Day 92 (21 August)

Miles 1692.0 to 1712.5. Tentsite by dirtroad to forest camp.

We slept well in Oregon. :-) And we sleep in because it was our longest day yet yesterday and we feel like we deserve it. Another reason is that we don't want to make it all the way to Ashland today. We decided a few weeks ago that we are going to try to arrive in towns early in the day rather than in the evening. This way for a zero we only need one overnight stay in town and can save some money.

We leave our tentsite around 8am, before Sababa, and hike quickly to the first water source where, as it turns out, both NOBOs and SOBOs have gathered for a rather large breakfast party. There are at least 10 hikers there, and I don't know when was the last time we saw so many hikers in one place. We take our time filtering water, eating breakfast, Dario even eats Ramen noodles for breakfast. Two packs. Looks like his upset stomach is no longer causing him any trouble.

We eventually get going again, before any other NOBOs, and enjoy being in Oregon. I want to say it's quite different to NorCal, but it's actually not. Maybe less steep. Yes, that could be. Maybe a little greener, yes, definitely. The forest are a lush green color, but I guess you wouldn't really be able to tell that you're hiking in a different state.

We meet everyone again for lunch at the next water source. There is also a very courageous deer there, enjoying her lunch right next to us. The deer generally seem less afraid and more trusting the further north we go. Aardvark and Switchbacks, another Israeli we've met, already go ahead while Sababa takes it easy and stays put. We keep meeting SOBOs, I guess this is the time and place we get to cross most of them. And they're a great source of information! One of them tells us about upcoming trail magic, sodas in a cooler and we couldn't get more excited! We basically run up the trail to the trail magic where Aardvark and Switchbacks are - of course - enjoying the fresh and cool drinks. The view is also quite nice. Is the smoke finally lifting?

They soon leave again as they still plan to make it to Ashland tonight. It's already 4pm and takes 10 more miles until they will reach the highway to Ashland. Luckily, we are in no rush as our selected campsite is only 5 miles further up the trail. When we finally reach it we are quite groggy, after all we pulled another 20 miler today! We chose a nice site and set up camp under the sky. Sababa only joins us when we are already done with dinner. Luckily we get AT&T cell coverage here and watch another one or two Friends episodes. We really look forward to reaching Ashland in the morning. We booked a motel with pool and hope to be able to relax as well as get everything done in time. We need to buy some new gear, do the resupply and shipping for all of Oregon and of course do our laundry. So as usual, a lot to get done in ~24h!