No Elephant Here

Day 114 - July 28

Mile: 1674.5 to 1695.8 (21.3)

up/down: 3850/3400 feet

[Note: Our resident historian Hummingbird came up with our opening theme]

American pioneers on the Oregon trail would start out with optimism and excitement. When reality of hardship hit they would talk of "seeing the elephant." Many who saw the elephant would give up and go home. As we pass into Oregon today we continue to have the same excitement and optimism that we started with (but perhaps we are few pounds lighter). There is no elephant as we push on toward Canada. 

We continued the ridge from camp to the east as we realign with the Cascades and move toward Ashland tomorrow. We could see back to the Red Buttes from yesterday. Finally turning north in the late morning we pushed on. The walking was easier than yesterday but the heatwave kept it hot and humid all day. 

 

 

By early afternoon we had passed a large milestone in our trip, the California/Oregon border. 1689 miles in 92 hiking days. Wow, California is a long state. 

 

We finished the afternoon setting ourselves up for Ashland as we have about 20 miles remaining. Our Trail Mom Terri's sister Jan will scoop us up from the trail when we get to I-5 in the afternoon. We'll take a zero day and get ready for our march through the nearly 500 miles of Oregon. 

 

We've been hiking for about a week now with a young couple from South Africa, Flapjack and Hiccup. They are really fun to hang out with and it's great for us to learn about another culture.