Author: Jim

A very long day today.  Both in terms of miles and the difficulty of those miles.  Of the 29 miles today, probably close to 10 of those were on lava fields.  And for the record, lava fields will obliterate your feet.  My feet would have felt better today if not for the lava.

I woke up at 5:20, but I must have listened to music for too long or took to long with breakfast or something, because I did not hit the trail until 6:20.  Last night started out very cold, but this morning did not seem as cold as yesterday morning for some reason.  Once I got walking the cold came on with a vengeance, though.  As I got down to the lake I was trying to get to last night, it got noticeably colder and everything was covered in a thick frost.  I even passed a group of six or seven hikers all cowboy camping on the same tarp and all of them were covered in frost as well as all of their gear.  Looks like stopping a few tenths up the hill paid off handsomely for me.  I saw frost in the shadows well after 9:30.

The morning stayed cool even out in the large meadows with the sun shining down on me.  I held my hands out to the sun to try to warm them, but it did not work.  The wind erased anything that the sun managed to do in the warmth department.  The views of South Sister mountain were fantastic all morning.  I had seen pictures of this meadow before and always thought it was lush grass.  It turns out it’s dead gravel with just enough green weeds to give the illusion of grass when viewed at a shallow angle.

I managed to get to Obsidian falls for lunch.  I rolled everything out right in front of the falls and cooked away.  It was a nice break and the spring that fed the falls was the coldest spring of the trip by far.  There were multiple springlets all pouring out frigid water headed for the waterfall.  Too bad it had a high iron content, or it would have been the best water on the trail.

Shortly after lunch, the first of the lava fields started.  The first one wasn’t too bad.  It’s treadway was mostly sand and tiny gravel.  It was easy on the feet, but it was a big climb, so it went slowly.  The views were incredible, though.  From the valley, the flows look like eighty foot high piles of rocks.  But from the top of the mountain where they originated, they look like rivers of rock flowing away from the mountain.  Fun to look at, but not fun to walk on.

I still had several miles to go to McKenzie pass and it was near 4 pm and I was tiring, so I made some coffee.  It always does the trick.  Shortly after 4:30, I got a text from Ireland that they were in their hotel.  Good for them, I still had five miles just to get where they went into town from.

The trail was nice, but a mile out from the pass, the lava returned and it was just the perfect size to not be able to walk on it.  That was the longest mile of the day.  It took a while, but I finally made it out to the pass at 6:30.  I was beat and hungry.  There was a van there and several hikers.  It took me a while to figure out what was going on, but it looked like the father of one of the girls was following her down the trail.  Another girl was going to ride into Bend with them.  They offered me a ride, but I still thought it would be better to hit town from the next pass earlier in the day where I could actually get chores done and not have to stay another day.  I graciously declined.  I have better luck with rides when I am NOT looking for them.  Santiam pass better not be a nightmare hitch.

Two of the other hikers that were there were a mother and son duo and the son couldn’t have been more than ten or eleven.  I know the record is something like seven for the youngest through hiker, but this kid seemed so young to be out here this long.  He seemed to be enjoying it, though.  He had an adult pack that looked absolutely huge on him.

The trail North of the pass was just as bad as South of it.  It was five miles to the next campsite and it looked like at least four would be nasty rocks and a 1000 ft climb to boot.  It was already after 7 PM so this would be a headlight finish to a long day.

The climb up was not bad, but the rocks were.  It seemed every minute I would hit my foot wrong and have shooting pains.  Luckily, it was only three miles of rocks, so I was able to find a campsite high up, but it’s soft and flat and I got there at about 8:20 so I was able to set up camp and start cooking in the waning light.  Wearing flip flops at night always helps and my feet already feel better.  I’m hoping I can find a reasonable place to stay tomorrow to rest up a bit.  I’m looking forward to it.

When I awoke this morning, the temperature was significantly colder than it has been since the Sierras.  There was a small amount of dew on everything and I did not want to get out of my warm sleeping bag.  But I did get up at six and was on the trail at 6:30 without the extra insoles today.  The day was full of lakes again, and towards the end of the day, I am starting to get within sight of the big ski mountains, so Oregon is getting ready to change again.

