Hiking the Ochocos

So I figured I would write about our backpacking trip. For me, I would consider this my first real backpacking experience. Even though I have gone backpacking before, every other time I had to keep dropping weight because my shoulder kept dislocating. So I say this was my first time because it was the first time I got to go three days with the same amount of weight without my shoulder dislocating once!! Hallelujah!
Before I begin let me also say that the map we got from REI was awful. The area we were hiking in took up about 1/20th of the map making it extremely cumbersome to open and find our little area. Also, the map was void of any contour lines making it very hard to figure out where exactly we were or how to plan for the next hike. Made things interesting.
So we began our hike at one trail head, parking our car, packing up and heading out. The beginning of the trail was uphill the entire time. I felt pretty strong starting out which surprised me. My new pack was amazing and when I finally got everything properly adjusted it fit great. The forest we were hiking in was a little strange. It had dead trees and what looked like logged trees as well. It wasn't very pretty for quite some time. As we kept hiking I began to feel the pain of backpacking. It starts in your hips, where the hip belt grinds against your bones. It then moves to your lower back where you bend slightly as you walk. Then your legs and your feet in your boots. Finally your shoulders and neck get sore. Its lovely, really, I can see why people like doing this...
As we continue hiking, Jay sees something off to the right and we hike towards it. It is a Spring that has been made into three huge troughs. The area looks well camped in and we keep it in mind for water later. We continue hiking and my feet are hurting bad now. My Achilles tendon is rubbing and it feels like I am getting some blisters. I let Jay know and we stop to take care of it and put some tape on my feet. We get back up and Jay suggests we just go back to that Spring and camp there. We don't know when we will see water next. This decision was the perfect decision. Even though we had only hiked about 1 1/2 miles (uphill the whole time) we stopped and set up camp.
Another side note. This area has the largest infestation of ants I have ever seen. There were no mosquitoes, thank god, but the ants were insane. Every variety you can think of- large black, small black, red head black body, black head red body- all living in harmony with each other. Everything got covered in ants, including us, during the whole trip. They even ate through a plastic bag of ours, the thick plastic zip lock kind. Crazy.
Anyway, we camped and slept and all was well. The next day we set out hiking again, still not sure what our plan is. We figure we will hike in a ways, camp, rest for a day, then hike all the way back out to our car taking the same route. We hike along and finally start getting some really nice views. The trail we were on takes you to the summit of lookout mountain and then there are a bunch of trails you can take back down. Jay and I keep walking, hoping to make it to a spring on the map. Having no idea really how far we have gone or how far we have left, we stop for lunch. The view at lunch was amazing. We sat on a cliff overlooking the three sisters, three fingered jack and Jefferson mountain. We took a long lunch, fending off the ants, and then decided to keep going forward, waiting for that spring. So, after lunch generally is awful. You are sluggish and full and tired. Putting your pack back on is torture, and for me it was tightening the hip belt across my hips that was killer. We went really slow after lunch and a part of me was ready to call it quits. Jay was awesome. He kept encouraging me and telling me how great I was doing which definitely helped me go on. After about an hour of feeling awful, I got my energy back and started enjoying it again. We kept on hiking up, up, up. Enjoying the amazing views and now the wildflowers. As we got closer to the top the landscape turned from sage brush and dirt to lush fields of wildflowers. It was awesome.
We finally make it to the summit and feel great for having done so. We take a look at the map, our awful map, and figure we have to take this trail to get to that spring. There was a while coming up that Jay and I started to panic about the water situation. Jay especially. As we were walking up, we started to see some tiny little creeks of water crossing the trail. It was a very joyous occasion. Anyway, back to the top. We decided to keep going and try to find that spring. I was tired but also determined to make it. We trugged along, finally going downhill for awhile. We keep going and keep going and there is no spring. Crap. Now what. We see some more markers and signs, keep checking our map which is no help and decide all we can do is keep hiking. I start praying for water. Please God send us some water, anything, just so we can filter and have some for tomorrow. At this point there is no way we are going back to that first spring. We have come too far. We keep going and now the trail and landscape is gorgeous! Full fields of flowers and plants, views and we actually see some people now. We pass two on the trail and ask them how far to the trail head. They tell us about 2 miles (this is another trail head, not the one we started at.) We force ourselves to keep going. By this point, even Jay is feeling tired and ready to stop. We are both slightly panicked about the water situation but we keep it to ourselves and keep hiking.
Finally, we find a stream. A gorgeous, perfect stream. Oh the Joy!! We were so excited. We started to look for a campsite right away and I was holding out for a nice one. Jay pointed out some that would work but I kept insisting. (The last night we had spent on an incline and I didn't sleep at all, I wasn't ready to do a repeat.) So we held out and found a sweet site and got some water and settled in. It was glorious to stop and get our packs off. We ate and waited for the sun to go down so it would be ok to go to bed. I was ready to get into bed around 8pm. We slept soundly and the next day decided that instead of resting, we would hike out and then hike the road back to our car. We pack up and head out.
The hike out was alright. It was short but it hurt for sure. We get down to the trail head and are hoping for some cars to give us a ride to the car. We wait and soon enough, three people and their two dogs come from a trail and head towards their car. The start talking to us and we talk about what we did. After alot of small talk, Jay asked if they would mind taking one of us to the car. They say they can take us both and we are stoked. We load up our packs in the back of their subaru with their two large dogs. The poor dogs barely had room. Thank god they rode with the windows down too, because we were pretty ripe.
They were awesome people. They lived in Bend and the two were probably late fifties/early sixties. They had mountain biked all over, told us to take a better route in Idaho, the guy hunts for elk and deer with a bow and arrow every season. They park the RV for 30 days in the woods and he goes for it. Their daughter had worked at Denali in Alaska and all of them were pretty awesome. We never got their name but were so so thankful for the ride. The road ended up being much longer, much hillier and much rougher than we had thought.
We got to the car, said goodbye, threw our stuff in and headed towards the first showers we could find.
So overall it was a really great trip. Very eventful. I felt really good about what I was able to do and expressed with Jay that there is something really cool about backpacking. It hurts, it is hard and you wanna stop so bad some times and just quit. The cool thing is though that you get to challenge your body and mind in a way that nothing else can. You can push yourself past the point of no return just to see that your body has strength left, that your perserverence still remains. I had a blast and was glad to spend some time in the woods.
We are now heading to Jackson to meet up with the Tanis', the Vander Arks, and the McClymonts. We will write soon about that and let you know if Jay makes it up the Grand!
PS- his foot is healing really well and faster than expected. Please pray that it continues to heal and that he can climb. It would be a bummer if he was unable to do it, he has been looking forward to this for a long time. So pray people, pray!