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Wednesday, July 24, 2019 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Wednesday, July 24, 2019 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
ADVENTURES!
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IN SISTERS COUNTRY AND BEYOND Puzzles make for adventure in Bend If you’re looking for an adventure that challenges your problem-solving skills and creates fun and camaraderie among your friends, family, and colleagues, enter Bend Escape Room. Bend Escape Room provides an interactive puzzle adventure suitable for just about everyone. It’s a physical adventure game where participants are placed into a room and have to use teamwork along with elements of the room to solve a series of puzzles, find clues, and escape the room within a set time limit. Each room is themed and has a unique storyline that engages the players through their environment. Find a lost girl; free yourself from a pirate ship and find lost treasure; track down a missing girl before a bomb goes off… adventure calls! Bend Escape Room takes you out of the day-to-day and offers new experiences. It’s a great activity to celebrate birthdays or anniversaries, and many companies use adventures to build their teams. Bend Escape Room will soon move to a new location and add four new rooms — all full of adventure. Learn more at www. bendescaperoom.com or call 541-382-0770.
Adventure travel in many forms
Annual PCT migration is underway in Sisters Country By Stuart Ehr Correspondent
One of the great annual migrations is passing by (and through) Sisters for the next several months. Unless you know what to look for you might miss it. Known around the world and popularized by the book and film “Wild,” the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) challenges backpackers from all 50 states and countries from around the globe to attempt a northbound (commonly known as NOBO within the community) hike from the Mexican border all the way to Canada — a distance of 2,667 miles, and complete it before the snow becomes impassible on the PCT in the Northern Cascades of Washington state. A smaller percentage of hikers set off southbound (SOBO) from the Canadian border, similarly, hoping to clear the SierraNevada mountain range before the white stuff falls. This year nearly 6,000 thruhiking permits were issued, a truly remarkable record! However, even on a good year, only one in four who attempt a thru-hike on the PCT will finish. On a bad year, such as 2017, when heavy snowmelt followed by raging wildfires fires closed sections of the PCT for weeks at a time, only 17 persevered and finished. “Class of ʻ17 was certainly a year of fire and ice. In Oregon we got chased off the trail so many times due to fire,” said Shannon Alene Hale (trail name Cloud; Grass Valley, California). By coincidence NOBOs (those who started at the Mexican border mid-spring) and SOBOs (who left Manning Park, B.C., in July), form a migratory bubble, typically beginning in July running to the end of August, as NOBOs meet SOBOs on the PCT near Sisters where the trail crosses the McKenzie Pass (Hwy. 242), and the Santiam Pass (Hwy. 20). If theyʼve made it thus far, NOBOs will have backpacked 1,900 miles, including 700 miles in the heat of the Southern California desert, and SOBOʼs will have covered 750 miles through the rugged North Cascade Range. The vast majority of thru-hikers choose to hitchhike into Sisters based on our reputation as a
hiker-friendly town and easyaccess resupply point. “Sisters was one of the friendliest trail towns. We went dancing at Angelineʼs. Super friendly and accommodating. Even invited to a family party. One of my favorite trail stops,” said Ella Raff (Red Riding Hood; Seattle, Washington). Added Stacia Dickinson Torborg (Fledgling), from Portland: “Loved Sisters! Bought a 50-cent T-shirt at the (Habitat) thrift store so I could wash everything else at the Laundromat. Loved that resource!” From something as simple as a 50-cent T-shirt to buying another pair of shoes (a typical thru-hiker goes through five to six pair during their hike) Sisters meets their needs near perfectly. They come to shop for food, fix or replace broken gear, receive resupply packages, take a shower (or three), do laundry, tend to aches and injuries, eat real food (and a lot of it), drink cold beer and possibly indulge in the true luxury of sleeping in a soft, clean bed, unlike many nights spent on the hard uneven ground. Sisters offers overnight accommodations at a discount for thruhikers at several lodges and inns as well as Creekside Campground that sets aside space exclusively for thruhikers and likewise offers a discount. Although some thru-hikers will take a “zero-day” (no hiking) some will come into Sisters, shop, do laundry, eat, and be back on the trail putting down more miles before sundown. “The easy hitch into and out of Sisters allowed me to shop for food, do laundry, take a shower and be back on the trail by afternoon. Loved that they had everything I needed, and I could walk everywhere, unlike bigger (resupply) towns,” said Sonja Schulze-Braucks (Spirit, Dusseldorf, Germany). Some thru-hikers will receive resupply boxes mailed ahead to Big Lake
