Day 105 mile 1897.8 – 1917.6 (plus 3.1 side trips)

Elevation: ascent 2,176 ft, descent 3,629 ft

Today is a resupply day, which also means town food. I know I sound like a broken record when it comes to towns…HAHA!! We were heading to Shelter Cove today which lies 10 miles ahead. The alarm went off at 5:30 so we could get an early start. It also allowed us to have a great view of the sunrise from inside our tent. We tried to be as quite as possible so we didn’t wake the hikers that allowed us to crash the camp site with them last night.

The mosquitoes were way more intense this morning and these blood suckers have no problem attacking you even while you are hiking. So Double Down and I probably look funny from a far, if someone was watching, as our arms are flailing around as we cruise down the trail. There are a lot of ponds here in Oregon which leads to huge breeding grounds for these demons!! On the hike down we started to see more Common Bear Grass again which we haven’t seen much since crossing over into Oregon. Then we came up upon the 1,900 mile mark of the trail. Someone had spent some time making a cool rock marker for this milestone. Can’t believe we are only 100 miles from 2,000.

Leaving Diamond Peak

We reached the turn off for Shelter Cove Resort, located on Odell Lake, and then had a 1.4 mile road walk to get there. Of course we crossed a railroad track on the way, seems like we do this a lot when heading into towns. Along side of the road we did find Black Huckleberry bushes so we took some time to pick and enjoy some of those.

Osprey nest

We reached the resort at about 9:45 and were shocked by how big the lake was. The resort was busy with a lot of RVers and other campers, but everyone was super friendly! We found the PCT area (they set up an area just for hikers) that was right down by the water. It was an awesome set up for us. They had a microwave, charging area, shade with picnic tables, trash cans and a hiker box (extra gear or supplies hikers leave that they no longer want or need). When we got to the hiker area we ran into Vortex again, met Turtle and Gnome (who had been hiking the trail with their 13 year old daughter, before she decided she had enough), as well as Sarah and Robert who are Southbound hikers (SOBO).

Link, Vortex, Robert, Double Down

Our first order of business was eating so I grabbed Double Down and I some breakfast burritos and drinks. After consuming those it was time to resupply and clean up. We took advantage of the showers and laundry they offer guests and hikers. The showers were $2 for 3 minutes of water. I got lucky and found a shower whose timer seemed to be broken. Once clean and in our town clothes we threw all of our dirty clothes in the washer. While the clothes were getting clean we grabbed the resupply box, we had sent here and refilled our food bags. It’s crazy how 4 days of food for two hungry hikers and fill up those bags quickly. Once that had been organized we got a pizza to split. It was big enough though that we ended up giving away 2 pieces, unheard of! We had a lot of laughs as stories were exchanged about the trail.

After getting our laundry and repacking our bags it was time to get back to the trail as we were hoping to get in another 10-12 miles. We spent about 4 hours at the resort, which flew by. Both of us wish the hiking would fly by this fast at times…HAHAHA!! Hiking out with full packs and stomachs made for a slow return to the trail. On the way back to the trail we had to cross the railroad tracks again and just missed being stuck waiting for a train. Phew!!

The next few miles we hiked a gradual up hill until we reached Highway 58. Here it felt like we got to play frogger as we had to cross a busy 4 lane highway. You would think having a bridge here might be a good idea. Then the trail continued up hill until we reach the Rosary Lakes (Lower, Middle, Upper) which had some beautiful campsites. Unfortunately we still needed to make some miles so we had to continue on.

Lower Rosary
Middle Rosary
Upper Rosary

We reached Bobby Lake which was our camp destination for the day at about 7:00. We found a great site to set up the tent and enjoyed dinner while over looking the lake and taking in spectacular colors of the sunset. We definitely enjoyed seeing more lakes today and especially being able to camp near one. Hopefully that will continue tomorrow! Thanks for reading. Link