A Couple More if Anyone is Still Looking

 I like this "road goes on forever" shot because it is so typical of many days.  I got used to using juniper trunks as backrests earlier on in the hike.  Later I began using sagebrush the same way, and for leaning my pack against as above.  They're a little prickly though. 

One more shot of the Frenchglen Hotel dining room and front desk.  There is no lobby unless you count the screened porch. 

Some Promised Pictures

By popular demand (one person) and because I promised.  I'll have just a few more to add later.  

CCC built enclosure of Hart Mountain Hot Springs

360 view of the great wide open

In tent so tired

Dinner stop on way home in Prineville.  Better than you might think!  I recommend. 

Tenting one last night cuz no rooms available at Frenchglen Hotel.  Damn birders.  Nice folks though.  Family style dinner at hotel below.  Wind tried to blow the tent down later but ebbed about an hour after dark. 

Love them derelict houses.  Inside shots to come in another post. 

More elbow room.

Signing Off

I'm tired of waiting for more pictures to load so let's just call it a wrap.  Thanks for your support and for checking out the blog!

Observations

I am set up in the yard of the Frenchglen Hotel now and am just waiting for the dinner bell at 6:30.  It's super windy and dark but we've had no rain to speak of yet.  I went through a lot of hard wind today as well as short stretches of rain and even a little hail.  Several times the wind was so hard it was almost blowing me over.  Once again the trekking poles helped immensely.  They were also useful on stream Crossings, uphill, downhill, uneven ground, as tent Stakes, and to poke around for snakes before stepping or sitting somewhere.  My tent held up very well and kept me dry in driving  torrential rain and high wind.  Going without a stove also worked well though I've started to run out of energy earlier in the day the past 2 or 3 days.  I wonder if it has to do with my diet of energy bars, Fritos, canned meat, instant oatmeal, peanut M&M's and gorp.  Ya' think maybe?  The Gaia GPS app on my phone got me here fine but I sometimes didn't like how long it took to load and find my exact location.  I also had two instances of setting waypoints that turned out to be way off from where they should have been.  I have no idea what I did wrong but hope I can figure it out later.  I started out hoping to average 15 miles a day and ended up doing 16.3 so I'm satisfied.  Everyday had good points and not so good points and overall it was very tough. I would be on the trail each morning at 6 to 6:30 and end the day between 3 and 5 to do a lot of laying in the tent trying to recover and drinking lots of water.  Uploading pictures to the blog with my Verizon service has often been achingly slow, often because service wouldn't last long enough to get it done.  Such is the case now or I would have some pictures for you. Would I do this again?  Nope, though I'm feeling pretty good about finishing right now.

Success!

I'm waiting for my lunch to be served at the Frenchglen Hotel.  No rooms available but I can probably camp in the lush green yard and eat and hangout in the hotel.  Casey will be here ASAP tomorrow and feels guilty I'll have to camp one more time, especially when she heard it's stormy here.  More to follow soon.

The big nothing

Sagebrush, Sagebrush everywhere.  Gentle Rolling Hills of sagebrush.  No trees.  For miles.  I staggered into Hart Mountain Hot Springs late in the afternoon a couple of days ago after a 23 Mile day.  That nice warm water was calling my name!  Since then I've had a couple of lower mileage days. The first one I'll blame on really tough cross country and today I'll just blame on running out of steam.  That said I'm now only a couple of days out of Frenchglen.  The hotel there is booked but the guy said he might let me camp on the lawn. I'll try for a room cancellation too of course. My daughter, Casey, plans to come get me on Sunday.  I want there to be an ice box full of wonderful cold drinks like Iced tea, ice water and Hawaiian Punch and Frappachino in the car for the ride home.  As God is my witness I will never be dehydrated again!  When I have water out here I drink and drink and drink it and can never get my fill.  Sometimes I can't do that though, out of concern for where the next water source will be.  Tonight I'm camped by the aptly-named Mud Spring.  Even though it looks like it's name I filtered some of it for drinking and got in and washed myself off.  Hey, it's like a mud bath!  I'm lucky it has water at all since the map lists it as an unreliable source  And it's not really the big nothing out here of course. I've been seeing pronghorn, jackrabbits, rodents, lizards, and endless blue skies with fluffy white clouds.  All that along with daydream images of endless cool water flowing,  showering, burbling, rushing...  Okay posting now before I lose coverage. Pictures to follow.

 

Back Online

Once again I'm in the country of Sagebrush and Scattered Junipers.  This afternoon I'm under the biggest juniper in a stand of them (no bad wather forecast) enjoying the shade while looking at a very impressive Rampart Ridge I must climb tomorrow.  Please excuse any unnecessary capitalizations.  It's the voice recognition and I'm too lazy to go back and change them all.  I'm just glad to have a 4G connection again. The other day I had internet briefly but lost it before I could put out a post.  I was able to return some emails about the 4th of July party though.  When last we spoke I was leaving Paisley for an 8-day jaunt to Plush. I made it there yesterday afternoon after a 24 Mile day.  Well, I should really say 22 because I accepted a ride on a long boring paved Road into town in the latter hours of the day.  I was so dry when I got into the store that I had two Snapple Iced Teas one after the other and then a beer.  Today I started a three-day trek up to Hart Mountain Refuge headquarters.  I got a good start on it by making 18 miles today.  Over the preceding days the hike has continued to be really tough but rewarding.  I can tell I have lost weight. There have been

 Hart mountain store in Plush has lots of character

 And air conditioning!

 Warner Lake water filtered well after running thru a bandanna.

 Warner Lake.  Lots of white pelicans

 I love old cabins.  Guess the stove was too heavy to take.

lots of long of uphills, some with a heavy pack because of the water I've had to carry.  I filter gallons of water from Trailside streams and lakes.  Two lakes I also took a dip in and it sure felt good to be clean.  I walked a lot of mountain forest and tundra with incredible flowers while in the Fremont national Forest, and yes, I had a good bit of XC travel.  But I'm making it! At At this rate I should be done in 7 days though it's possible I could take a layover at Hart Mountain Hot Springs if it looks good.