Oregon!

I was up and moving early this morning so I could make it to Oregon today! It was sunny and breezy and just a beautiful day.

As Skunk Ape passed me this morning, he sang a little bit of “Stuck in the Middle With You” with trail lyrics. The trail was heading east instead of north so it was “Oregon to the left of me, Cali to the right, here I am stuck in the middle with you.” It got stuck in my head so I wrote another song:

The NorCal PCT Blues (Stuck in the Middle)
Music by Stealers Wheel, Lyrics by Siren

Well I don’t know why I came to this trail,
I’ve been thinking that I might want to bail,
I’ve just been in California for months,
And I haven’t crossed a border, not once,
Cali to the back of me, Oregon to the front,
Here I am stuck in the middle of you

Yes, I’m stuck in the middle of you,
And I’m wondering what it is I should do,
Should I leave and go on home and relax,
Or should I keep going and kick this trail’s ass,
Cali to the back of me, Oregon to the front,
Here I am stuck in the middle of you

Well you started out at Campo,
And you’re proud that you have come this far,
But the Sobos all come passing,
Slap you on the back and say,
Please, you’ve got two states to go

Trying to get motivation back,
Because mentally I have gone off track,
Well this new state could again make it fun,
I can’t bring myself to leave it undone,
Cali to the back of me, Oregon to the front,
Here I am stuck in the middle of you

Well you started out at Campo,
And you’re proud that you have come this far,
But the Sobos all come passing,
Slap you on the back and say,
Please, you’ve got two states to go

Well I don’t know why I came to this trail,
I’ve been thinking that I might want to bail,
I’ve just been in California for months,
And I haven’t crossed a border, not once,
Cali to the back of me, Oregon to the front,
Here I am stuck in the middle of you

Yes, I’m stuck in the middle of you,
And I’ve got the NorCal PCT blues,
Here I am stuck in the middle of you

I don’t actually have the NorCal PCT blues, but a lot of hikers do. On the AT, crossing state lines all the time felt like big milestones. Meanwhile, I’ve been in California for almost four months. I’m pretty sure it is the longest state of all time. I am happy to get to another state, don’t get me wrong, but I have still been enjoying my hike the whole time.

I reached the border just before dinner time and was met with cheers from friends. We hung out waiting for more people for a while.

Once we’d taken a bunch of photos, I kept moving. I wanted to get to an exposed campsite for the Perseid meteor shower. I’ve been on trail for it the past two years and it was cloudy both times. When I saw more clouds coming in after the sky being clear all day, I was very annoyed but still hopeful.

I got to the dirt road at Observation Gap after 25 miles, which I thought was a very appropriate spot to be. The winds had picked up again and the clouds were moving out. I am cowboy camped and the sky is ridiculously huge. The moon is new so the stars are bright. I’ve never seen them so bright, nor the Milky Way so well. I’ve already seen a few meteors too. Excellent day!

PS: I will not be doing the Oregon Challenge as I realized that it’s crazy. A marathon and a quarter per day for two weeks? I want to enjoy this state, not run through it.