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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (July 24, 2019)
16 Wednesday, July 24, 2019 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon ADVENTURES! IN SISTERS COUN 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 interac- tive 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 ele- ments of the room to solve a series of puz- zles, 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. Annual PCT migration is underway in Sister By Stuart Ehr Correspondent One of the great annual migrations is passing by (and through) Sisters for the next sev- eral 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 back- packers from all 50 states and countries from around the globe to attempt a northbound (com- monly 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 hik- ers set off southbound (SOBO) from the Canadian border, simi- larly, hoping to clear the Sierra- Nevada mountain range before the white stuff falls. This year nearly 6,000 thru- hiking 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 fin- ish. 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 »17 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 they¾ve made it thus far, NOBOs will have backpacked 1,900 miles, including 700 miles in the heat of the Southern California desert, and SOBO¾s 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 easy- access resupply point. “Sisters was one of the friendliest trail towns. We went dancing at Angeline¾s. 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 rs overnight ground. Sisters offers accommodations at a discount for thru- hikers at several lodges and inns as well as Creekside Campground that sets aside space exclusively for thru- hikers and likewise offers a discount. Although some e ke thru-hikers will take ik- a “zero-day” (no hik- me ing) some will come into Sisters, shop, do laundry, eat, and be ut- back on the trail put- iles ting down more miles before sundown. itch “The easy hitch sters into and out of Sisters p for allowed me to shop ake food, do laundry, take a k on shower and be back noon. the trail by afternoon. Loved that they had d, and everything I needed, I could walk everywhere, esup- unlike bigger (resup- ply) towns,” said Sonja Spirit, Schulze-Braucks (Spirit, Dusseldorf, Germany). rs will Some thru-hikers receive resupply boxes ig Lake mailed ahead to Big Youth Camp near Santiam Pass. The Christian youth camp also sports the dedicated PCT Welcome Center where thru- hikers can get updated informa- tion about upcoming weather, water report, trail closures, and lost and found. The camp also offers showers and an oppor- tunity 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 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. and what doesn¾t,= she said. ment and a listening ear. I¾m still in touch with many I¾ve — Sonja Schulze-Braucks “Spirit” Dusseldorf, Germany Tadlock¾s passion for help- What¾s it like in their country? you don¾t know: First, are have a trail name (few won¾t)? <They¾ve got the look and the gear. They¾ll be in pack and most don¾t wear PHOT OM NCOLLINS.C LLINS, PAUL PAUL CO O COURTESY t h e y h a v e n ¾t b e e n Ray¾s Food Place to the post