This post originally appeared on The Trek, which you can read here .

If you want to see more from my 2025 PCT thru hike, make sure to check out my Instagram (@annamckinney22) and TikTok (@magicinthemountains) for daily vlogs!

*these posts are coming straight from trail, I apologize in advance for typos!*

Day 114: July 30, 2025

Location: Southern Oregon
Start: Grouse Hill Campsite – 1840.8
End: Miller Lake Junction – 1867.5
Miles: 26.7
Ascent: 2932 | Descent: 3344
Sleep: Tent

A full and eventful day! I was shocked this morning when people packed up and left at 3am, 4am, and 5:30am. Truffles and I didn’t get moving until around 6:15am and we were the second to last tent to pack up. We had a short half mile hike down to get back on the PCT and then backtracked 0.1 miles to a parking lot with a water cache. We each got a couple of liters to tide us over the 16ish miles to Thielsen Creek.

The terrain all morning was either flat or downhill so we were able to move quickly. If anything it was kind of boring just because it was so cruisey. Thankfully the morning went by quickly and by 9am we had reached the boundary of Crater Lake National Park and were crossing a dirt road with another water cache. I hadn’t expected there to be dry stretches in Oregon, but without these water caches we’d have nearly 30 mile water carries.

Resting in the shade at the cache was Ghost. Truffles still had 3 donuts left and he made Ghost’s day by giving them to him. We talked about our plans for the day while Ghost ate, the 3 of us haven’t necessarily been making plans together but we’ve been on similar itineraries. Ghost headed out ahead of us and after a bit we set off to tackle the one big “hill” of the day.

From the water cache to the trail junction with Mount Thielsen was all uphill, but it was graded so smoothly it didn’t feel like I was working hard at all. I had put my headphones in at the water cache and was pleasantly distracted the whole climb. It didn’t take long to reach the junction and get gnarly views of Mount Thielsen. This mountain was obscenely rocky with a single jagged point towering over the valley. We’d been hiking towards it for days so it was cool to be right up next to it and feel like we were really getting somewhere.

We sat at the junction for a while admiring the view and chatting. Kit Kat, an older Australian lady, was also there and came by to talk to us. Just after noon we started making our way down the short distance towards the creek. It was just a couple of miles we Truffles and I decided to eat lunch there. According to FarOut the creek was glacier fed, and it was super cold and refreshing! Ghost got water and hiked on, but several other hikers stopped to get water while we were eating.

Just after 1:30pm we packed up and continued hiking. The terrain the rest of the day didn’t look bad. There was a little uphill away from the creek to take us to the high point of Oregon. A sign marked the location as the high point and stated that it was 7560’. We continued along the ridge and rounded a corner to find a beautiful campsite with views overlooking lakes and mountains off in the distance. Ghost was there and we all sat and talked for a while taking in the view and enjoying cell signal. We made loose plans to get to the Miller Lake junction and potentially camp there together.

Ghost hiked ahead and Truffles and I took our time descending. About Mike from the junction we walked up on a large group of hikers all sitting down on their phones. I just figured there was cell signal, but one of the hikers said they had gotten a garmin message from a friend up the trail warning of a new fire. According to this message, just a couple miles north from us there was a lightning strike that started a fire on the trail. With minimal information we weren’t sure what to do, and everyone was trying to get texts and garmin messages out to gather more information.

Their group and our group decided to make it to the junction to then regroup. It was only about a mile to Miller Lake junction, we made it there around 6pm. The good thing about the junction is that there was water about 0.7 off trail at Maidu Lake, or Miller Lake was in the opposite direction about 3 miles off trail. With so little information about the fire, we all loosely discussed taking Miller Lake trail as a potential bailout if we started to encounter smoke.

Truffles went down to Maidu lake for water while I set up the tent and started cooking dinner. Some section hikers came through going SoBo and had more information on the fire. According to them, the fire is indeed just north of us. They were hiking NoBo and made it to a ridge about 3 miles from Miller Lake when they encountered smoke. They chose to turn around and will be heading down to Miller Lake tomorrow. They said some other hikers continued on through the smoke, but that was outside of their comfort level. I was able to get a satellite text out to Hangman to look into the fires, and his text back confirmed the scattered information we’d been piecing together.

Truffles, Ghost, and I decided to stick together tomorrow to try and navigate the fire. Our plan is to hike the 3 miles to the ridge and see if we run into smoke. If we do and we want to bail, we’ll just turn around and hike down to Miller Lake. Otherwise we’ll continue on to Windingo Road where we will likely take an alternate route into Shelter Cove the following day. Navigating fire closures is so fun, welcome to the PCT!

