- gspencer16
Day 81: CS1873 to Shelter Cove Resort (24.0 miles - 1904.1)
Updated: Sep 17, 2019
July 27, 2016 - Tried to wake up at 5am but when my alarm went off I just didn’t feel like getting up and hiking, my ankle/shin was hurting a lot during the night, every time I moved. The pain really is more in the shin than the ankle now. I just couldn’t get up and start hiking with the pain. All of this was starting to get to me mentally but I had to keep moving as I was out in the middle of nowhere. I would be getting to Shelter Cove soon so then I could really decide if it was time to leave trail.
The nice thing about where I camped was I ended up having cell reception so I was in contact with my brother again trying to help me figure out how to relieve the pain. He was almost certain that it’s tendonitis in anterior tibialis muscle caused by all the downhill hiking. He gave me one more exercise to do along with the others he told me about back when I was at Crater Lake. The new exercise had me strength my ankle by attaching a weight to it and move my foot up and down. However being out in the woods and not carrying any weights around I had to get creative. There were tons of rock around so I grabbed one that felt like 2 lbs and tied it to some rope then wrapped it around my foot then moved it up and down like Lee had said.
So I take off and just get in a mile to warm up the muscles before doing the stretches, it was kind of painful like it had been the last few mornings. I then do the new exercise and take back off hiking. It didn’t take long but the pain seemed to go away. This had happened before but the pain always would come back later but today it was different, the rest of the day was pain free, until the end when I hit a root which really hurt. It was crazy doing this simple little exercise made all the difference, this really lifted my spirits, I felt like I was going to be able to keep going, I just might get to Canada now.
2.5 miles in for the day I got to the turn off for the Oregon Skyline Trail that the sign actually said Oldenburg Lake Trail. So I head off down the hill towards the 21 mile trail to Shelter Cove.
The trail was just what my hurt ankle/shin needed, nice flat and level trail to hike on. There were some hills but they were very gradual. I had made the right choice. Normally I prefer to stay on the PCT but I have taken other alternate trails to this point. Actually hiking on the Crater Lake Rim Trail isn’t considered part of the PCT any more but almost every hiker takes it.
I was a little disappointed that there weren’t many views. I figured with the name skyline I would see some kind of skyline but I was in the woods all day. I did pass by several lakes and had a few nice views of Mt Diamond View.
I took my lunch break at Crescent Lake. It was a little confusing getting there as the directions I was given to get to the lake were terrible, as it was a short hike off trail.
At the campground I head down to the lake and wash all the dirt off me and “clean” my clothes in the water as well. Just as I finished cleaning a lady came over to ask if I was hiking the PCT. We start chatting then asked if I need anything. Normally I would say no but I took the last of my ibuprofen earlier in the day, I had been going through those things like candy. Luckily for me she had plenty to spare so I walked back to her campsite to get it. Then she ended up giving me a cold beer to drink. I really don’t like beer but I don’t pass up on cold drinks plus the extra calories. Then while eating lunch the group next to me brought over several more drinks (beer, tea and water). I ended up staying longer than planned but it was I good stop. I will say that beer had a lot more alcohol, each was at about 10%, in it than I thought so that first mile back hiking was a little rough as I had a little buzz.
Back on trail I had 13 more miles to go to Shelter Cove. The trail was more of the same.
With about 2 miles to go I end up hiking along a creek. I probably would have jumped in to cool off but I was too close to the store so I kept going. Those last 2 miles took longer than I thought as I had lots of trees to climb over.
I finally got to the store with plenty of time to spare or so I thought. The guidebook said it’s open until 7pm but they actually close at 6pm. I got there before 6pm but not enough time to get a pizza so I had to settle for a sandwich was wasn’t too bad.
I was planning on moving on as I figured I could get back on my mileage schedule as I was able to pick up those 8 miles by taking the Skyline Trail however my package had not arrived yet so I’m stuck here until it arrives tomorrow. It’s not the worst thing as I was thinking about staying anyways. I just hope I’m not here too long tomorrow.
I hung around the store pretty late using the wifi as I wasn’t worried about having to wake up early because I knew my package wouldn’t arrive until the afternoon.
I left the store and headed towards the hiker campsite. Had a hard time finding it. At first I thought it was this open field but I saw no one else. What I did see where 2 glowing eyes about a 100ft away by the bushes. I thought it was a deer and started to walk towards it but it didn’t move and got low. That was my cue to get out of there, could have been a mountain lion. After that I found the campsite.
