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 117: August 2, 2025

Location: Northern Oregon
Start: Maiden Peak Cabin – 1915.9
End: Tentsite – 1945.0
Miles: 29.1
Ascent: 2818 | Descent: 3805
Sleep: Tent

I’ve been dealing with some lower back pain these last few days, and today it really flared up. It made the day long and hard despite the easy terrain. The pain is concentrated in my right lower back, but today radiated around to the front of my stomach and made it feel like I had a stitch in my side most of the day. This made my stomach hurt and I felt mildly nauseous. I’m honestly surprised I was able to hike as far as I did, and it makes me nervous to imagine how I’m going to feel tomorrow.

We got up at our normal time but moved slowly this morning. Our tent was covered in condensation both inside and outside despite us leaving the tent doors open. We were packed up and on trail by 6:30am. The terrain this morning was mostly downhill before a long but gentle uphill. We had dry camped the night before and were very conscious of our water consumption because neither of us had much water to spare. I left camp with half a liter to last the 3 miles until we could fill up at Bobby Lake. Shortly after leaving camp, though, we stumbled upon a water cache that wasn’t listed on FarOut. We gratefully filled up and were in our way.

Just before 8am I started being passed by runners heading in the same direction. They all had bib numbers on so I figured they were part of some race. I only saw a handful during the climb, but a little while later Truffles and I rounded a corner and walked up on an aid station set up in the middle of the trail. The volunteers were kind enough to share snacks with us and I got a delicious slice of watermelon. They were curious about our hike and told us about the race, the Waldo 100k Trail Race. Apparently where we were seeing the runners was around mile 28, so they’d already run over a marathon and were nearly halfway done. I had thought the race was just beginning because everyone looked so put together and no one seemed disheveled or exhausted. Good for them!

Truffles and I left the aid station with the intention of hiking another 5ish miles to Charlton Lake to get water. Around this time I started feeling bad, my back and stomach hurt and I felt nauseous and slow. I hobbled along determined to make it to the lake so that o could sit down and rest for a bit. It felt like it took hours, but finally we arrived at the lake and found a pretty spot in the shade to sit and rest. I filtered water, drank the coffee I hadn’t had with breakfast, and took some Tylenol.

Refreshed we departed from the lake and started hiking towards a burned area. We crossed a gravel road and found some zip lock bags full of snacks, o doubt left on the trail by other aid station volunteers. We grabbed a croissant and some dried pineapple and were on our way. I felt much better thanks to medicine and caffeine and was able to sail through the burned area. Comments on FarOut talked about how this area was so scorched that there weren’t even widow makers, and they were right. It was as barren and desolate as we’ve seen, but we had a great view of the Sisters looming ahead of us.

We weren’t out in the open for long and were back in the shade of the forest. We hiked to Brahma Lake for lunch where we sat in the shade for a long break. We laid our tent and sleep stuff out to dry and got packed up around 2:30pm. We only had 9 more miles to our desired campsite and I thought it was going to be an easy afternoon.

With about 6 miles left to go I started feeling bad again. I felt every mile and was counting down the minutes until we arrived. I felt bad but was still able to keep up a decent pace and we arrived at the campsite at Mac Lake just before 6pm. There were a lot of people there, though, and Truffles had found a potentially better spot 2 miles ahead. I didn’t feel like walking further but also didn’t want to stay at a crowded site.

We continued in for another mile and were passing Horseshoe Lake at 6:30pm when I declared I couldn’t hike anymore and needed to call it here. There was another couple set up there, but we squeezed in by them and began to set up. The couple were locals just out for a short section hike and were friendly enough. Truffles got dinner going while I put our sleeping stuff in the tent and just laid there for a while. I think stopping early will give me more time to rest and hopefully feel better tomorrow. We ate and got in bed early, we’ll see how tomorrow goes.

Day 118: August 3, 2025

Location: Northern Oregon
Start: Tentsite – 1945.0
End: Tentsite – 1975.4
Miles: 30.4
Ascent: 4484 | Descent: 3332
Sleep: Tent

Thankfully I felt a little better today, but was still uncomfortable most of the day. We woke up before the sun and were packed up and on the trail by 6:30am. Truffles had found an alternate that cut off 3 miles and the biggest climb of the day. The junction was about 5 miles into the day and thankfully the morning passed quickly.

