Day 111 - 118

Obsidian Falls —> Cascade Locks

I am a bit behind in my writing, so I wanted to let everyone know that I will be arriving at my last post office on the PCT in Stehekin in a little over a week! I would love some notes of encouragement sent to the post office to commemorate my last pickup of general delivery mail for anyone willing to write or send goodies :)

Brooke Giorgi - PCT Hiker, [eta Sept 20]

c/o General Delivery

31 Defacto Ln

Stehekin, WA 98852

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In this week’s episode I’ll be eating huckleberries, meeting friends, and hiking to the Oregon-Washington border!

Day 111: 8/29/2025; mile 1973 - 1996.6

We had camped at the boundary of the obsidian  limited entry area last night, so we decided to spend our breakfast break at obsidian falls.

Today’s hike was extremely volcanic and included lots of lava fields. The tough rock was a bit more painful to walk on, and I couldn’t zoom through this section of the trail.

I was trying to walk with a purpose today because there was a Geocaching event to provide PCT hikers with Trail Magic! Dennis and I knew ahead of time about the event, so we planned our day accordingly.

I got to the trail magic just before noon and enjoyed many hot dogs, fruit, and a cerveza while I relaxed. Dennis and I enjoyed hanging out with the Geocachers and hikers until the event ended.

Then we took a long rest before hiking through the next lava field.

We ended up camping just past the junction for Big Lake Youth Camp which is where we would be picking up our resupply package the next morning. Today was smoky, so we couldn’t see very far down the Cascade range like we should have been able to. 

Day 112: 8/30/2025; mile 1998.7 - 2012.4

We had camped at the junction for Big Lake Youth Camp, a well known stop on the PCT. This summer camp has its own cabin with showers, a kitchen, and laundry for PCT hikers. The camp even allows hikers to eat with the counselors!

Unfortunately for us, when we arrived we found that camp had ended a few days prior and we could no longer eat a meal there. Absolutely tragic! We set about tracking down our resupply package and unfortunately couldn’t find it. FedEx had delivered it elsewhere and we were left with no food. Fortunately for us, the Camp Director, Pastor Les, helped boost our morale by making us fresh mochas with his expresso machine. We drank coffee with Les and he generously donated some ramen and snacks to our cause.

With the help of other hikers we managed to get enough food to last us to Ollalie Lake, two days away. We also reunited with Flo and Pablo who had been behind us for a while.

I was really excited to hear that Flo and Pablo found the hidden soda I left them from the geocache event. They were a half day behind and I didn’t want them to miss the magic ✨

We briefly enjoyed their company before heading off to find the 2,000 mile marker!

We had spent a while at the youth camp and finally left around 1:30 pm. We hiked out with Spider and Tumble who showed us what huckleberries were! We had heard of these exciting fruits and have since spent days foraging for huckleberries to put in our food. We received some trail magic in the form of fresh apples at a trailhead, and stopped for a late lunch around 4pm. We also found a hidden postcard from our mutual friend Will. Will had hidden the postcard months before when he passed through the area. It was so fun to find a little treasure on trail!

We also had snack time with some cool climbers who were heading up three fingered jack in the morning.

As we continued on trail we were excited to see a family of 11 white mountain goats climbing This has definitely been the coolest animal sighting of the whole trail.

We hiked on until it was late, maybe 10pm before deciding to set up camp. Somehow Flo and Pablo caught up to us and we had our first night back together again! It felt great to have the gang reunited.

Day 113: 8/31/2025; mile 2012.4 - 2039.6

This morning we left camp before Flo and Pablo and spent at least a half hour picking huckleberries!

My fingers turned purple from all of my picking. We filtered water at a big lake, ate a whole ice cream jar full of huckleberries and continued in our way. We had views of Mount Jefferson all day and it was beautiful!

We took a recommended side trail that was out of the burn zone and enjoyed hiking around beautiful cold creeks.

We had a long uphill ahead of us, so Dennis decided to meet me at the top in about 10 miles. I ended up enjoying the sunset on my own and stopping to take pictures of the mountain from every angle.

By the time it got really dark I caught up to Dennis and we decided to eat at the last water source. We were both exhausted and silently trudged uphill for the last three miles. We camped at the first spot we could find and were able to sleep quickly. 

Day 114: 9/1/2025; mile 2039.6 - 2089.7 (strategic bypass so we didn’t hike all of these miles)

This morning I caught up on sleep and didn’t bother waking to my alarm. Dennis and I still managed to leave camp by 9 am where we said a quick goodbye to our friend Tania who had sneakily camped right by us without our knowledge. Then we leisurely hiked downhill before getting distracted by some exciting huckleberries. By noonish we had reached the Olallie camp store where Dennis and I bought enough supplies to last our next stretch of hiking. Then we flexed our fingers and started thumbing it on the dirt road. We had a reservation for 9/2 to stay in the Timberline Lodge at Mount Hood and couldn’t change it, so we needed to strategically bypass some miles. Otherwise we needed to hike 55 miles in two days which was a stretch, even for us. Magically the first car we saw stopped for us, rearranged some camping items of their own, and offered Dennis and I a ride to wherever we were going. They said it was out of the way, but they were happy to help some hikers out!

