Walks A Ways: Overall PCT Day 125

2026 PCT Day 9, 23 August 2026 (Sunday)

Overall PCT Day 125

"Into Oregon"

Start Location:	PCT Mi. 1696.6	Destination:	Ashland, OR, Mi. 1719.2
PCT Miles Day 117:	22.6	Cum PCT Miles:	2272.4
Non-PCT Miles Day 117:	0.9	Cum All Miles:	2477.5
PCT Miles Remaining:	373.9
Elevation Gain Day 117:	1807	Cum Elevation Gain:	398,136

It was very chilly in the morning, then continually warmed up to the point of being near hot. It’s been noticeable that the trail conditions in Oregon are better than in northern California. Today we ran into some volunteers from one of the local trail groups, they were doing maintenance on the trail, and they were also doing some trail magic, leaving some cold sodas, and a trash bag so we could discard our trash. Other than rides, this was the first trail magic for me in 2026. Then about 5 miles up to trail there was more magic in the form of more cold sodas. Who it was from was unknown, but it was nice.

I did get to Ashland Oregon a day earlier than I had planned, and I wasn’t quite a full day of hiking compared to what I have been doing. So tomorrow will be a true zero day in Ashland, and then I’ll be back on the trail Tuesday morning.

Although I am not a very big user at all of Facebook, I did join several PCT Facebook groups, one of which was the southern Oregon PCT Trail Angels group, I posted a question earlier than earlier in the day when I had cell reception requesting a ride to Ashland if anyone was available. I did get a ride from Joanie a very nice lady who lives in Ashland and does quite a bit of outdoor stuff and traveling.

Although it has only been five days since I left Etna, CA, I was incredibly dirty, and so where are my clothes, probably as dirty as I’ve ever been on the PCT, even though I’ve gone much longer stretches between being able to get clean. There has just been a lot of very fine dirt in northern California, and I’ve had to set up my tent in that fine dirt every night, and of course I’ve been hiking in it every day. So, there’s really just no avoiding being completely dirty in that section.