The Olallie Lake Store is just to the west of a small mountain. So, the sunrise doesn’t hit it until fairly late. This, coupled with the fact that the backpackers’ tenting area was in the trees meant that most hikers, including me, got up fairly late.
As I went about my morning tasks, a couple groggy, hungover southbounders asked about the spring again.
Since I was next to a store, I wanted some town food for breakfast, but the choices were limited. The Olallie Lake Store only has power when the generator is running, and it usually isn’t. So the things they sell are mostly trail food. I settled on coffee and Hostess little chocolate donuts — both things I could have on the trail. The total cost for these meager provisions was $5, plus $1 for refilling the coffee.
But, sitting on the front porch of the store, sipping hot coffee on a cold morning, looking out over the lake, was well worth it. I had a long chat with a retired hiker doing the Oregon section. We chatted about who backpacks and why, as the coffee warmed me up for the day.
After all this, I wasn’t actually on the trail until about 9:45 — a tremendously late start. This wasn’t a big deal, though, because my next resupply was at the Timberline Lodge, about 50 miles away — probably 2 easy days. I could try to get there earlier in the day, but the all-you-can-eat breakfast there was famous.
The trail today was standard Oregon: Tall conifers, with knee-high berry bushes on either side, and elevation changes that were gentle and few.
In fact, the trail was so gentle, I got going really fast. I’d seen Bill and Breanna’s names on a list of Olallie Lake campsite users, and thought I might be able to catch them.
The miles flew by, one after another, all day.
When I finally got to my target campsite, I wasn’t the first to arrive. There were already two backpacks there. They were similar to what I remembered Bill and Breanna carrying. There was a bear canister there, even though bear canisters weren’t required here — Bill always used a bear canister, even in the desert. There was a two person tent pitched in the center of the campsite.
Instead of people, though, there were two pairs of shoes. Probably their owners had gone downhill to the lake. So I set up camp, and started eating dinner, wondering if Bill and Breanna were out swimming.
As I ate my third tortilla, a young couple I hadn’t met before came up from the lake. We had a brief chat about today’s trail, and went to bed.
In the end, I passed just about everybody I’d seen at Olallie Lake, but never saw any sign of Bill or Breanna.
Today may have been my fastest day, though it wasn’t my longest — over 30 miles in 9.5 hours, lunch included.
Love your walk in the woods.