Tamsin McMahon left her job to walk 4,260 kilometres up the Pacific coast. She wrote about her decision in the May 2 edition of Globe Travel. Here, she regularly updates us en route. Check back for new entries to her blog at the top of this page.
At The Shining hotel
Right near the end or Oregon is a little godsend of a place known as Timberline Lodge.
It's actually quite a massive mountain lodge that rises out of the forest at a treeline midway up Mount Hood.
Hood itself is a spectacular sight. At 11,200 feet it is smaller than many of the mountains we climbed in the Sierra Nevada. Yet it appears so much more impressive as it towers over everything else in the area - a rugged, snow-capped dormant volcano.
As mountains go, Hood is stunning. But we're more concerned with the amenities of Timberline Lodge - the gourmet buffet breakfast, the heated outdoor pool and hot tub.
What we weren't expecting was a place with so much history and character.
The lodge was one of the state's more successful depression-era public works projects, part of President Franklin Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration. It was constructed in 1936 by the Civilian Conservation Corps, which put unemployed men to work on projects to preserve the country's natural resources. Amazingly, the average age of the workforce was 56. They were paid 90 cents an hour and worked into winter, hauling massive wood beams through up to 18 feet of snow.
It took just 15 months to complete construction on Timberline Lodge at a cost of $600,000, most of it spent on wages.
The entire building is a testament to timber frame architecture and every room is covered from floor to ceiling in carved wood - Ponderosa Pine, Douglas Fir or White Oak. A single craftsman was paid $25 a piece to hand-carve several 50-foot support beams. Blacksmiths designed and forged every hinge and door handle, and even a series of massive, heavy boot scrapers.
Every piece of material in the lodge came from local sources, most of them recycled. Workers carved old telephone poles into elaborate handrails and used chains from trucks to make heavy screens for the lodge's 90-foot stone fireplace. They cut up old uniforms and wove them into tapestries and rugs. All of the present furniture in the lodge is original to the 1930s, although much has been reupholstered.
Despite its noble beginnings, the lodge fell into disrepair during the Second World War and suffered through a series of poor managers. In 1955, a Portland-area social worker named Richard Kohnstamm won a bid to take over management of the lodge and transformed it into one of Oregon's best-known ski areas. Kohnstamm died in 2006, but his family continues to run the lodge, which is owned by the United States Forest Service.
Still, today Timberline Lodge is best known among Pacific Crest Trail hikers for having served as the exterior of the Overlook Hotel in the movie The Shining.
And while its history is fascinating, I can't help appreciating this trail stop for its delectable brunch buffet of Kobe beef burgers, Belgian waffles, fresh fruit and tri-tip steak.
In Oregon: Where the Pacific Crest Trail becomes the "privatized" trail
There are dozens of side trails in Oregon that lure hikers off the high and dry Pacific Crest Trail with promises of prettier landscapes.
The trails have allowed us to see parts of the state not accessible on the Pacific Crest Trail, including an abundance of crystal clear, tree-rimmed lakes.
These lakes are all beautiful. And they have virtually all been privatized.
Hiking through Oregon essentially involves hiking from one private fishing resort to the next, from RV park to ski lodge. There are few wilderness areas near the Pacific Crest Trail that haven't become profit-making enterprises.
While the much of the land itself appears to continue to belong to either the state park system or the United States Forest Service, private companies have moved in to operate resorts, restaurants, campgrounds, marinas, ski lifts and a myriad of other services.
