Mile 2036 to 2052

Olallie Lake

We sleep in knowing Olallie Lake is just 6 miles away. In addition to resupplying we hope to catch a burger or two for lunch. Starting late also gives us more time for Kevin’s blisters. I retrieve and filter water from the surprisingly scummy lake. The filter will take out the dead bug wings, tiny moss chunks and little swimming larva, but it clogs up my filter and slows the whole process. I heat filtered water in a pot and we soak Kevin’s foot. After clean-ish and dry, we use a fair number of the second skin bandages from REI.

The hike to Olallie Lake is not bad but the resupply is. We need 5 days of food for 2 people. What they lack in selection they make up for in ridiculous prices. There is also no kitchen and therefore no burgers. Not even microwave frozen pizza like Shelter Cove. I hope not to meet again the guy who told us we could get burgers, if only to avoid a possible murder rap.

Olallie Lake Resupply

They do have a hiker box where other people dump stuff they no longer want. I snake everything that looks like food. There is a plastic ziplock bag with freeze dried peas and white squares of what I have no idea. There is a bag of something that might be vegetables mixed with instant rice. There is a powder that is probably milk, though could just as easily be plaster-of-Paris.

We do an inventory of what we had left and what we just got and make a list of the things we have to purchase: 30 snack bars, 4 dinners, bagels, granola, and stuff to eat and drink right now. Since calories are king and selection poor, we skip the $2.50/Cliff Bars and focus on candy bars. A Baby Ruth at $1.50 has 280 calories, more than the Cliff Bar. We fill our sacks with Baby Ruth, Snickers, Pay Day, Peanut M&Ms and Twix. I feel like a kid at Halloween and fear I will feel just as sick afterwards. In case you are wondering, a root beer, Kern’s mango nectar and 10 servings of Fritos is a very poor substitute for a hamburger and shake.

Septic Like Spring

With no reason to hang around we push for strategic miles. Strategic miles are ones that time our arrival in a few days at Timberline Lodge, made famous for its role as the exteriors in the movie The Shining. For PCT hikers it is even more famous for its killer breakfast and lunch buffets. For fans of the movie, I have no idea if they serve red rum. For non-fans, that is murder spelled backwards.

We hike about 10 miles to a spring with water qualities more reminiscent of a septic pond. We camp close enough that we can hear the cries of disappointment as each arriving empty-bottled thru-hiker faces reality. For dinner I have pea something or other and Kevin has a Knorr Side. We fall asleep trying to forget Olallie Lake and praying the Timberline Lodge buffet is more than a fantasy.