The morning stayed brisk well after 11 am.  For the first hour or two, I wished I had my gloves.  I walked a while with my hands under my armpits, and walked much of the time with my thumbs tucked under my fingers.  Believe it or not, that will warm up your hands.  It was so cool, I probably walked thirteen miles to lunch on just over one liter of water.

I found a nice pond with plenty of shade for lunch.  I made ramen noodles and ate a little bit of cheese.  I took my shoes and socks off and trimmed toenails and fingernails.  The feet didn’t look too bad, other than being dirty and the skin tough as nails.  The heels are still sore, but the toes are much better today.

After a long lunch, it was time to get going again.  The afternoon was more lakes.  There was a brief hot stretch, but it was mild in comparison to previous days.  I actually laid down on a sunny rock at one point to dry the back of my shirt off during one climb.  It was such a cool day, the sun actually felt good.

Along one stretch of trail, I finally came upon some travellers on horseback.  I don’t know where they started, but they were only going to Odell lake where I was the night before.  It was a man and woman on horses pulling a mule with all the goods on him.  It was a very brief chat as they sauntered by me after I got about eight feet off the trail.  The mule was almost solid white.  I don’t think I’ve seen a white mule before.  The rest of the day I inspected all the road apples I saw so I could get better at estimating the age of road apples when I see them the next time.

Late in the day, the trail final climbed a bit and popped out of the woods.  After not seeing anything but forest and lakes for the last few days, it was a change to be able to see big mountains again.  Mt Bachelor was to my right and the South Sister to my left.  They both looked pretty big.  I go around South Sister tomorrow, but don’t get any closer to Bachelor.  The lake just to the right of it has a resort on it that Karen and I visited in 2009 and we both remember being shocked at having to pay $3 for a coke.  Now I see prices like that all the time.  It was not worth the one mile side trip just to get something to eat.  Elk lake resort is not on the itinerary this year.

I kept going up the big climb and was surprised to find good signal most of the way up.  I was finally able to look up the number of a friend that used to live in Jacksonville just down the road from where I grew up, but now lives in Bend.  This same person also hiked the AT and PCT in the 80’s and was the one who mentored me before my first hike on the AT.  I was able to get ahold of him and we are planning on having drinks or dinner probably Wednesday evening.  There are two ways to get to Bend from the trail and the one I hit tomorrow will be too late in the day to be able to do anything.  So I will probably hike on to the second highway if I can hit that earlier in the day to be able to hitch into Sisters and/or Bend.  I’m still not sure where I am staying yet, the hotels in Bend are $250 a night.  Sisters is a bit more affordable at $80 a night.

I also heard from Ireland via text.  They are camping about five miles past where I am camped and will be hitting the first pass at 4 PM tomorrow and staying in Bend two nights.  I don’t think I can hit that pass by 4 PM, so I doubt I will ever see them again unless I can hook up with them in Bend.  The next two days will be interesting.

The terrain is starting to change again.  More and more large lakes are starting to show up and they are starting to become the primary source of water.  After leaving Odell lake where the resort was, I must have passed nearly a dozen lakes and the third shelter of the trip so far.  I saw about eight southbounders and over a dozen weekend hikers today.

Since it took so long to get laundry done last night, I slept in until about 6:30.  That would give me enough time to pack up before the store opened.  I packed everything up, drank my Izze grapefruit soda and took my garbage and one water bottle with me to the store.

The store didn’t have anything special for breakfast,.so I got a hot pocket from the cooler and a fresh coffee.  The hot pocket was about what you’d expect, but the coffee was quite good.  She made it from a fresh espresso and water.  I must be getting close to Seattle.

I talked with a southbounder for over half an hour about what he can expect and he did the same for me.  I filled up my water bottle and made my way back to the campsite.  Gator and Nuthin were just waking so I said goodbye to them and headed out.  The first mile plus was a road walk and then about three quarters of a mile to get back up to the ridge where the PCT was.  It was about 9:15 before I got back on the official PCT.  A bit later start than I was hoping for.

