Day 51: Crater Lake!

July 24
24 miles

Knief and REI stop by my tent in the morning and have bought me coffee with all the fixings. I love these hikers.

Kneif and I catch the free trolly up to the Crater rim village, which only takes about 20 minutes, and then we start road walking back to the spot we left from yesterday. We try to hitch a ride, but have been told hitching in the Park is not allowed, so we do it on the sly. A lovely woman pulls over and graciously gives us a ride back to the pit toilets. Ah, the memories.

It's a beautiful, sunny day, without a cloud in the sky, so we are finally able to see the lake in all it's glory!

I can tell Kneif is slowing down his stride to stay close to me, but my legs are still moving at twice the speed of his. We talk about the differences between America and Switzerland, and tell stories about our lives. I like Knief, and I'm glad we seem to be a team for the moment.

When we hit the hills he easily climbs faster than me, but I find him taking breaks, smoking cigarettes, as he waits for me to catch up. It's not a terribly challenging day of hiking, but we only go about 24 miles. At the top of a ridge I check my phone and get two texts and a voicemail from Barrel--he's making sure that I'm okay after having left me yesterday. It's nice to have someone on the trail who's looking out for you, and I find that I miss him, and hope I catch up to him soon.

I meet Knief at our designated camping spot, after having descended down into a small, freezing cold valley. The bugs are terrible and we're both cold, so I mildly suggest we start a fire. Knief takes on the responsibility, which turns out to be quite difficult because of the rain yesterday. After 20 minutes, and great effort, he finally gets the fire going, and somewhat embarrassingly admits he used to be a Boy Scout. I praise the fire, grateful for his boy scouting spirit of not giving up. The smoke drives the Mosquitos away for a bit, and we enjoy hot food and childhood memories.

I'm still not feeling my strongest, so I expect him to hike out much earlier than me in the morning. Such is the story of the hiking life.