Crater Quest

Day 34. July 29th.

I actually slept amazingly well. I got up early to a wet, fresh, sunny world. My goal today was reach the edge of Crater Lake National Park. It would be my longest day yet, 28 miles.

The downpours left rain on the trees and mini-canyons on the trail. The forest smelled great.

Most of the day was head-down hiking. There was a lot of ground to cover. Water sources were getting a little more scarce, so planning was getting to be more important.

A high point for the day was reaching the highest point on the Oregon & Washington PCT. Since marijuana is legal in both states, saying I was the highest person on the trail was really saying something.

Another personal highlight was going past Diamond Lake. My late Uncle Paul liked to make an annual fishing trip here. We always had to look at the photos. Always.

The day was clear and hot. Around 6:30 I came up to Mt. Thielsen. It seems like it’s Oregon’s forgotten mountain. It is a sharp spike and very impressive by itself, but just a little shorter and skinnier than some of it’s famous peers. There was a wonderful cold stream coming down alongside the steep slope. I was tempted to camp here. Instead, I drank up and moved on as the shadows grew long.

Cruising along in the shadows, I made good time. At last, around 8:00, I reached the trail head at the edge of Crater Lake National Park. Like Windigo, it had lots of 5 gallon water jugs. A local good samaritan kept plenty of water on hand to resupply backpackers in this long stretch. They dated the water bottles, too. I drank at least two liters. I would fill up again in the morning after the water cooled off overnight. I set up camp across the dirt road about 200′ behind some brushes.

There was one camper parked about a 1/4 mile down the road with some guy sitting outside. There was also a VW camper at the trailhead, but it was unoccupied. I sent a couple photos of it to my Dad.

Normally I don’t like to camp near roads. You never know when drunks or freaks are going to be around. This was an isolated road so I thought it would be ok.