The morning was cool and the trail was lush pines.  The trail circled around the north side of lake Odell as it climbed up the ridge.  It eventually crossed a highway and kept climbing on the other side.  Most of the morning was gentle climbing as it passed three Rosary lakes.  I noticed there was a shelter that I should hit about 12:30 so that seemed like the perfect target for lunch.

I hit the shelter a little early.  It was only 150 yards off the trail and it’s a pretty unique one.  It’s an octagon with a vestibule and a big second floor loft for sleeping.  It had lots of tables and chairs inside and was very clean.  It was the perfect lunch stop to have my salad and cookie.

As I was finishing my salad, a southbounder came in.  We had a similar exchange of information that I had earlier in the morning.  I offered her one of the three plums I had packed out.  She was very grateful and offered to pack out my salad trash.  I gave her the last plum as a reward.  It’s not often someone offers to take your garbage.  She had three hours to a garbage can but I had three days, and the salad bowl was awkward to pack.

I checked the afternoon maps to see where was a likely stopping point.  24 miles from the start of the PCT from this morning was a lake named Irish lake.  It sounded like the most likely place Ireland and Shiloh would stop for the night.  I would try to make it, too.

The afternoon had a mix of ups and downs that were graded well and I passed several more large lakes.  I was running low on water so I stopped at one to fill up.  By 5 PM I still had nine miles to go, so it would be questionable if I would make Irish lake or not.  My feet were killing me, so I was starting to slow.  I had made coffee at 3 PM when I filled up with water so I had energy, but the feet were howling. 

I tried something odd today.  Since my feet were hurting yesterday, I decided to try to find some insoles in the hiker box to put in my shoes.  I found some used ones, so I had put them in my shoes in addition to the ones already in my shoes.  They were starting to rub my toes raw since they were molded to someone else’s feet that were slightly smaller than mine.  I think I made things worse.

The last hour of the day was a burn area and it was a thoroughly burned one.  But new trees were beginning to grow to replace all the dead trees.  As soon as it turned to woods again, there was lots of flat ground to camp.  I was less than a mile from Irish lake, but it was already 8:15 and my feet were done.  I stopped, set up the tent, took my shoes off, then made dinner.  Ireland and Shiloh will have to wait another day for me to catch up to them.

A long day but a good day today.  And don’t look at the mileage, I did not do 35 miles today, it was actually 27, but I was done by 6 PM.  There was an alternate trail today that was the old PCT that a group of us took because it had more water than the PCT and was 8 miles shorter which meant we could get to shelter cove resort tonight instead of tomorrow afternoon.

The group I was with last night are all earlier risers than me, so I was the last one out of camp.  Since I had only one and a half liters of water to go eight miles, I was checking every road crossing to see if there was a cache just as backup.  At a road crossing six or so miles into the morning, I see register entries about an empty cache.  Darn.  But I also see entries about water down the road to the right and there also being an alternate trail that used to be the original PCT and that it was flat, had lots of water, and eight miles shorter. 

Hmmm, the prospect of getting to resupply a day early definitely had my attention.  The next water on the alternate was three miles further than the PCT, and I had half a liter left.  That was just the right amount to go another hour, so I decided to take the alternate.

As soon as I got to the intersection, I saw an arrow pointing down the alternate.  It must be a recommended alternate.  As I hiked down it I saw tons of fresh footprints, so it must be a popular one.  As I approached the water, I found the group of four hikers I was hiking with yesterday resting on the side of the trail.  Perfect.  They had seen the register entries as well and also noticed it was marked on the Halfmile maps.  I had noticed that the Halfmile app knew the trail and had all the trail junction and water waypoints.  Double perfect.

So the five of us trucked on down the trail together, Ireland and Shiloh in the lead, with Gator and Nuthin shortly after, and me slowly getting further and further back.  When they stopped, I stopped, when they ate, I ate.  The trail was extremely dusty, so I preferred to be pretty far behind them.  But even if I wanted to, their pace was just a tiny bit too fast for me.  And my left foot was getting sore and possibly getting a blister, so I didn’t want to push too hard.  It was a very nice combination of hiking with others, yet hiking alone.  I will probably see them quite a bit over the next week, but won’t see them again after I have to head to Portland to head home for the wedding.  They will all finish a week ahead of me.

