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[pct-l] Re: Newcomer! - Oregon Ideas



Welcome OHenry,

If you only have one week on the Oregon PCT, I would definitely recommend
the Three Sisters section in Central Oregon.  That's where you'll get the
most amazing scenery & variety bang for the buck.

If going northbound, the good stuff starts at Elk Lake Resort (1 mile from
the PCT, south of the Three Sisters), and continues until Olallie Lake
resort, north of Mt Jefferson.  The stretch is ~95 miles long, so you could
do it in a week if you average...what...15 miles a day for 7 days?  If
you're slower, you have other options:

- 32 miles from Elk Lake to McKenzie Pass
- 45 miles from Elk Lake to Santiam Pass
- 50 miles from Santiam Pass to Olallie Lake

Others might prefer Mt. Hood or Crater Lake, which certainly have great
scenery, but it would be hard to make a full week of hiking without leaving
the PCT (the Timberline Trail around Mt Hood is the perfect week-long trip,
but only 1/4 of it is PCT).
In the Central Oregon trip I recommend, you'll traverse 4 major volcanoes
over 10,000ft high, 2 spectacular spiny extinct volcanoes over 8,000ft high,
cinder cones, ~7 miles of brand new lava(geologically speaking - 400 yrs
old), and if you look REAL hard, you might even feel "The Bulge" of future
lava west of South Sister.   :-)

-Andrew
Native Oregonian...loving the chance to answer these questions!