Day 90 – Old Station

July 9th

We slept pretty good last night even though things were a little wet. It’s good to know we can stay warm even if we get rained on two days in a row!

The morning was chilly and overcast and we expected more rain, but it was dry while we packed up. Smurf was heading back to the resort for breakfast which was very tempting but we wanted to make it to Old Station before the store closed. We left at 7:30 and started the climb up from Drakesbad (it’s always a climb out of town). The elevation for today was a quick climb, then a gradual uphill, followed by lots of flat and downhill. It was definitely in the cards to make some fast miles, which would hopefully keep us ahead of the rain clouds.

  
   
   

Tomtit and I averaged around a three mile an hour pace trying to keep ahead of the storm we could see brewing. There was thunder that sounded like baseballs being thrown against sheet metal, and thunder that sounded like bowling balls being rolled down huge stairs made of sheet metal. Very intimidating. We hustled through a burn area for a while before dropping down into an odd forest. It looked like all the trees had been planted in rows like corn and they were all the same tree.

We got to Old Station at 4:10 with a half an hour break — 23.5 miles in eight hours! Our reward was no rain and an open deli. Tomtit grabbed a french dip sandwich, I got nachos and ice cream, and we both got various other snacks. There were picnic tables in front of the store so we ate there with a couple other hikers. An hour after we got there it started raining so we hung out under the porch until it cleared up. We found a spot to pitch the tent off in the woods and got comfortable.

My parents are coming tomorrow to pick us up and take us to the Oregon coast for a summer family get together so we are staying here for the night. Our plan is to spend a few days off trail and then get dropped off here again. We’re very excited to see our families and to have a midpoint break! : )