I hit the store at about a quarter after six and the store closed at 7 PM, so I had to make my choices quick.  I needed two days of food, but Shiloh and Gator had extra food in their resupply boxes, so I decided to wait until morning to shop for resupply and only focused on dinner.  I bought a hot dog, hamburger, salad, two sodas, a cookie, and a half gallon of ice cream.  Sounds like alot, right? I saved the salad and sodas and cookie for breakfast, but ate the others.  And while sitting there, campers brought us London broil tacos, a box of apples, and a box of pears.  I had one of each.  (Late update: a bag of small plums showed up, so I ate two and grabbed five for breakfast)

Shiloh and Gator opened their boxes and between the two, I have two days of food, so I actually don’t need to buy anything from the store in the morning.  I have enough food, so I’ll probably sleep in a little bit, and if I’m still here at 7 am when the store opens I’ll probably buy a pastry and a milk and head out, otherwise I’ll probably just head up the trail.  I may be able to catch up to the others tomorrow night, or it might take me two days, but I’m pretty sure I will catch them before the next town.  They are very predictable.  They hike 25 miles, then camp.  Doesn’t matter if they get there at 3 PM or 11 PM.  When they hit 25, they stop.  I have been doing closer to 28, so I should be within six miles of them when I set out.

They have showers and laundry here, so I decided to pay the $10 to camp and take advantage of the facilities.  The shower was $1.50 for three minutes, so the feet did not get sparkling clean, but I can see them again, so that is nice.  When I went to do laundry, I forgot my soap, so I had to go back to camp, about 20 min walk.  When I got back to laundry again, I put my coins in the dryer slot, not the washer slot, and I was fifty cents short for both, so I had to go back to camp again to bum fifty cents off another hiker, so it took 45 minutes just to start my laundry, and now it’s another 43 minutes for the wash.  Who knows how long I will have to wait for the dry.  (Late update: 45 minutes)  I may not get to bed until after 11 PM tonight, so know knows how long I will sleep in tomorrow.  As I write this now from the porch of the store, the wash is about to finish.  I hope the rest of the evening goes smoothly.

The morning started out quite cold but warmed by midday and is still a little warm and muggy at night.  There was quite a bit of up and down, but nothing steep, rocky, or treacherous.  I didn’t see too many hikers today, but ended up catching a bubble from the crater at camp.

I lounged with music, ate my pastry, packed and got going at 6:15.  My clothes were still a little damp in the morning, and it was a brisk one today.  Once I got moving around, I warmed up quickly.

The same dead thin pine woods continued in the morning.  But within an hour, the climbing began and the trees got bigger and shadier.  The morning stayed cool even at the open areas without trees.  The breeze really does it’s job well.  Once we got to the top of the first mountain of the morning, several hikers congregated and cell phones came out.  We were still able to get signal from Crater Lake and could even see some of the peaks around the rim.

As the day wore on, the views closed in a little and the open areas got more frequent and the heat began to come out.  At one point just before lunch, I actually got my umbrella out and used it for about half an hour.  Just before I was planning on stopping for lunch, I met an older southbound couple having a snack on a log.  They were from Washington and were very familiar with the trail in northern Oregon so I asked them about the Eagle creek trail.  They assured me everyone was still taking it and easily fording the river and that the difference in scenery was definitely worth the alternate.  So that makes me feel better.

I made my lunch stop at 12:30 and dug out the beef burrito I had been carrying since Mazama.  It was good and filling, but I also ate some cheese afterwards.  I tried to take a quick nap, but the yellow jackets were dive bombing me.  Bugs sure know how to ruin a good time.

There is very little water in this stretch, and the last water for a while was an ice cold stream.  I cameled up and loaded four liters for the next 17 miles.  I really only needed three, but I was expecting more heat.  Luckily, it was not a hot afternoon, so I ended up in camp with about two liters which is enough to cook and make the next 8 miles to a pond.  Having enough water is very fortunate, because the water here is several hundred feet down a steep slope.