Day 115: July 31, 2025

Location: Southern Oregon
Start: Miller Lake Junction – 1867.5
End: Whitefish Horse Camp – 1892.2
Miles: 24.7
Ascent: 2119 | Descent: 3303
Sleep: Tent

The mileage is a little off today because we took an alternate and are camping on a blue blaze. According to Truffle’s watch, we hiked 23 miles today. We woke up early(er) with the plan of being on trail around 6am with Ghost. The mosquitoes swarmed us as soon as we got out of the tent, and it was a race to pack up the tent and get moving. Thankfully once we were hiking we got a break from the blood suckers.

We hadn’t been sure what the conditions would be like in the morning because of the supposed nearby fire. We were camped at our projected bailout point, but felt safe enough this morning to start hiking north. Our plan became to hike the 3ish miles to the ridge and if we saw smoke or signs of fire to then turn around and head back towards Miller Lake.

We hadn’t an easy climb up to the ridge that gave us a decent vantage point of the valley below. We could see small plumes of smoke, but nothing we felt we needed to be concerned with. We also had signal on the ridge and checked Watch Duty. The fire was listed, however it was so small there wasn’t any information about its size or containment. We felt safe hiking on.

The morning was easy and went by quickly. I dig a cat hole and hiked by myself for a while before catching up to Truffles after he dug a cat hole. We hiked together and talked about the trail through Oregon and how the mosquitoes were so vicious in this stretch.

By 10am we’d done 12 miles and reached Windingo Pass where we caught up with Ghost. There was another huge water cache here thanks to Devil Fish along with some trees to relax by in the shade. There wasn’t traditional trail magic, but the trail angels maintaining this cache had several bins of goodies for hikers including some medical supplies (ibuprofen, mole skin, electrolytes, etc.), a whole box full of bug spray, and books about hiking in the area. The icing on the cake were the boxes containing 20+ battery banks and charging cords so that we could charge our electronics! What a wonderful and thoughtful thing to have available.

We sat and snack while charging our stuff for almost an hour. While we were there, a truck pulled up with a couple who were scouting the area for elk. They didn’t have trail magic but they were eager to talk to us. Our conversation was pleasant until it took a sudden turn when the man began asking us if we’d “had any weird experiences in the woods so far”. He proceeded to tell us about the rampant Big Foot activity in the area and about how he isn’t a “believer but a knower”. He had a lot of fun theories about Big Foot, like how they can travel between dimensions and use floating blue orbs to communicate with each other.

At a certain point I just wanted to eat my cosmic brownies in peace, but they left after a little while. Soon after we packed up our stuff and started hiking again. The 3 of us had decided to take an alternate rather than taking the PCT into Shelter Cove. The alternate had less elevation and cut off 8 miles, it was an easy choice! We started down a forest service road and were shortly veering off onto the Oldenburg Lake Trail. We had a brief hill before walking on smooth and cruisey trail for the next 10. I listened to my audiobook book and the time flew by. We passed several tranquil lakes as we hiked through pine forest.

Around 2pm we popped out near Hwy 58 and walked along the road for a short distance before coming to the horse camp. It was not even 2:30pm but we were done for the day! We had planned for a shorter day today (thanks to the alternate) to allow us to get into Shelter Cove tomorrow morning and do our chores before hiking a few miles past that in the afternoon. This meant we had plenty of time to relax at the campground.

When we arrived we found the camp host who was very friendly and offered us Cokes and fruit snacks. We set up our tents and lunged around for a while and ate a late lunch before walking across the street to Crescent Lake.

The lake was clear and beautiful with mountains looming in the distance. It was in the 60s and overcast so it was a little cold for swimming, but that didn’t stop us from getting in and scrubbing down our feet and legs. The 3 of us sat on the beach for a while just chatting and enjoying the view. Aww Man showed up and sat with us as well before we all headed back to the campground to make dinner.

We sat around the picnic table (what luxury to have an actual seat!) and traded stories about the trail and our lives back home. We sat around talking for several hours until we retired to our tents for sleep. It feels good to have a couple shorter days before ramping up to get into Bend.

Day 116: August 1, 2025

Location: Southern Oregon
Start: Whitefish Horse Camp – 1892.2
End: Maiden Peak Cabin – 1915.9
Miles: 23.7
Ascent: 2335 | Descent: 1466
Sleep: Tent

A very productive and easy day! We woke up early at the horse camp excited to get to “town” at Shelter Cove. Getting to use a pit toilet this morning was wonderful, and we were hiking by 6am. We had a very small climb once we were back on the trail, but it was only around 1000’ and we hardly even noticed we were going uphill. Truffles was very chatty this morning and we talked for the first few miles of our hike.

