Day 105 - Mount Jefferson Wilderness

Wednesday July 29

My air mattress is fixed! There might still be a tiny leak, but it stayed sufficiently inflated all night. 

I think I know what punctured it. All of the holes were towards the bottom of the mattress. When it was warm at night, I would unzip my sleeping bag and use it as a cover when it cooled at night. Since I have a mummy bag, it will only unzip down to my ankles. I stick my feet in the pocket at the bottom. The sleeping bag is designed to have the zipper underneath me. As I slept, my legs would push down on the zipper pull. With enough pressure, it would poke a hole. Now I will position the zipper on top. Hopefully, there will be no more holes!

I woke up at first light and was on the trail by 5:30. When I reached highway 20, Santiam Pass, I entered the Mount Jefferson Wilderness. The trail then climbed 1,800 feet to the base of Three Fingered Jack.

On the way up, I saw a herd of elk. They quickly disappeared into the forest before I could take a picture. 

As the trail climbed beyond Three Fingered Jack, Mount Jefferson came into view.

For the rest of the day I got closer and closer to the mountain. As a bonus, there were a lot of ripe blueberries. I had to pause a couple of times to pick a few.

By the way, the trail today was exceptionally dusty, sometimes with an inch of dust. When the breeze blew from behind, I ended up walking in a dust cloud! 

By 4, I was tired, mainly because I am carrying 5 days of food and enough water to dry camp. The pack felt heavier and heavier as the day wore on. 

I found a nice campsite nestled in the trees, although there are pesky yellow jackets buzzing around my tent. 

I am camped tonight at PCT mile 2031.3. I hiked 27.5 miles today. The elevation here is 5,749 feet. 

Did you notice?

Next to the rocks was a ziplock bag. A note said, "Congratulations on reaching mile 2000! Roll yourself a joint!" I didn't, but I thought the message was cute!