I am now camped 35 miles from the next resupply point, which will make for a full day tomorrow, then an easy day into the resort.  Hopefully I can do a fly by and be out on the trail again the same day.  I have 225 miles to Timberline, so my timetable should be about perfect to get there by the 29th.

Even though I have been to Crater Lake and remember how blue it was, it still surprises me every time you see this thing in person and experience first hand just how blue Crater Lake is.  I had a full day of excitement but sometimes it’s nice just to be back in the woods again.

I slept in since I wanted to have breakfast before heading up to the lake.  I heard a crew of hikers pack up and leave at 4 am.  They wanted to go up to see sunrise on the lake. That would have been nice.  But I slept until 6:30 then packed up and headed to the store.  I knew the laundry opened at 7 am so I was hoping both the store and restaurant would, too.

As I was walking up, I saw a couple also heading that direction.  They were walking normal speed, but I had hiker hobble and was shuffling like an old man up there.  The store indeed opened at 7 so I walked over to the restaurant but it looked dark inside.  But alas, the door said they were open.  The couple were in there waiting for a table, so I sat with them.  I first met them in the middle of the Sierras and have seen them a day or two every week or two since then.

I had a buffalo meat egg scramble with hash browns and toast.  It was good, but I was still hungry afterwards, so I hit the store for a Danish and some beef sticks for the next few days.  Since I had already packed up, I headed straight up to the lake.  It took just over an hour to get there and when I got to the gift shop, several of the hikers from the store were already there.  They rode the 9 am shuttle up to the rim.  I still think it’s important to try to hike every step from Mexico to Canada whenever possible.  I am likely to have fire closures ahead, but I’ll think about those if and when they happen.

The snack bar at the rim village was horribly overpriced, so I decided to walk down to the lodge and check out their restaurant.  The menu looked good and was reasonably priced, but they did not open for lunch until 11:30 and it was only 11:00.  Wait and eat or move on?  Wait and eat.  I had fettuccine Alfredo with peppers, mushrooms, hazelnuts, and artichoke hearts.  It was excellent.  I had blueberry cobbler afterwards.

Now back to the snack bar to get my pack, the battery I left charging, and top off the fountain coke.  Never throw away your cup.  It was 12 miles to the next water, a cache, so I loaded up with three liters since it was sunny and hot.  I headed out at about 12:45, Coke in hand.

The rim trail near the rim village was crowded, but after each climb, there were less and less people.  After a few miles I saw only one or two people every half mile.  The trail went about a third of the way around the lake and by the north end I saw only southbound thru hikers heading in.

The rim trail itself was pretty rugged with lots of steep climbs of fifty to one hundred feet.  It was well shaded in most sections and the views just never stopped.  A few times the trail ducked behind a peak for a quarter or half a mile.  But the rest of the time it was front and center to the lake.  I made many stops to just sit and look out at the views.  Wizard island in the middle really looks different from the various angles we walked around it and it was neat being high enough to see down into its cone.

After eight miles or so,.it was time for the trail to turn away from the rim and get back to the business of heading for Canada.  The open plain soon turned to thin pine woods.  The water cache was a few miles ahead and with the heat I drank more than I expected, so I needed to top off two of my bottles.  It was now about 6 and there was a campsite 9 miles away.  It would be a long day, but the terrain here was gentle and nearly all downhill.

About halfway to the campsite, I came across three southbounders.  We had a good talk, and they told me there was another water cache just before the campsite.  Great, I didn’t need to fill up at the previous one.  They asked lots of questions about what to expect in northern California.  They also confirmed that Washington was going to be alot tougher than Oregon.  Super.

I never made the campsite, but decided to stop about three miles shy and rest up a little and not have to roll into camp at dark.  Having an hour to cook in light is sometimes nice.  I cooked some rice and ate a burrito.  I was surprised I was not full, so I had one of the beef sticks, too.  The appetite is definitely at peak right now.  Only 62 miles until I can buy some more food.

A good day today, but I woke up late, had a few blowdowns to deal with, had quite a large burn area to walk through, but the heat stayed away until late in the day and I was able to resupply in the Mazama village store and get a hamburger.

