Status as of May 1st

Objective:  Hike half the Oregon Desert Trail from south of Bend to Frenchglen, 375 miles. 

Good overview if you haven't seen it:  https://www.opb.org/television/programs/ofg/segment/oregon-desert-trail-hike-bike-ski-owyhee-steens/

I'm just back from another conditioning hike with a pack full of mostly water bottles. I go 8-12 miles most every day.  I figure the pack is about 30 lbs.  Actual trail weight will vary depending on how much water and food I have to carry.  Today I was at Eagle Fern Park, which has some good uphill though it's not long.  I'm also using a closed to cars BLM road about seven miles from my house.  It has more opportunities for distance and uphill.  I'm not in as good a shape as I would like to be because of having to baby a foot injury I got months ago.  I've been walking a lot with the trekking poles but only recently added the full pack.  I'm feeling good though and think I should be fine.  I had never used the poles before but really like them.

Done:

All maps and waypoints downloaded for use offline.

Familiarization with GAIA GPS app for smartphone.  It wasn't intuitive for me!  I think I have it down now, though I continue to practice.

Printed hard copies of all maps with distance between water caches/sources noted as well as that of food resupply points.  I also took compass bearings of all the cross country sections and noted them on the map.  It was much easier to do that here on a table with good lighting than in the field with no flat surface and the possibility of wind, rain, etc. messing up the accuracy.  About 79 miles will be off-trail in short sections of mostly less than 10 miles each.

On recommendation of the very helpful Wilderness Navigation 3rd edition from Mountaineers Books I'm using to review my map & compass skills I affixed a narrow, pointed piece of Gorilla Tape to the bottom of my compass.  It points 14.5 degrees east, the magnetic declination of the area I'll be in.  I'll use this declination arrow to "box the needle" (line up the north end) when taking bearings so I don't have to do math in the field.  More expensive compasses have an adjustable arrow built in but mine does not.

Food boxes mostly done.   I'll collect the first from the supervisor at U of O's Pine Mountain Observatory.  That will also be my first water cache.  Other boxes will be mailed to Peters OHV Park just off the trail, post offices in the teeming burgs of Paisley and Plush, and to a nice lady in Plush who will bring my last box from her house to the headquarters of Hart Mountain Antelope Refuge.  From there it's about 63 miles to Frenchglen, my final destination.  The longest period between resupply will be six days.

Stalwart friend Murray Johnson will take me to cache water in five places along the first part of the trail then drop me off at the trailhead the next day.  I'll conceal the caches as best I can and mark their locations with a GPS waypoint.  Faithful daughter Casey will make the long drive to Frenchglen to pick me up when I'm done, which I hope will be after about 25 days.  That assumes I can average 15 miles daily.  The cross country sections will be slow going but maybe I can make up time in-between.  Not that I'll be in a hurry, but when you're alone you can do a lot of walking in a day because there's not much else to do.  

Still to do:

Set a definite departure date depending on a good 10 day weather forecast and snow being gone from the high spots.  I'm shooting for the week of May 14th.

Fine tune food and mail the boxes.  Talk to the people at the observatory, Peters OHV Park, and the Refuge HQ on where/what hours they will be available to pick up.

Continue conditioning hikes, map/compass and GPS practice.

Get more familiar with using this blog.  Cell service is supposed to be pretty good along most of the route but not data.  I'll be writing posts most evenings but not always be able to get them out.  Even if no one reads them they'll still serve as my journal.

If all goes well I may go back next year to do Region 3, from Frenchglen through the Steens to the Owyhee Canyonlands.  Region 4 is the Owyhee Canyonlands.  I've seen that country from the river several times and video of people hiking/wading/swimming it doesn't look too appealing.  I may never do that.