Eventually we came to an intersection where we saw an extremely lost looking Tesla. We learned that the parents of a PCT hiker was trying to meet up with their son, and needed some help with navigation. Dennis helped them understand the FarOut map, and I shot their son a Garmin text. As a thank you for our help they gave us an entire container of grapes! Huge win. Pretty soon we arrived back at trail, ate some sandwiches that the kind men Chuck and Kelly offered us, and we were back. We didn’t actually start hiking for another two and a half hours. We needed a break! I napped at Little Crater Lake, a beautiful pool of pristine turquoise water.

Eventually we had to get going, we still had a reservation to make (although now we were only 18 miles away).

We hiked for a while before crossing a dirt road where we ran into the Tesla family again.

We chatted with them and were happy that our interaction helped locate their son. It makes the PCT community seem so close knit!

Day 115: 9/2/2025: mile 2089.7 - 2100

Today was an uphill half-day of hiking. We were completing the section that led to Mount Hood, a beautiful volcano jutting out of the distance.

On Mount Hood is the Timberline Lodge, a location some of you may recognize from the Shining.

We hiked to this lodge and were so excited to hear about early check-in! We had booked a room to treat ourselves in this historic building. The break was much needed. We showered, grabbed the box we mailed here, and rested in our room for a while. Unfortunately after a while I started to feel ill (likely a side effect of the Giardia medication I was taking, still TBD if I had Giardia at all), and I had to rest for the evening.

Dennis and I had a scrumptious dinner overlooking Mt. Hood and played cards until I suddenly felt quite nauseous and had to excuse myself.

We then “vegged out” and watched YouTube on our phones like screensavers. It’s funny how for the past few days I looked forward to the hot tub here, but by the time we arrived I didn’t have energy to use it.

Day 116: 9/3/2025; mile 2100 - 2120.6

Dennis, Happy Meal, and I played cards this morning before setting off.

We didn’t leave Timberline Lodge until 11am.Happy Meal and I chatted as we hiked some rolling hills. We are now two days away from the Oregon/Washington border where my friends Julia and Gianna are meeting us! We took the little side trail to see Ramona Falls and spent the day hiking through a lush forest.

We hiked until 9:40 pm before finding the only campsite we could at the top of a climb. I was feeling pretty tired, but wanted to get to Cascade Locks tomorrow at a good time so I planned to be up early. 

Day 117: 9/4/0225; mile 2120.6 - 2150 

This morning I intended to leave camp at 7am, but didn’t wake until 8 am. I packed quickly and got my move on. It would still be about 25 miles until Cascade Locks and I was excited to see my friends soon! We would be taking the Tunnel Falls side trail today because we heard the falls were beautiful. I hiked with some new hikers (Oatmeal, Tazzy, and  Cuddles) during the gradual uphill before splitting off to hustle the descent. It was an extremely steep descent for the first few miles which made me hike super slow. Once it evened out I tried my best to fly downhill. Dennis caught me a bit before our 4pm lunch break at a watering hole.

We swam around, ate our ramen, and then continued on to see the numerous waterfalls in the area. Tunnel Falls was beautiful!! See for yourself :) 

We finally got to the town of Cascade Locks by sunset and met Julia and Gianna in town. We got a sneak peak of the Bridge of the Gods which we would take to cross into Washington tomorrow!

Dennis and I were famished and grabbed some dinner while our friends chatted with us. We were all so excited to be on a little backpacking adventure together! We camped at the campground/RV park in town. 

Day 118: 9/5/2025; mile 2150 - 2159.8

I slept so well last night and woke feeling well rested. I eagerly devoured the banana bread loaf that Julia had baked for us, 11/10 more delicious than an oatmeal breakfast. We had a few camp chores to do before Julia, Gianna, and I departed for our hike. Dennis and I picked up some care packages from the post office full of food, and grabbed a coffee at a nearby Christian cafe called Thirsty.

Once my coffee was drank the four of us departed to cross the Bridge of the Gods! We took some photos and then Dennis stayed back to finish his chores. Julia, Gianna, and I walked forwards into Washington!

That’s right, our third state of the trip has been entered!! Today we planned to go 10 miles as a group and it was entirely uphill. It was also quite muggy so the three of us were sweating profusely.

I quite enjoyed having my friends visit and we found a way to catch up and yap the entire hike. It was quite different from Dennis and my usual quieter hiking (he’s probably rolling his eyes as he reads this because I talk a lot). We no longer have easy hours of things to talk about, but we manage to do our best. We set up camp at the last water source before the upcoming 10 mile water carry, and I’m so glad we secured an early spot. So many through hikers passed on the climb with a disappointed look that all the sites were taken. Many had to push on a bit further until they found an available place to camp. We had only been at the site for two hours before Dennis caught up, making up for lost time quickly. We enjoyed some fancy mountain house meals and all headed to bed at a reasonable hour!