Hwy 138 to Elk Lake Resort

We are both taking our dogs from Hwy 138 to Cascade Locks. The temperatures are averaging 20 to 30 degrees cooler and the distance between water is shorter than when I last had Xena. So far this has proved much better conditions for her.

I am happy that the weather suits Xena, but it seems to be awakening the dragon in Sleeping Dragon (her trail name).  The first night we camped just past Theilsen Creek in a flat spot on the inside of a large bend in the trail. While we packed up camp in the morning I let Xena run around. Both Xena and Lexi went zipping to and from smells around camp. They got each other super amped up. When they saw their first hiker rounding the bend they shot straight for them. They jumped all around them and barked. Aye yi yi! Tiffany and I ran after the dogs and apologized profusely. I think they were mostly super excited, but the last thing we want to do is have other hikers mad at us because of our dogs. Ever since then they get tied up in the morning until we are moving forward. They have too much energy when they are fresh.

On our fourth day we had two big thunderstorms roll over us. Lexi is terrified of thunder. I think she must be able to sense the change in air pressure when a storm is coming. Late morning we were sitting in the sun at a small creek under Diamond Peak. Before we left I noticed Lexi shaking and she started to whine a little. 30 minutes later we found out why. 

Rolling thunder and huge clouds filled the sky above. Eventually the thunder got close enough we decided to head down! The trail follows the ridge on Diamond Peak and we knew we had another exposed section ahead. We headed down a drainage towards more dense forest. We tucked ourselves under a cluster of smaller trees within a large area. The louder the thunder got the harder Lexi shook and the more she would pant. They both really disliked the hail. We covered the dogs with our sitting pads when it first started. When the hail got bigger we spread the Tyvek ground sheet out and held it over all four of us. Eventually the hail went away and the rain eased. We decided to hike out of our drainage.

The sky was lighter above but we could see more weather coming our way. A few miles later we decided to put the tent up and let the next storm pass. We had lost a lot of elevation and found a camp spot just uphill from a small pond. Once in the tent we covered Lexi with a jacket and a sleeping bag. This seems to help calm her. She hides her whole body in the sleeping bag. When the claps of thunder from the second storm came and the hail pelted the tent all you could see was a shaking sleeping bag in the middle of the tent. 

We waited out the rain of the second storm before hiking on. We only hiked a few more miles to our camp for the night. Needless to say both dogs were exhausted. Once in the tent, they did not stir till morning. In total we waited out 5 hours of bad weather that day. It was our forth day of rain since leaving the cabin. This is the weather that reminds me of why Oregon is so green. It also gets old super fast. I hoped the forecast for brighter skies was true.

On this stretch we brought less food per day since we knew our miles per day would be lower with the dogs. I am not so sure this was a good idea. On our fifth night out I was surveying my food bag for extras that would not take too much from the next two days of food. There wasn't much surplus. Tiffany was in the same situation. We settled for a couple spoonfuls of sunflower seeds. About 15 minutes later I fed Xena and Lexi some of their venison glucosemine treats. When I opened that bag it smelled so good. Hmm, this cannot be good. I tested Tiffany. I put a treat under her nose. "Does this smell good?" I felt better about myself when she said, "yeah, smells good, what is it?" I waved around the bag of dog treats. We both laughed at ourselves. Now our hopes for Elk Lake Resort were set high. We heard they had good food. Although from this little incident, it doesn't seem it has to be too good.

The night of the dog treat incident we camped at Lake Charlton. This is very close to a gravel road. There are huge family tents and people practically car camping. To further torture our senses, when we left camp that morning we could smell someone cooking bacon.

As we slow down our pace for the dogs we are starting to see other thru hikers pass. It seems like every day the number walking by during our breaks increases. The "pack" must be catching up to us.

Happy Trails!

Trail Statistics 

Days: 118

Miles: 1,959

Xena Days: 12

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