camp helped more than 1,300 thru-hikers gratis and is expecting to host even more this year. Thru-hikers rely on the kindness of everyday people to act as trail angels, picking them up at McKenzie or Santiam Pass, dropping them off in town or driving them to the post office, Hike-N-Peak, the hardware store, or wherever they need to go. Local hiker Blanche Tadlock has been a trail angel for the last four years. As a senior hiker who has backpacked the majority of the PCT in Oregon, Tadlock knows firsthand the practical needs of thru-hikers and often senses the unspoken The easy hitch ones. into and out of Sisters “I love meeting thru-hikers! As a fellow backpacker, I learn allowed me to shop for a lot from them on what works and what doesnʼt,” she said. food, do laundry, take a “Often they need encouragement and a listening ear. Iʼm shower and be back on still in touch with many Iʼve helped in past years.” the trail by afternoon. Others at Sisters Community Church caught — Sonja Schulze-Braucks Tadlockʼs passion for helping thru-hikers and this year “Spirit” a group of eight couples Dusseldorf, Germany has joined Tadlock as trail angels. Phone numbers are listed at PCT trailheads and online to help thru-hikers get rides to and from town and deal with special requests like finding a dentist or recommending a restaurant. Since some thru-hikers may be on a tight budget, trail angels may let them camp on their lawn, and offer laundry and a shower. Anyone can be a trail-angel but there are obvious issues to consider before you offer a ride or assistance to anyone you donʼt know: First, are they indeed a thru-hiker? Tadlock said it is easy to spot a true thru-hiker, “Theyʼve got the look and the gear. Theyʼll be in shape, very dusty and dirty, usually wearing a sun hat or bandana, hiking poles attached to their backpack and most donʼt wear boots, choosing instead (sturdy and lightweight) trail-runners.” Mary Bartholomew (Tinker, Los Angeles, California), said “Thruhikers have the most compact setup. If someone has a bulky setup, OM/HIKERS NCOLLINS.C LLINS, PAUL CO UL PA SY t h e y h a v e n ʼt b e e n TE PHOTO COUR
Susan Waymire of TravelStore offers 30 years of industry experience to plan adventurous trips of a lifetime. With her personal travel expertise, she can offer you trips to faraway places, drawing off of her own extensive travels. Many of her clients are looking for unique adventures such as the Galapagos, African safaris, or hiking trips to Europe. However, there are those that want more organized journeys such as river cruising, fall foliage trips and tropical destinations. Wherever you want to go, she can handcraft an itinerary to meet your travel needs. Adventure comes in many forms with Waymire’s services — they can be physically challenging or simply a change from the ordinary destination. Waymire offers concierge-level service and she can help clients create elements in their travel they never thought of: luaus, snorkel trips, and privately guided tours. And she provides her travelers with a Pocket Travel App which allows them to organize all of their travel itinerary at their fingertips within their smartphone. Waymire can help you organize that trip of a lifetime so you can focus on the experience itself.
Youth Camp near Santiam Pass. The Christian youth camp also sports the dedicated PCT Welcome Center where thruhikers can get updated information about upcoming weather, water report, trail closures, and lost and found. The camp also offers showers and an opportunity to do laundry, receive a free meal and get names and numbers of local trail angels who are available to help with whatever they might need. Big Lake Youth Camp Director Les Zollbrecht said that last year the
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carrying it for weeks/months.” If you want to be sure you are talking to a thru-hiker and not a day-hiker or homeless person, ask clarifying questions that any true thru-hiker could answer without thinking. Are you SOBO or NOBO? What was your start date? Where did you start? (Campo, California on the Mexican border [NOBO], or Manning Park in British Columbia [SOBO]). Do you have a trail name (few wonʼt)? Over 99 percdent of thruhikers are wonderful people. That said if they make you feel uncomfortable just walk or drive away. If you are convinced they are a thru-hiker ask them how you can help. If it sounds reasonable, a trip to the post office maybe, great! A trip into Bend? Only if you have the time, gas and willingness. Often thru-hikers may offer to pitch in for gas. Sometimes a person may only be a trail angel for a few minutes, offering a ride from Rayʼs Food Place to the post office. The pleasure of meeting a
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thru-hiker, finding out how they came all the way from Sweden or China or one of the dozens of other countries to arrive at this moment makes for wonderful connections and insights. Whatʼs it like in their country? What do they think of their thruhiking experience? Is it different than expected? How have your interactions with Americans been so far? The language barrier may slow the conversation a bit, but showing and extending hospitality to our foreign guests has its own rewards. If from another state, what do they think of Oregon? What did they do to save up funds for this thru-hike? What will they be doing post the PCT? On this unique human migration, costing a thru-hiker thousands of dollars and five to six months to complete, offering to participate in a small but important way in helping someone realize their dream is the real payoff. It may even inspire your own future thru-hike.
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