I didn’t wake up until 5:45 and did not get on trail until 6:30.  The morning was nice and cool so there were no mosquitoes when I got up and got moving.  In fact, the morning was very cool and lasted until well after noon. 

There was an even mix of climbing and descents all day long.  Not too rocky anywhere.  There was about a three mile long burned section where there was almost nothing alive and it would have been hot if not for the cool temperatures.  There were alot of blowdowns in that section, too, but not as many as yesterday.  Once we hit the national park boundary, the blowdowns almost disappeared.

I saw only two or three thru hikers throughout the morning, and three or four day hikers once I got within a few miles of the trailhead.  I went ahead and stopped at noon to eat a full lunch, even though I was close to the village.  I wanted to make sure I kept my energy up for the whole hike, because it was starting to heat up quickly.

I got to the village a little after 2 PM and headed straight for the store.  Some of their prices were outrageous (16 oz coke for $2.59, ice cream bar $3.50+) but other prices not too ridiculous.  I got a fountain drink (free refills), beer ($1.60), and ice cream to tide me over while I rested.  There were close to twenty hikers at the store.

I got directions to the hiker campsite and set up quickly and headed straight for the showers.  It took fifteen minutes just to wash the feet again.  The showers were free, so everything got washed at least twice.  Next up was laundry.  I gathered all the dirty goods, but I was pretty hungry by now, so I went to eat first and took my laundry with me since it was a haul back to the village.

I had a bison burger with fries and a single trip to the salad bar.  That was the best $5 I’ve spent on the trip so far.  The plates were huge, so I loaded it up well with salad, cottage cheese, potato salad and beets.  I was planning on dessert, but I was so stuffed, that it wasn’t needed.

I was able to get my clothes into a washer quickly, but there were fewer dryers, so I just took my clothes back to camp to air dry.  Most of my clothes were dry by dark except for the pants and shirt.  I was surprised the socks dried.

Back at camp, I talked with a few hikers and one employee from the park was there passing out beer, good beer, Rogue.  I stayed up until dark chatting, even though I had to redo my resupply plan.  One of my planned stops ended up not really having any food to sell, so I was worried I would have to have Karen make up and mail a box quickly.  It turns out I can just buy one more day at the stop before to skip it altogether.  I may stop there to eat at their restaurant, but not to buy food.  I will also be stopping in Sisters instead of Bend just because it’s a much easier hitch.  Bye, bye, Bend.  I will have to come visit you again some other day.

Today was a very taxing day. It started out in mosquito hell, progressed to blow down hell, then went to rock hell, then finished off in a combo of mosquito and rock hell.  It was a 6:15 to 8:15 day with lots of small rest stops.  Twice today I wanted to stop and take a nap.  But I hit my target, I’m less than twenty miles from Crater Lake so I am hoping to have a good day tomorrow.

The other folks in camp were still asleep when I rolled out in the morning.  I could hear the mosquitoes buzzing outside the tent before I even got out.  But the long clothes and the head net were doing a good job, but hearing them buzz around your head still drives you nuts.  I tried some of the off spray I bought in Medford and it did seem to help a little bit.

I got to the spring about 9 am and the water was ice cold.  I had run out about fifteen minutes earlier, so I downed almost a full liter.  It was about ten miles to next water, so the two and a half liters I had left should do.  Onward ho.

After a few miles, the trail started getting cluttered with blown down trees scattered over the trail.  Some you could go around, some you could go under, some you could step over and some you had to climb over.  The picture shows a typical section.  It went on for somewhere between six and eight miles of this nightmare.  You could not go 100 yards before another blowdown.  50 yards was a more common interval between the obstacles.  I don’t know what my speed slowed to, but I’m sure it was under two miles per hour when it should have been three.  Not to mention the extra foot abuse and leg exertion.  I had to stop several times to rest.

It did finally end, only to turn into a rock scree nightmare.  My feet were already sore, so the rocks only added more abuse.  The trail climbed several peaks and some of them were totally burned out and would have been hot had their not been a good breeze blowing.  The view was quite nice, though.