We only had about 10 miles to get to Shelter Cove, and the morning went by quickly. Once we were up and over the hill it was smooth sailing all morning. We hit a beautiful creek and got to walk along side it for the last hour or so. Everything turned so green and lush by the water and I got the sense that we were truly entering the Pacific Northwest.

Just after 9:30am we rolled into Shelter Cove. Ghost had arrived before us and gave us the rundown of the place. This place truly felt like more of a “resort”, but more so for RVs. It was perched right on Odell Lake with views of the mountains over the water and boats lined up at the docks. They had a large covered area with picnic tables and charging stations for the hikers which was so lovely and thoughtful.

We went to the camp store to check it out and order breakfast from the grill. Truffles for the breakfast burrito and I got a breakfast sandwich with the intention of not filling up so that I could eat lunch later. We sat and sipped on coffee enjoying the side side views for a bit before beginning our chores.

We had sent ourselves a box here from Ashland and we set about unpacking that and reorganizing our food. Every time I resupply I end up packing myself way more food than k could ever eat, and this box was horrifyingly full. I’ll be leaving Shelter Cove with close to 7 days worth of food (for a stretch that we think will only take us 3.5 days).

With our food sorted we walked across the campground to do our laundry and shower. It was only $5 to wash and dry our clothes and $2 for a 5 minute shower (with a towel!). The shower was hot and I found shampoo and body wash in the hiker box, so I was very happy. It felt good to put on clean and dry clothes afterwards.

We wandered back over to the store to order lunch from the grill with Ghost. We sat at a large picnic table u see an umbrella and all had the PCT smash burgers and chatted with Delicate Flower, Aww Man, Sarah, and Darren. As we were finishing lunch, a large storm cloud rolled in and it began to thunder. Isolated thunderstorms have been rolling in most afternoons but it’s yet to actually rain on us, so we didn’t think much about it.

Just as we were starting to get motivated to leave, the heavens opened and it came a downpour. We rushed under a covered area to sit and wait it out, thinking the storm would blow over quickly. We ended up sitting there for nearly two hours, during which D&D arrived soaking wet. We passed the time by looking for motels in Bend and eating ice cream and drinking coffee.

Around 4:30pm the sky started looking a little lighter, so we went over to the PCT area to begin packing up our stuff. As we were putting our shoes on and trying to motivate ourselves, a trail angel walked over and asked if anyone wanted a ride to the trailhead by the highway. We had been planning on taking a blue blaze back to trail, but getting a ride would shave off nearly 3 miles of hiking! We eagerly took her up on her offer along with Peaches and MVP. They took the first ride and we caught the second.

The woman who drove us had hiked the PCT in 2022 and was excited to give back to the trail. She was in the area for a camping trip and just wanted to do something nice for hikers. We were so appreciative of the ride since it saved us some miles and helped to motivate us to hike out in the rain.

It’s amazing how the majority of the AT we spent hiking in the rain, but now we’ve been so spoiled with only sunshine that we were very reluctant to get wet. We got dropped off around 5pm and only had about 6.5 miles to our desired campsite. It was mostly uphill, but we set a brisk pace to try and make good time there. The 3 of us hiked in a line and talked the whole time about our lives before trail and different personality types and tests.

Thankfully it didn’t rain on us at all once we started hiking! It thundered some but the earlier shower made the forest look so lush and green. There were steep sections on the climb, but primarily the trail was well graded and we were able to cruise. We passed by several lakes and weren’t plagued by mosquitoes until we arrived at the cabin we planned to stay at.

I excepted the cabin to be like an AT shelter, but it was far nicer. It was a large 2 story enclosed log cabin type structure with huge windows on every side. It was almost shaped like an octagon with a front porch/entry way with a designated “pee tree” outside marked with a sign. It was absolutely adorable! Apparently it’s mainly used as a ski hut during the winter but is maintained and open to hikers in the summer.

When we arrived and went since it was basically already full. Delicate Flower and Aww man were there along with 5 other people I didn’t know. Ghost opted to sleep on the floor as there was no more open loft space, but Truffles and I decided to put up our tent. There were tons of mosquitoes as soon as we stepped outside the cabin, and we worked fast to get the tent up while constantly swiping at our legs and face. As soon as the tent was erect we jumped in and zipped ourselves up. I was still pretty full lunch but knew I should eat something, plus diminishing my bundling food bag would lighten my pack. All in all we hiked almost 17 miles today. It felt like a super easy and relaxed day. We’re looking forward to cranking out some miles to make it into Bend and double zeroing there!