23 miles
In the morning I feel worse. I hear Borealis start packing up, but all I can do is roll over and go back to sleep.
I don't get up until 8, and even that is a struggle. Why do I feel so out of it? The mosquitos are even worse this morning, and I am dressed in my pants, rain jacket, bug net and gloves just to keep them at bay. I go to the bathroom, and in the 30 seconds my pants are down I get 7 large bites on my ass. The guidebook for this section had a lovely little note from a former hiker: "passing over the highway we walk straight into a wall of mosquitos. They are worse here than anywhere else in the trail so far. Beware and bring bug spray and a gun to kill yourself." It sounds melodramatic, but it's almost right on point.
It's ten till 9, and I am just starting to break down camp. I hear voices and peak around the trees to see Bear Claw and Dirt Monger. They should be days ahead of me, but Bear Claw was another victim of giardia. I say hello and explain away my late start by how I'm feeling. She offers me three Emergen-C packets, and tells me to put them all in a one life bottle and drink it. I thank them, wish them luck for their wedding in a few days, and finally force myself to finish packing up. It's at least 16 miles until the next water, so my pack is loaded down with water, and I start my slow trek northward.
A half mile away and I realize I left my sunglasses back at camp. I debate the merits of going back or just continuing on. I decide to go back, and save my eyes the strain of days in full sun. I leave my pack my the trail and try to hurry back to camp, aware of how much later this makes me. I find my glasses, and say hi to an older woman is getting water at the spring.
Pack on and back on my way, I realize it's going to be an even slower day. I take a break on a log a mile down the trail, and the old woman, who's name is Why Not, catches up to me. She asks what's wrong, and when I give her my symptoms she tells me that when she had giardia it started with three days of intense exhaustion, followed by the diarrhea. Uh. Crap.
Dirt Monger told me that Crater Lake has medical facilities, so if anything is seriously wrong, that's where I want to be. I push on, wanting to get there as soon as possible, just in case.
I lag, I break, I snack. I keep my beekeeping outfit on most of the day, taking off my rain jacket only during the heat of the day.
The strangest thing happens as I'm walking along the forested trail. Out of the corner of my eye I see something small and spotted creep over a log toward me, and for a jolting moment I think it's a bobcat. It turns out to be a small fawn, and it starts running up the hill toward me. It stops less than a foot away from me, and I almost reach out to pet it, saying "where's your momma?" As soon as I speak it stops, stares at me, then turns around and takes off running into the woods. I look around and see a doe not too far away, but in the opposite direction the fawn ran. I'm confused, and think that maybe I smell even worse than I thought if the animals mistake me for something other than human.
I get service on the top of a peak and send Borealis a birthday message.
The day starts to cool off around 5, and again I start to feel better. I want to do 8 more miles to get to a flat campsite, so I push hard all the way down the peak. I come to a stream three miles later, the last one before crater lake, and see two girls around my age also getting water.
We are both thrilled to see other female hikers, so we talk and introduce ourselves. Their names are Anna and Lena, and they are from Georgia and Brooklyn, respectively. They both worked in Bend at a youth center, but are going separate ways, and decided to thru hike Oregon before leaving.
I talk to Anna as Lena gets water, and she tells me she's considering continuing on and doing Washington by herself when Lena has to leave, but is nervous to go solo. She compliments me on my bravery, and is so nice that immediately I think we could be friends. They tell me Barrel passed them this morning, but left his hat behind, so I take it, hoping I can catch him at Crater lake.
I ask if the girls are going to go to the campsite 5 miles up, but they just started a few days ago, and give more miles this late in the evening sounds tough. I say my goodbyes and head off, hoping to reach the site before dark.
It starts to sprinkle just as I come up from a hill and see the flat piece of land I was aiming for. I set up my tent and jump inside just as it starts to downpour.
This is the first time it's rained on my tent, and I enjoy listening to the patter of the drops, and go to sleep hoping I see some friends when I get into crater lake tomorrow.
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