On the back side of the peaks was the next water, and I ran out ten minutes before getting there.  This water was not as cold, but I drank a liter anyhow.  It was already past six by now and two miles ahead was last water for twenty miles all the way to Crater Lake.  I made it there and loaded up with five liters of water and headed out for three more miles to the next campground.

By now the mosquitoes were out in full force and the trail turned to typical park service gully full of rocks and tall steps.  Not what you want to walk on at the end of a trying day.  I did find other tentsites on the way to the one I was heading for, but there were always mosquitoes buzzing.  I was hoping where I was going would be drier and maybe have less of the flying Devils.  Nope, they were just as bad, but the campsite had good tent sites and lots of logs to sit on, so it was worth the extra effort to get there.  And it was vacant, too, so no having to worry about waking other people either at night or in the morning.  And passing the 1800 mile milestone at the end of the day did perk me up a little bit.

Today was a fun day.  I woke up fairly early and made good time in the morning on moderate terrain, went to a cabin for lunch where trail magic had just run out, endured six miles of rocks, then ran across fantastic trail magic, and finally headed up the mountain for a little night hiking under the power of a full belly.

Despite a lazy wake up, I was out at 6:15 after listening to much music.  The days are definitely getting shorter, and morning seems to be the end really getting the short end of the stick.  It seemed in the desert, that it got light quickly, and now the morning seems to drag on slowly getting light.  Once I get to Washington, I will probably have to start hiking in the dark for at least thirty minutes just to be able to make the miles I need to do to finish before the snows hit.  Joy.

I had camped just a few miles from a state park campground, so I headed there on the side road parallel to the trail so I could use their facilities.  Sometimes, even using a pit toilet is a joy compared to using a cat hole.  The campground looked deserted, I guess not many people like to camp on Sunday night.  I also got rid of my trash which included a beer bottle that I was eager to get rid of.  I also topped off my water.

I didn’t see very many people in the morning, but I did see a few people that I leapfrogged with a little bit.  Water was about ten miles apart most of the day, so I filled up at every good water source.  The one in the morning was a very cold and high flowing pipe spring.

There was a cabin that could be used as a shelter at a distance that I would hit at about 1 PM.  I was sure it had a picnic table, and I had heard there was trail magic in it.  I stopped at 11:30 to rehydrate my refried beans and eat a snack, then tried to pick up the pace to get there by 1 PM.  It was not to rugged, so I was able to make it on time.  When I got there, the picnic table was in full sun, and the trail magic was all gone.  Too bad, because it was Coca Cola and Gatorade – the two best trail magics to find.  Oh well, I made lemonade and two burritos and filled up on water again.  By the time I left, eight hikers or so had congregated there.  I went ahead and left shortly after 2 so I could knock out as many miles to Crater Lake as I could.

There was a road about two tenths of a mile from the cabin, and as I crossed the road, a car pulled up and stopped right at the trail.  I was sure it was the trail angel coming to restock the trail magic, but I could not afford an hour delay hanging around to get a coke.  But boy would a coke have tasted fantastic right then.

Shortly after that, the trail got very rocky.  It was the sea of lava rocks you see in the picture paved with smaller lava rocks.  It came in seas of 200 yards with short 100 yard dirt intervals.  The small rocks had a way of finding the sorest spot on your foot and pressing right on it with all your weight.  It was quite painful at times.

After checking the map and coming to the realization that I had about six miles of this wonderful terrain all the way around a dead volcano, I decided to stop and make coffee.  I was beat and it was only 4 PM, but the coffee did its magic and I was able to pick up the pace.  The lava paving rock also got easier as it was overlaid with dirt on the final three miles.

When the rocks finally ended, the trail popped out on highway 140.  There was a resort two miles to the west.  The thought of a real dinner and some rest crossed my mind.  I vetoed the idea and crossed the road to get water at the stream across the highway. 

As I approached the stream, my eyes got wide.  There was another hiker and two angels parked there and they had quite a spread.  They offered me a coke and a cup of ice.  Score!  I sat in a chair to drink the coke, and she kept bringing me food.  Corn on the cob, a hot dog, chili and cheese on Fritos, beef and rice stroganoff, buttered bread, cookies, candy bars.  They also had wine, beer, other sodas, and watermelon.  For some reason, no one opted for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  I’m not the only one sick of peanut butter.

