Day 20
Today’s Miles: 16.5
Total Miles: 237.3
Bobby Lake to Brahma Lake
Greeted by one the prettiest sunrises on the trail, my day started out well at 5 a.m. I was awake through the night in typical fashion, and I missed the comfy pillow I had the previous two nights, as well as my company, but last night was thankfully quiet and uneventful.
I had my second food bag scare on the trail. I went to retrieve it this morning and couldn’t find it anywhere. I searched for at least 15 minutes, retracing my steps from last night. Right when panic started to set in, I found it. What a huge sigh of relief; I have two big days ahead of me.
The mosquitoes were bad last night once the sun went down, and they weren’t much better this morning. The camp robber birds were very interested in my morning routine as well. I packed up and was on my way.
I saw my familiar print in the ground today. I assumed the storm would erase them all, but the rain must not have made it this far north. I don’t know why, but I found this print so comforting; someone was clearly leading the way. I also started noticing a shoe print twice my size – it was gigantic, and a little snowman print. I spent a lot of time looking at the ground so I wouldn’t trip over anything.
Thank goodness I had the mosquito net, I wore it all morning. I figured out that the skeeters die down in the afternoon, enough so, that it made me want to begin hiking around 10 or 11 a.m. because they can be that AWFUL in the morning.
Nothing dampened my spirits through the entire state like these tiny little critters. They made me embarrassingly grumpy, and this was one of those mornings.
Carl brought me my iPod to Odell Lake, and it saved the day. It’s old, so it has all my favorite music from 10 years ago, but I didn’t care. It was nice to have a distraction, and quiet the mosquito buzzing in my ears.
Late morning I was awarded my only view of the day. I veered off the trail to an outcrop of boulders with large Waldo Lake spread out below, and took my time snacking, and reading about the next section of trail in my book. Waldo lake is the second largest natural mountain lake in Oregon at 10 square miles.
I arrived at Charlton lake around 1 p.m. It’s close to a dirt road and parking area, and only a 2-mile hike from Waldo lake, so there were people. I saw paddle boards and rafts on the lake. It was strange because I felt so remote, but it was clearly an accessible area.
I found a little spot to myself down the lakeside trail to filter water and eat lunch. Despite a chilly breeze, I went for a swim. It just seemed like something I should do, and I was grateful for the decision when I traversed through the dry Charlton Butte fire section not long after.
The trail passed through the 1996 Charlton Butte Fire area for several miles. It was fun to hike through, a definite change of scenery, but it was also hot and dusty. The section had a handful of downed trees, but nothing I couldn’t get around fairly easily.
I got to see my first glimpse of the next wave of mountains. I didn’t know for sure what mountains they were, but I knew I was getting close to Bachelor and the Three Sisters.
With cell service on the other side of the burn, I checked in with multiple people. I was organizing my Elk Lake pick-up, among other things for the coming days. Logistics…
I planned to camp at Irish Lake tonight since it was a car camping campground, according to my book, and I thought I would have better luck avoiding another night all alone, and enjoy the facilities. However, when I arrived, there was virtually nothing there, and it had a weird vibe.
It was early enough I could continue on, and the book recommended Brahma lake camp 2.5 miles ahead, or Stormy lake 4.5 miles ahead, so I surged forward.
I was excited to enter the Three Sisters Wilderness. It reminded me of “home” and my childhood growing up in Bend. It’s also a very sought out wilderness for recreation, it offers some of the big wows.
As soon I got to the Brahma Lake camp, I was so happy with my decision. It was a beautiful quaint lake, and the main camping area was perfect. I decided to stay. Hiking to the next lake to shave another 2 miles off my day tomorrow was tempting, but I really liked this spot, and I place high value on camp locations.
The water was so warm, I decided to go for a swim. I wanted to go skinny dipping at least once on my PCT journey, and what better place; I had the entire lake to myself. The fact that I didn’t see anyone on the trail all day would mean a crowd would roll up while I was in my birthday suit, but Murphy’s Law didn’t reveal herself today. I had the area to myself the entire evening.
My swim was heavenly. I swam from shore to shore before getting out to make dinner and set up camp. The wind picked up, which made setting up the tent interesting, but I figured out some tricks pretty quickly.
The mosquitoes were thankfully absent, perhaps because of the wind. This was such a win I did not take for granted anymore.
I was looking forward to the wind lulling me to sleep, and hopefully keeping me asleep, but of course it died down as soon as I crawled into my sleeping bag.
Did you miss the beginning of my Oregon PCT journey? Begin with Day 1: Here
Environmental Communications 
Wow that is one pretty lake! Great photos:)