Thursday I walked the remaining 8 miles down to Shelter Cove Resort on Lake Odell.
My left knee, which began bothering me a couple days before, was now feeling stiff, weak and unstable. Unlike the day before, it did not loosen up after a couple of miles.
Shelter Cove is a fairly highly-developed resort on a big lake. There is a store, a restaurant (take out only now), cabins, RV spots, tent spots, showers, laundry, a marina and a playground for kids. It clearly caters to a fairly upscale family-oriented clientele.
Yet it also makes a significant effort to accommodate PCT hikers, who are mostly young and single, sometimes loud and entitled, and uniformly filthy and ragged. There is an unimproved but pleasant tenting area back in the woods and free of charge. They set up pavilion tents with picnic tables and a charging section near the lake (and also near the fish-cleaning station) for hikers to congregate at and sort out their supplies. The store is well-stocked with hiker items – fuel canisters, freeze-dried meals, junk food and beer. The laundry and showers are reasonably priced, clean and well-maintained. The staff stops by to chat and see how things are going.
Hiker tent at Shelter Cove
They don’t have to do any of these things. Sure they make some money, but it can’t be all that much. Yet there are complaints on Guthook. This is a navigation app that also allows hikers to comment on various trail features, such as water sources, campsites – and towns and resorts. Despite the efforts the resort had made to accomodate hikers – including a “Welcome PCT Hikers” sign in front of the store – there were complaints about unfriendly staff.
That welcome sign also includes a list of rules and expectations for hikers, and I suspect those rules are a problem for a subset of hikers. There are a few who see the trail as a 2650-mile long party, and can get fairly stoned, drunk and loud. Not a big deal in a lot of contexts, but this place isn’t one of them. I suspect that the complainers were asked to settle down or leave, and took offense.
But none of that was happening today.There were several hikers there that I knew and I began chatting with AWOL after obtaining some refreshments at the store.
We had played cornhole in Ashland. Somehow the conversation turned to my knee and it turns out she is a physical therapist. She dug around in the hiker box, found not one but two knee braces and showed me how to fit them. The brace made walking much more comfortable.
Showered, did laundry, combining loads with two other hikers, one of whom was a vaccine skeptic. But his skepticism was based on a libertarian viewpoint and an underestimate of the vaccines efficacy, given the amount of play stories of breakthrough infections are given in the media. We had a long and respectful conversation, and I think the main point I made – that freedom to decline vaccination impairs other’s freedom to avoid infection – resonated, at least a bit.
Princess , who I camped with the first night out of Castella also showed and I found her lively and fun to talk to as usual. She and many other hikers are skipping up to Cascade Locks for Trail Days, so I won’t see them again. I am in the goodbye phase of the hike now.
A look back at Shelter Cove
I decided to take an extra day off to give my knee a chance to improve. It was better but still weak when I left today and I stopped before 6pm to go easy on it.
Not many mushrooms in this dry year. I had never seen a blue one before
I am not sure where this hike will end. It could be at Elk Lake or Mackenzie Pass or at Santiam Pass as originally planned. My knee will have to make a miracle recovery for the latter to happen. There is not much point in worrying about this. I will just walk and expect things to turn out ok.
Still good hiking weather, cool with little smoke. A 100k trail race was being run along 10 miles of the PCT, with over a hundred participants. All of whom were friendly and happy as they ran past. There were two aid stations staffed by friendly happy lively people who applauded not only their racers but also hikers as we rolled in. Of course they generously offered snacks, fruit and drinks and I was more than happy to accept. This could well be the last bit of trail magic that I see this year.
Trail runner aid station