I sat there for an hour eating until I was truly full.  It was a fantastic feeling.  The angels were a couple that worked at the resort down the road who had the day off and liked to come to this spot and cook for hikers.  They planned to come back for breakfast, but I wanted to get in more miles before dark to make getting to Crater Lake easier the day after tomorrow.

I thanked the angels and headed up the next climb.  By the time I left, there were at least eight hikers there.  There was a campsite three miles ahead that I could get to before dark, and another one a mile and a half further that I would not get to until after dark.  I went to the first one and it was occupied and the ground all around covered with dead trees.  Time to move on to the second one. 

I pulled out the headlamp and hiked for maybe twenty five minutes in the dark before coming to the second one, which was also occupied.  This one was larger and had more flat spots so I was able to find a great spot about eighty yards from the other hikers.  Perfect.  I set up camp and only ate a light snack since I had eaten so much four miles ago.  I was in bed by 9:35, not too bad for a busy day.  And I was able to complete over 30 miles for the day, which helps chisel away at Crater Lake.  Now to repeat the performance tomorrow.  Sleepy sleep time.

Don’t freak out at the title, I don’t know that this little guy was Rabid, but he wasn’t right in the head, I can tell you that.  I don’t know if this is the West coast version of the fox squirrel that we have on the east coast, but he didn’t seem very bright.  He ran on the trail for hundreds of yards just five feet in front of me and kept stopping and looking back.  He looked like he was having a hard time breathing.  I was finally able to get around him and motor on down the trail.

The cowboy camping session last night went well.  It didn’t rain on me, I didn’t roll into the grass, and no little creatures tried to snuggle with me.  I woke up, ate breakfast in bed, then rolled out about 6:15.  The hiker hobble was bad, and it was all uphill, so it took while to get up to full speed.

There were some moderate climbs as the trail wound around pilot rock.  This part of Oregon looks alot like northern California but with more grasses instead of just dead earth and rocks.  There are hot open stretches, and pine groves, and stands of oaks as well.  There was a decent breeze, and the all gray clothing was not hot at all.  There were a few times where the sun was beating full down on me that I could tell the gray was a little hotter than the white, but it was barely noticeable.  The hot stretches were only a few minutes and I never felt the urge to pull out the umbrella.

There were lots of hikers out on the trail today.  I passed or was passed by about eight thru hikers and passed one southbounder who gave some good Intel on everything in Oregon.  I also saw at least a dozen day hikers, which is about par for a Sunday.

I stopped for lunch a little early to try out the dehydrated refried beans.  I added water straight to the bag without heating it.  It took about fifteen minutes to fully rehydrate, but they finally did and they were pretty decent.  I might try to rehydrate early tomorrow and let them sit in a zip lock for an hour while I am hiking.  The burritos were good, but I’ll put more cheese in them tomorrow.

The terrain today did seem a little more level than the previous few hundred miles.  Maybe there is something to the myth that Oregon is flat, but there are still plenty of climbs.  It’s too early to tell at this point, since I have only been in Oregon for a few days.  The mosquitoes are not bad yet, but I understand that North of Crater Lake they will kick in.  I bought fresh bug spray in Medford, so I am ready for them.

I hiked until about 7:30, stopping at a saddle that I found some flat ground on.  The next tentsite is three miles further, but since I didn’t really get rest in Bedford, I could use a little more rest tonight.  I made dinner and had the beer I got from a trail magic cache last night.  It was Caldera Lawnmower Lager.  It was pretty decent, even warm.

With two long days, I should be able to make a short day to Crater Lake so I can resupply, get some food, and make the rim trail before dark.  Camping is not allowed on the rim trail, so I need to be sure I can start it early enough to be clear of it before dark.  I could have hit a resort today at about 5 PM, but it seemed weird thinking of taking a day off just one day out of town.  It didn’t sound cheap, either.  Better to just keep going and rest in Bend or Portland if I need to.  Crossing my fingers that I’ll have some extra time to spend in Bend.