7/29/17 – Halfway There

Day 97
Miles: 1,908.21 to 1,932.77

Total miles hiked: 1,336.62
1,325. It is an strange number to celebrate but PCTers who come this far do. It means that we have successfully completed half of the trail. In most years this mile comes just shortly before Chester, California where the official half way point is marked by a sign. This year with people skipping and flipping, many places will serve as the half way there spot. For Dave and I it was just about a mile from Charlton Lake in Oregon. We made a fist bump to celebrate and then we hurried to the lake that was much more exciting than this random place in the woods.

Charlton Lake is rather large and with vehicle access we thought it would be super crowded on a warm sunny Saturday but except for one stand up paddle boarder there was nobody else on the water and only a handful of people around the lake. We shared lunch spot with Tomáš and Lenka, I couldn’t believe that we caught up to them, or that we just completed 14 miles before noon. We washed our legs, with the dusty terrain you can never keep them clean enough, Dave even took a quick dip in the lake, and suddenly two hours were gone and we were on a move again.

Our next stop was Taylor Lake about 5 miles away where we had a snack and a nice conversation with couple from Walla Walla who planned to camp there. 

Shortly afterwards, the mosquitoes returned. It was so nice to have a little break from the bloodthirsty buggers. They were ever so vicious and our mosquito head nets went on. 
Five more miles took us to Storm Lake where we decided to camp. The lake was mosquito paradise. It made filtering water and cooking extremely difficult and we were happy for any little breeze that kept them away for a while. 

According to a southbound hiker we met couple days ago, we should have one more bad mosquito day and then the bug situation should improve. Hopefully it will, else we soon might need a transfusion.