Total Miles This Hike: 299.9
PCT Miles Covered: 2001.0
I was up at about 4:30 in the morning as I had to be back at the Greyhound Station by 6AM to catch my bus back up to Bend. The first leg of the trip would take me to Eugene, where I would get on a different bus which would take me over the Cascades to Bend.
I haven’t had a lot of luck with Greyhound in the past which is why I try to stay away from them most of the time, however this was the most economical choice for me as I have spent a lot of money the last few weeks on hotels and rental cars and need to start cracking down on expenses if I plan to make it to Canada and back home without going too far in debt.
As soon as I got to the station though, I realized my Greyhound luck was going to continue once again. Using their live tracker I soon realized that the bus which was coming up from California was about 3 hours behind schedule. The fires down by Redding had closed roads and affected traffic causing the delay. This essentially made it so I would miss my connection in Eugene. There is only 1 bus a day from Eugene to Bend, so I was looking at another unplanned night in another unplanned spot. I had also already booked 3 nights back at the hostel in Bend and it was past the point of cancellation.
I decided that I would rather get to Bend as fast as possible and instead of spending money on a hotel in Eugene, I would just get another rental car from there and drive it to Bend. The costs worked out roughly the same as getting a hotel in Eugene and taking the bus the next day, but this way I would already be in Bend, and I wouldn’t jeopardize my hostel reservation.
The actual ride from Medford to Eugene wasn’t that bad once the bus actually showed up. Getting into Eugene, I was told that there were 3 of us that missed the connection to Bend and that Greyhound would pay for a taxi all the way there for us. The idea of sitting in a taxi with 3 (including the driver) other non-hiker strangers for multiple hours didn’t excite me, so I told them I had already made other arrangements and proceeded to call my own cab to get me to the Eugene Airport where the rental car office was.
About 4 hours later, I was passing the trailhead at Santiam Pass where I started the hike south this year, and would be hitching back to in 3 days time. I had hoped there might be a hiker or two to bring into Bend or Sisters, but alas nobody was up there. As I came down the hill into Sisters however, I saw two guys with their thumbs out heading towards Bend. I pulled over, picked them up and headed into town.
One of these hikers was from Bend, so he knew exactly where they wanted to go, and drove me directly to this small taco and beer place where he knew someone who worked there. I hung out with them for a beer, wished them luck and headed over to the hostel. 3 nights here, and I will take the same bus to Sisters on Monday morning and hitch back from there to the trail.
I definitely feel like I have spent more time travelling by car and bus than I have hiking so far this year, but hopefully on Monday all that ends and I can get back to just plain walking again....
Keep on keeping on,
Patch
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