The Adventures of...: Days 116, 117

Day 116, 28 miles, endpoint PCT mile 1811

We had a repeat of the weather today, with more thunder, dark skies, and rain. When we woke up before 6am this morning, it wasn't quite light out, but the thunder was already rolling in the distance. I don't know a whole lot about weather, but it does seem that thunderstorms are more common in the afternoon--not a six in the morning. It was definitely strange.

The rain, like the thunder, came and went all day, sometimes very lightly and sometimes quite heavily. At least our pack covers are getting plenty of use--this is the third day in a row that we have had to throw our waterproof covers on over the outside of our packs.

The temperature was cool and damp all day as well; it never really warmed up, and the nighttime air feels colder than it has in a long time.

The hiking today finally provided us with some nice views. We hiked to the top of a tall ridge which opened up large vistas in both directions of layers upon layers of green trees. Flanking those layers on all ends were brown and green mountains. The mountains seemed to be rolling up and down, with the ups covered in low-hanging clouds.

The most intriguing moment occured when we rounded a bend in the trail and were suddenly right up against blowing, white smoke. It was as if we were on a movie set and someone was hiding behind the trees with a huge fog machine. We cautiously approached and realized there was a fire literally right next to the trail. We ran past it as quickly as possible (ok, I ran past while Josh took pictures of it). Hopefully some of the rain we had today will help curtail it, otherwise some PCT hikers behind us may have trouble passing if the fire spreads.

Tomorrow we have an 18 mile hike into Crater Lake National Park. I love Crater Lake. It's one of my favorite places in the whole world, so I am very excited. We will pick up our first Oregon resupply box there that we shipped to ourselves, and hopefully will have some time to see the lake from the rim.

Green trail views

Mile 1800!

Trail views

A new fire right next to the trail... when the wind hit it flamed up.

About 20 feet from the trail.

Day 117, 19 miles, endpoint PCT mile 1830

We woke up this morning to a wet rainfly, damp ground, and moist vegetation all around us. We were only walking for about an hour when the rain started; this was now our fourth consecutive day of rain. Welcome to Oregon.

We had a little bit of sun about halfway to Crater Lake so we stopped and dried out the tent rainfly, and Tyvec groundsheet up on a ridge with a nice view. After the short break we hiked as fast as we could the rest of the way in to the National Park. We finished out a 20 mile waterless stretch to make it into the park; I didn't realize Oregon would be dry like this. Where are all of the lakes and streams?

On the way, tragedy struck: we were nearly out of food, but still hungry during the 18 miles into the park. I saved our last package of crackers and finally opened them up after waiting as long as I could. Halfway through the package, the crackers crumbled and spilled all over the trail. I immediately wanted to eat them all up, despite the fact that they were covered in soggy dirt. Josh had to stop me, and I sadly picked up the mess and put it in the garbage. We went on with hungry stomachs and heavy hearts.

We had dinner at the restaurant at Mazama Village, where we both downed half-pound burgers, fries, and a side of onion rings. Then we went to the store next door to pick up the package we shipped from Ashland. We took glorious showers and did some fabulous laundry, my two favorite things.

The Mazama Village is not anywhere near the Rim Village, where you can actually see the lake. It is 7 miles by road, about 5 miles by trail, nestled in a viewless forest with a large campground. Crater Lake is not the best park to explore on foot; everything is very spread out. We hiked out in the evening from Mazama up towards the rim just a bit and set up the tent as it became dark.

Tomorrow will likely be both good and bad. We will hike the rest of the way up to the rim and will actually get to see the lake, which is an amazing, beautiful place. However, we have a crappy water situation to worry about: once we leave the Rim Village, there is no water for 27 miles. That means to make it to the water to camp tomorrow night, we will have to pull off a 31 mile day. Ugh. It will be a long one, but one filled with awesome Crater Lake views.