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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