Day 121-123: Crater Lake

August 3-5; Mile 1777-1839

Day 121

As I hiked through the thick forest the next morning, Mt McLoughlin towered silently above, hidden from view. When I passed the turn-off toward its summit, I decided to bypass that particular side trip. I spent the morning leapfrogging with two other female hikers, but otherwise the forest was quiet and empty.

An hour before lunch I came across a lonesome trekking pole. Guessing that one of the gals had dropped it, I added it to my pack and hiked on. When I reached the sign for Christi’s spring, there was a group making lunch together, and soon the trekking pole was reunited with its owner. She was overjoyed and gave me a granola bar in thanks.

The rest of the day was spent hiking through the trees and mosquitos, save for a brief respite right before camp where the trail sauntered along an open ridgeline before plunging back into the woods. The gentle grade and shaded trail meant that the actual hiking was incredibly enjoyable, even if there weren’t awe-inspiring vistas around every bend. For now, I was just glad to be out of the ash and heat that had pervaded Northern California. And as I reclined in my tent, Talkie-Walkie and her partner hiked past! At least there were folks I knew nearby, even if it was my second night in a row camping alone.

Day 122

The morning hike was filled with sweeping views toward McLoughlin and Shasta. The latter hovered above the layer of smoke in the valley, a distant giant growing ever smaller with each mile that passed. I reached a saddle where the trail turned due north toward Crater Lake and the burn section just before it. My feet flew along the rocky ridgeline as I switchbacked downward into the forest.

After eating lunch at Honeymoon Creek, I reclined in the shade of some trees for a short nap. Ten minutes later the air was filled with the sound of something crashing through the undergrowth. Amused, I watched as several men tried to shepherd a line of eight pack animals over the wide creek. One of the mules got stuck and refused to budge, and there was much cajoling and shouting.

Once the show was over, I hiked on into the burn zone. Fireweed dotted the ashy slopes, but the fire was recent enough that the landscape was mostly charred husks. I hiked until I found a spot with living trees to pitch my tent. I had a long day ahead of me tomorrow, and once again I found myself camping alone. So much for overcrowded trails and huge bubbles of hikers.

Day 123

After four months on trail, the day had arrived to see Crater Lake. This was one of the crown jewels of Oregon – of the whole PCT really – and I had been anticipating this section for a while. As the sun rose in a clear blue sky on another beautiful day, I was incredibly grateful that I had stayed in Oregon instead of skipping ahead.

An hour later I ran into a hiker named Smiley. We had met once near Lake Tahoe, when about twenty of us had all eaten dinner together in a big circle. It was fun to see someone I knew, and we hiked together for a while discussing the upcoming fire closure. He was planning to stitch together a series of logging roads and other trails in order to walk around the closure; the only problem was that his planned path included a 35-mile stretch with no water. He was trying to recruit other hikers to come with, but I had already arranged a ride with Dana.

When I reached Mazama Village I picked up my package – useless now that the next stretch of trail was closed – and sent it ahead to White Pass. As I was heading back onto trail I saw Talkie-Walkie and her partner – now going by Half&Half – getting out of someone’s van. I stopped to chat and heard about their troubles with missing packages. I wished them luck and headed out, hoping that they’d catch up to me near the rim.

People talk most about the color of Crater Lake: a deep sapphire blue to rival the ocean, that no photograph can ever capture. When I hiked out of the forest and up to the path along the Rim Trail, I stopped in my tracks, rested my chin upon my trekking poles, and gazed out in wonder at the beauty before me.

I made terrible time going around the rim as I kept stopping every few minutes to marvel. Talkie-Walkie and Half&Half caught up to me easily, and the three of us hiked the rest of the Rim Trail together. I was starved for company after many miles of solitude, and it was so nice to catch up with someone I really liked.

As the trail left the rim behind, we paused to look at the fires burning to our north. Four columns of smoke rose from various spots along the distant mountains, and the air was hazy. Talkie-Walkie got a message from Tony that another section of trail was closing right in the middle of the next area we’d be hiking through. All three of us tried to load the PCTA website about fire closures, upset by this latest development.

There was a new fire burning near Waldo Lake past Willamette Pass, about 20 miles north of where I was planning to get dropped off tomorrow. The fire itself was not close to the trail, but it was coughing out great clouds of thick smoke across the PCT, and the website warned that the trail may be closed in the coming days. If that meant skipping further ahead, so be it. At least I had been able to walk to Crater Lake and see one slice of majesty to celebrate four long months on the PCT.