July 22
26 miles
It's 16 more miles to crater lake, and I wake up later than I had planned, but earlier than the last two days. I feel better, not so exhausted and achy as I had the previous days. I haven't had any diarrhea, so I hope my luck holds out.
I write a note for Anna and Lena, but cants remember their names so I address it to Peaches (Anna, because she's from Georgia) and Rodeo (Lena, because she had a straw cowboy hat on). I tell them they are going to crush miles in Oregon, wish them luck, and tell Anna that if she wants to do Washington she should! I mention that I'm getting off trail for a few days, so we might be around the same place when I get back on, and leave my phone number, telling her to keep in touch if she'd like. I leave the note on the side of the trail, hoping they will see it. Trail notes are so much fun.
The morning passes quickly, the only hiccup being when I try to step over a log, catch my foot, catch my trekking poles on the log and my foot, and stumble awkwardly into a face plant. Fortunately there weren't any large rocks or sticks around, so I lay there sprawled out, checking for injuries, and finding none, push myself back up. I see my awkward stumble/skid pattern in the pine needles and dirt, and sort of wish someone had caught that moment on tape.
I make it to a road around 1pm, and realize it's a mile road walk down to Mazama village, where my next resupply awaits. I pass another hiker who tells me Barrel is still there, eating in the restaurant, so I push hard to catch him.
When I walk inside and spot him I become far too excited. I give him a hug, and his hat, only to find that he had just bought a new one ten minutes ago, not having got my text that I had his old one. I rose lunch and eat with him, the two of us taking full advantage of the free refills on soda. He says he's happy I caught up to him, and I agree, and then he tries to talk me into leaving worth him today to hike up to the rim.
I'm dubious, since I wasn't planning on leaving until tomorrow morning after enjoying a hot shower and doing my laundry. He's persuasive, and a couple hours later, after I pick up my resupply and pack everything into my now loaded pack, I agree to leave with him. He tells me it's only 5 miles up to the rim, which actually doesn't sound that bad. We leave around 5, and I'm only slightly regretting my decision not to stay and enjoy the luxury of hot water.
We make good time, falling into easy chatter. After a couple of hours pass we figure we should be getting close, so we check our maps and gps only to find out that we have gone 2.5 miles down the equestrian pct--the only time they ban horses from the pct, having them walk the lower trail around the base of the mountain, never getting a view of crater lake. Our goal is to see the lake, so we turn around and walk the 2.5 miles back to the junction we missed. We sing Beattles songs and talk about shows, and make it back to the junction around 8. We now have a 4 mile climb up to the rim, and know we won't make it there before dark.
The climb is steep and strenuous, another marker of why horses wouldn't be allowed. We climb, our noses practically touching the ground, up and up until we finally come out to the road. Barrel tells me there is also a free trolly that could have taken us up, but what would have been the fun in that? I chuckle and shake my head. It's almost 10 and we still have no idea where we're going to camp, as we wander around what is called the Rim Village. We see a ranger drive past and ask him about camping options, and he tells us that they no longer allow camping up here, but since we're PCT hikers, and if we don't make a fire, we can camp back in the woods where an old campground used to be.
We wander around and finally pick a spot that looks somewhat flat. Turns out there is rock or pavement about a half in under the dirt and pinecone top soil, making it impossible for me to pitch my tent, which is not freestanding and requires stakes.
As I'm sitting in from of my half fallen over tent, contemplating how I'm going to be able to go to sleep and when I'm going to eat, Barrel shines his light on me and laughs. He comes over and squeezes my shoulders and asks how he can help me. I must look like a sad sack. I tell him of my tent problems, and goes and finds some big rocks and a large branch, and we pile them on top of the stakes, hoping the weight will keep the tent up. It's sagging but standing, and I carefully climb in, hoping it doesn't collapse on me in the night.
But we've made it, and tomorrow we finally get to see crater lake!
No comments:
Post a Comment