Once we hoped on Red Hill Trail the trail became less well maintained but was still manageable. My back continued to hurt thanks to the weight of my pack, but I took several breaks to help ease the tension. The trail was mostly downhill to start and once we crossed Horse Creek and stopped for water, we began to climb around the side of Red Hill.

The uphill was gentle but I still felt tired and slow. About a mile before the junction back to the PCT the trail leveled out and took us past several lakes and wide open meadows. The mosquitoes were surprisingly minimal here thanks to a constant breeze and there were hundreds of butterflies dancing on the wind.

I got back on the PCT first and waited for Truffles at the junction. I found a shady spot to rest and eat and snack and was bolstered enough to make it to lunch. We set our sites in a creek 4 miles ahead and started hiking.

Our views in the afternoon were dominated by the Sisters. Just before lunch we crossed several meadows that skirted the base of the North Sister. We continued hiking north and made our way around the Middle Sister. We got water and stoped for lunch at Mesa Creek and found a shady spot to eat. We hung out for a while but got hiking again around 2:15pm. We had less than 9 miles to go and it felt like it was going to be an easy afternoon.

After lunch we had a climb through burned area but were distracted by all the wildflowers and dramatic views surrounding us. The ascent was short and sweet and we were cruising through meadows in no time. There were so many fields of lupines I felt like we were back in NorCal! The creeks that we crossed were flowing cold and blanketed with flowers on the banks.

Our goal today was to camp just before the Obsidian Limited Entry Area. This short 2 mile stretch has a strict no camping policy so we knew we couldn’t stay there. Since we were making such good time thanks to the short cut, we decided to push through to the other side of the no camping area. Unfortunately there weren’t any water sources close by, so we knew we’d have to carry in water and dry camp.

The afternoon felt like it drug on just because I was getting tired and was ready to be at camp. There were looming storm clouds circling the Sisters so I wasn’t sure if we’d get wet or not. Finally we made it into the Obsidian Area and were instantly blown away by all the black shiny rocks littering the mountainside. The obsidian was everywhere and shown in the sun.

Shortly after entering this area, the trail steeply climbed towards Obsidian Falls. The falls was about 40 feet tall and bounding off cliffs of obsidian. We snapped some quick photos and were on our way, determined to get to camp. We passed several lakes and were shortly out of the Obsidian Area. There weren’t any marked campsites on FarOut, but several comments said there were multiple campsites less than half a mile from the exit. We pushed hard and found a decently flat spot to pitch the tent.

We set the tent up quickly and were quick to make dinner, we were both starving. I’m tired and hoping I get a good nights sleep tonight!

Day 119: August 4, 2025

Location: Northern Oregon
Start: Tentsite – 1975.4
End: Big Lake Youth Camp – 1997.0
Miles: 21.6
Ascent: 2795 | Descent: 4297
Sleep: Tent

Slower morning, left around 7

Climb first thing up to lava field, felt like we were going through a caldera, could see several large snow covered volcanoes and cones around us, rocks were annoying but manageable

Descended to Minnie Scott Spring where we could see it bubbling out of the sand and bouncing small rocks around, kept going down to South Matthieu Lake, got water there. Very breezy and chilly but okay in the sun

More downhill through burn area to McKenzie Pass, hit another lava field that would turn out to be several miles long, could see cool stone observatory but decided not to go through it

Crossed the highway and got trail magic at a dirt road from Freight Train’s mom

Big hill up lava field, very exposed but thankfully windy so it kept us cool but the rocks were very annoying and I felt bad

Snack break at the top, lots of butterflies

Long descent across the lava and through burn area, stopped for quick lunch around 1:30pm and was moving again around 2

Another small hill but thankfully off the lava and just in burn area, could see all the volcanoes in the distance

Long exposed descent, just wanted to be done for the day

Made it to the youth camp junction and took the nearly 1 mile long side trail to get to BLYC and arrived around 5pm

Checked in and was pointed to the hiker area where there were already probably 10 hikers, line for laundry but we got to take showers and use the WiFi. Reconnected with Ghost and made plans to shuttle to Sisters with him tomorrow, booked $400 hotel room for 3 nights in Bend

Got free dinner with the staff on a patio overlooking the lake, all you could eat veggie burgers, ate with ghost and fire hydrant

Went back to the hiker hut to collect our stuff and then found camping at the “cove” off the youth camp’s property. Put up the tent right by the water and rested