PCT in Mt. Washington Wilderness
This was supposed to be the part of the trip where I went out and backpacked on my own in the beautiful Three Sisters Wilderness. Instead, I woke up feeling off. I had a twinge of a sore throat and my elbow was really sore. It had been bothering me a bit due to the eczema, but now it was way worse. It was just painful and swollen. I was not going to let it stop me, though, it was going to slow me down. I decided that due to my current feelings, a backpack may not be in the cards. So I chose instead to day hike a section of the PCT that I had never been on before. I was going to drive up to Santiam Pass and hike in the Mt. Washington Wilderness. If the conditions were right, I was hoping to make it over to Belknap Crater where I had hiked before and then come back.
The roads were easy with only one section of dirt road that turned out to be just fine for the Fit. I parked at the trailhead and as soon as I got out of the car, the onslaught began. Mosquitoes everywhere! I quickly got back in the car. I had to prepare for this. I got all my stuff together, killed the ten mosquitoes that made it in during the 30 seconds I had the door open, and then got out. From that point forward, I was walking. Eating lunch was done while walking. Drinking water was done while walking. The only thing I could not do was bathroom breaks, but that was done as rapidly as possible.
The trail started out in a burn area but within a mile or so, changed to forest. I was anxious to see the other side of this forest where I would get into the burn area from last year that ravaged the whole area. We were pretty concerned about that fire given that we still had a house for sale in the area. For now, the trail was going slowly uphill deeper into the forest. Eventually the snow appeared and I got a bit nervous that my hike would end prematurely. You just don't want to spend too much time hiking on snow, looking around every corner for the trail, and getting your feet wet and cold the whole way. Luckily the snow seemed to come and go most of the way. Sometimes it was a couple feet deep and other times there was no snow at all.
The trail led very closely to Mt. Washington and I really got some excellent views. Mt. Washington seemed like a peak that I would not attempt alone, so it was not in the plans to go onto its flanks today. As the trail moved away from Mt. Washington, the snow dwindled until I was in the fresh burn area where there was none. Here I could see across to Belknap Crater. It seemed within reach, but it also seemed covered with snow. The trail seemed to curve around away from it for what seemed too long a time before finally dropping down into the lava rock.
Here the trail was rough, the weather warm, and the snow started reappearing. I was really hoping to get back up to where I had hiked before, but after a long time of going uphill, I was nearly there, when the trail seemed to disappear in the snow. I looked fruitlessly for a few minutes, but felt okay with it when I turned around. My throat was still hurting a bit and my elbow seemed to get worse as the day went on. I finally turned around and had to tread back the way that I came. This was going to be a 20+ mile day and I was okay with that. To be honest, though, the way back felt like a long way. I kept myself entertained by trying to push for good time using my watch to keep me occupied. It was interesting also to see just how burned over this area was. The fire must have been really hot and frankly I am not surprised this area burned as there is a complete lack of streams. The water from Mt. Washington must just go right under ground. I saw only a few people on the hike all day. One was a runner that turned around about where the snow was and one was a questionable character with a dog. I made it back to the car in pretty good time having done the 20+ miles in about 8 hours. Now it was back down the pass to hang out with everyone at the Meisters. I had a very belligerent driver behind me that was upset when I pulled out to Highway 20 in front of her with plenty of time. She had some anger issues. Other than that, it was an easy drive down. My hurt elbow did not go away that night and it was way worse the next day when Brent, Will, Conrad, and I went to go find some old mines. We may have found them, but for me, every bump of the dirt road seemed to give my elbow more and more pain. When I got back to their house, enough people told me how bad it looked that I finally decided to go in to the doctor. I had a bacterial infection in my elbow and they gave me some strong antibiotics to take care of it. It was going to be something that I was going to have to monitor for the next couple of days to make sure the swelling decreased. For now, I was in quite a bit of pain and had restricted movement. I figured that I must have picked something up at the hot spring due to the eczema and exposed skin that I had on my elbow. Luckily, I had some time before our next adventure.
Here the trail was rough, the weather warm, and the snow started reappearing. I was really hoping to get back up to where I had hiked before, but after a long time of going uphill, I was nearly there, when the trail seemed to disappear in the snow. I looked fruitlessly for a few minutes, but felt okay with it when I turned around. My throat was still hurting a bit and my elbow seemed to get worse as the day went on. I finally turned around and had to tread back the way that I came. This was going to be a 20+ mile day and I was okay with that. To be honest, though, the way back felt like a long way. I kept myself entertained by trying to push for good time using my watch to keep me occupied. It was interesting also to see just how burned over this area was. The fire must have been really hot and frankly I am not surprised this area burned as there is a complete lack of streams. The water from Mt. Washington must just go right under ground. I saw only a few people on the hike all day. One was a runner that turned around about where the snow was and one was a questionable character with a dog. I made it back to the car in pretty good time having done the 20+ miles in about 8 hours. Now it was back down the pass to hang out with everyone at the Meisters. I had a very belligerent driver behind me that was upset when I pulled out to Highway 20 in front of her with plenty of time. She had some anger issues. Other than that, it was an easy drive down. My hurt elbow did not go away that night and it was way worse the next day when Brent, Will, Conrad, and I went to go find some old mines. We may have found them, but for me, every bump of the dirt road seemed to give my elbow more and more pain. When I got back to their house, enough people told me how bad it looked that I finally decided to go in to the doctor. I had a bacterial infection in my elbow and they gave me some strong antibiotics to take care of it. It was going to be something that I was going to have to monitor for the next couple of days to make sure the swelling decreased. For now, I was in quite a bit of pain and had restricted movement. I figured that I must have picked something up at the hot spring due to the eczema and exposed skin that I had on my elbow. Luckily, I had some time before our next adventure. 
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