen huge waterfalls. At one point the trail was cut into the rock to go behind a waterfall, as I ducked under the overhanging rock and entered the tunnel, a rainbow lit up the entrance and reached 100 ft to the pool below. After a long two solo days, the moment was sublime. Cascade Locks, right on the Columbia River and one mile from Washington, is a perfect place to celebrate with fellow hikers- as we all get closer to Canada we are snowballing together towards a common finish date in mid-September. Thus, after seeing virtually one or two hikers the whole length of Oregon, suddenly there are ten of us here now. It's a PCT party.

28 August - Potato Hill, WA. I ran the last two miles into camp tonight, worried I might become anemic from mosquito induced blood loss. Now safely in my tent, I am camped about 30 ft from Skitz (Mike Wahl from NJ) Packrat (John Robblee form Conn.) and Jersey (Jim Smart of Phily). They are providing the usual evening entertainment with reading from the guide book and commentary on the endless subject of flatulence (Skitz has introduced a competitive element with his now infamous 'fart baseball'). I am too far away and the buzzing outside the tent is too loud for me to participate!