So I’ve been thinking. I’m starting to bust out some good mileage and I’m fast approaching Santiam Pass at (2001). When I get there, I have to get around the fire closure. There are three options: 1) Ignore the closure and jump over a million blowdowns + potential fine 2) Try to find someone to get me into Olallie lake at 2046 which is a 2 hour drive down crappy dirt roads. 3) Hitch to Bend and take a bus up to timberline lodge at 2097.

I might try the first option if I was with someone. I hear the area is not patrolled. The second option is a no-go. Seems there are few trail angels that want to make that drive. So, I’m left with the recommended route to Timberline. That will cut 90 miles of trail walking. In fact, when I get there I’ll only have about 55 miles of trail left in Oregon.

Well if that is to be my route, I had better take in what I can of Oregon’s hospitality ! I decided to Nero into Elk Lake. It was a short walk of 6 miles plus a 1.5 mile access road. Got there at 11, had a shower, setup my tent on a campsite and spent some time in the restaurant.

The resort is nice. Seems to be a destination for Bend folks to play on the beach, sail, and paddleboard. Some hikers milling around here and there. While I was munching on my (delicious) Rueben I met a couple hiking together named Mitch and Gem. Turns out they are from Ventura and hike a small section of the PCT every year. I told them they were welcome to share my site if they could not find another good one.

Later in the day, I’m laying in my tent reading and Mitch shows up asking to take me up on the offer. The last hiker campsite they offered was terrible. So Mitch pulls out some fold up cooler, fills it with a bag of ice and some beers and offers me one. That pretty much kicks the rest of the day off.

Mitch English teacher who grew up in Ventura, a child of one of the local farmers and land owners. He has long hair and probably in his late 50’s early 60’s. I think his mother’s side was Hartman whose name I’ve seen on a few buildings in the area. Charismatic character, he must run an interesting class. Well Mitch seems to have been infected with some ultra-hippy ideology which he puts to good use arguing against capitalism/greed/whatever. It is a fun debate that goes on into the evening.

Then it gets wierd. The three of us are sitting on a fence next to my tent finishing off the second 6 pack when our little debate switches to a monolog. All of the sudden Mitch and Gem are talking at the same time filling each other sentences. They are going on about returning to the ancient ways, that our modern society is a dead end, and a bunch of other stuff I could not parse. This goes on for an amazing 10 minutes. It just comes spilling out.
When they finally pause the only thing I say is “Wow, this sounds like a some kind of religion!” and crawl into my tent to lay down. I leave the door open and keep listening until…well I fell asleep. They woke me up a while later to check on me which was nice. They then cowboy camped right next to my tent on the only flat spot available and started reading poety to each other. Honestly at first I was annoyed, but I kind of liked listening to it in a semi-lucid state. Eventually I drifted off again and slept like a baby, dreaming of the ’60’s.

I suppose one of the reasons I’m out here is to get a taste of some unique points of view. Definitely found one of those.