By Holly Parsons
Correspondent

Julia is a 17-year-old from Seattle, Washington who began hiking the PCT
alone on May 25^(,,) during the summer prior to her senior year in high
school. I was her driver on several occasions in Idyllwild, and found
her thoughts refreshingly unvarnished, colorful and succinct. She is by
far the youngest lone PCT hiker I’ve met. She agreed to provide her
story hiking one of America’s most awe-inspiring and challenging trails.

Mountain Lion Encounter

“Shasta is a beautiful hike. I made some new friends on the trail but am
still sad about leaving my trail family – still crying. I camped by the
lake, far more mosquitos here than in the desert.

“The next day was different. It has long been my greatest fear that I
would encounter a mountain lion. When I awoke this morning, I knew I
would see one that night. I spoke to my mom and told her “I know I’m
going to see one," and shared my fears with her.

“I had scheduled a late-night pickup with a kind trail angel at a
specific spot where the trail crosses a county road, so I slept much of
the day. She had kindly agreed to take me to her home and let me use her
computer to complete a 4-hour college essay-writing workshop. Hiking
alone that night, I was about a mile from where I was going to be picked
up at midnight.

“Wearing my headlamp, I turned a corner and saw a mountain lion standing
about 80’ ahead, directly in my path. It was staring directly at me. My
wilderness training immediately kicked in. I started waving my arms,
making noise and looking as big as I could. It didn’t move.

“Simultaneously, distant headlights appeared, and I knew it was my
driver. Nothing I could do. No option to call my ride because I was out
of range. I quickly withdrew and headed about two miles back to an area
where a group of hikers were camping. One of the women offered to return
with me to see if the mountain lion had moved off. It hadn’t.

“Very frustrating. I ended up camping with the group, hiked out early to
find cell coverage, and reconnected with the same trail angel. With her
help I was gratefully on time to log into my essay class.

“Before the mountain lion incident, I honestly wasn’t scared of
anything. Now that I’ve encountered one, I start getting nervous around
sunset each day.”

Fire and Smoke

“I continued alone, hiking through Oregon. The Shelley fire, west of
Etna in the Marble Mountains, was growing fast as I approached, and the
terrain became very smoky. Trail closures due to fire were not entirely
unusual, but this one forced me to skip from Etna to Seiad Valley. It
ultimately burned over 15,000 acres. Trail angels were being evacuated
as I left. I kept hiking north; about a week went by without anything
eventful happening.”

Ashland - Rave – Crepes and Crème Brulée

“I got to Ashland on July 12 – and spent a lot of time there. I ate a
lot, had crepes 5 times. I had been craving them since right out of the
desert so that was amazing. The Town is really cute ,honestly one of my
favorites.

“I went to a rave at 1 a.m. because I couldn’t sleep. I am too young to
get in, so I hung outside with the college students, and went back to my
room about 2:30 a.m.

“On the trail out of Ashland I met Turtle, we got crepes, and eventually
we began hiking together – but his group is faster than me, so I think
I’m going to lose them soon. Mom is so happy I’m camping with a group as
often as possible.

“Bend was pretty easy hiking. It was just nice; I was averaging 25 miles
per day. I arrived at Crater Lake in 4 days – where the fires were bad.

“I met this woman who offered me a hitch to Crater Lake, and it turned
out that she was a paralegal at the ACLU. I would love to work for the
ACLU someday! She was seriously inspiring – she and another hiker woman
I met [18 years old] were the two most clear in their values of anyone
I’ve ever met. So articulate.

“I did the Crater Rim Trail, and from there I could see fires start and
progress. It was awful. Smoke was so bad – a trail angel gave me an N95
mask.

“Swimming and cliff jumping into Crater Lake made for a perfect day. I
ate at the Crater Lake Lodge three times and had amazing meals,
including Crème Brulée twice! I’m living my dream.”

Bend & Brownie Brittle – Can I Please Be A Spokesperson? They’re the
Bomb!

“Heading to Bend, Oregon was easy hiking, I’m averaging 25 miles per
day. I was recently talking to my uncle who hiked the Alps for his 50th
birthday. He laughed at me and said there was no way I’d ever hit 20
miles per day! Yep – that’s what he said.

“Bend was really fun. While receiving trail magic outside of town I met
Hope and Joey. We shared a big room at the McMillan Inn – a place I’d
stayed before during a family vacation, so it was familiar. Hope is
hiking the trail vegan… impressive. Really an interesting couple, close
to my age. Aside from Turtle and these two I’ve not met many hikers
close to my age.

“Familiarity becomes a big deal on the trail. One is constantly
confronted by the unfamiliar and it requires a certain amount of energy
to accommodate the ever-changing landscape, cityscape, weather-scape
etc.

“One thing I miss about the desert, although it always above 100
degrees, its reliability was a comfort. You always knew what the weather
would be. Hot. You knew exactly what to expect, there were no surprises.
Here in western Oregon, where I’m looking at Mount Hood, the weather is
ever changing, not predictable, and constantly requires a new dimension
of planning.

“A day without food! The next day I pushed myself the hardest ever. On
nothing but a powdered Celsius energy drink and 12 wild blueberries, I
hiked 19.5 miles, ravenous to get to my 2 p.m. lunch reservation at
Timberline Lodge before they closed!”

Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood

“The real excitement happened at Timberline Lodge; I saw every hiker
I’ve ever seen since skipping up to Shasta, easily a hundred hikers. In
fact, the Lodge finally had to kick us out of the restaurant. They were
closing but we ate until the last minute. I’m eating soooo much. One guy
at the horse ranch outside Bend said he was proud of me for eating so
much.

“I’m heading to Cascade Locks in two days – back to you then, Holly!'

”[Picture 1]

Julia holding Johnny Appleseeds AX – Timberline Lodge, OR