Category: Trip Journal

PCT 2018 Day 81, July 12, Thursday

Start Oregon Skyline Trail mile zero, water cache

End Oregon Skyline Trail mile 20.6, then Shelter Cove Trail

Miles walked: 20.6

Magic Beans and I had decided to walk the alternate route to Shelter Cove resort, the Oregon Skyline Trail, slightly shorter with more water sources. With a name like Skyline you expect walking on high exposed ridges, right? No, just more green tunnel. Why the name? The path does go by a number of lakes and ponds. Closer to the end, the forest looks different. Can you spot the change? Answer: Much more moss on the trees. I do not have a theory for the change.

I arrive at the resort in early afternoon. Magic Beans was already here, with several section and thru-hikers hanging out at the picnic tables. Magic Beans does not stay, but I have planned to get a tent site and shower and do laundry. But my supply box has not arrived. Luckily, it comes at the 6PM UPS delivery. Wifi is slow, yet again, so almost no podcasts can be downloaded even with hours of attempts and multiple timeouts. The Cove does have a hiker tent nearby with good hiker boxes of free stuff, and a microwave, which I use to heat water for meals and tea. Spacejam arrives later in the afternoon, and I meet Jake, Socrates, Allison, Bryan, Scrappy, Nalgene, and TwoSpeed.

PCT 2018 Day 80, July 11, Wednesday

Start mile 1837.2, campsites

End mile 1875.8, water cache

Miles walked: 38.6 (oops!)

We are starting to see some snow-kissed mountains nearby,

The trail climbs a bit to Mount Thielsen, not climbing to the top, but getting midway for good views.

In the distance one can see flat areas, hinting at the edge of the mountain range.

I meet Savage and Matador, who hiked the AT last year and are section hiking Oregon. We walk together talking for several miles, and the distance slips by easily and quickly with good conversation. They stop at one of the rare water sources, and I press on to a water cache in six miles.

Magic Beans is camped there. She had not passed me, but somehow got off the trail and took an alternate route.We are both headed to Shelter Cove resort tomorrow, hence the extra miles today to get closer.

Finished audiobook The Stories of J G Ballard, adapted from short stories by the author.

Finished audio short story Auggie Wren’s Christmas, by Paul Auster, read by author.

PCT 2018 Day 79, July 10, Tuesday

Start mile 1810.2, campsites

End mile 1837.2, campsites

Miles walked: 27.0

I walk quickly to Mazama Village and arrive at 8:30AM to pick up my food box, but the staff says I need to wait until 9, so I go over to the restaurant for a well-deserved breakfast. But there is a line waiting, and breakfast takes a while, too late to do laundry and hike to my campsite after seeing Crater Lake. See, the park service restricts where hikers can camp within the park, and I looked ahead to the few camping sites available.

Back to the camp store I get my food box and repack to my food bag. Magic Bean, Viking, Phelps, Spacejam, and I hang out at the Mazama picnic tables, snacking and doing prep.

I struggled with Xanterra’s paid wifi, so slow that I could barely download any podcasts. (Xanterra is the concessionaire for most of the large national parks.)

Viking shows off his 40 pound pack. After a few more miles of steep climb up to the rim trail, the view makes the minor hassles of the morning irrelevant. Crater Lake is in a caldera, an old exploded and collapsed volcano. The stunning blue is real, not merely an artifact of photography. The water clarity is 143 feet, said to be a world record. The maximum distance across the lake is 6 miles. You can see reflections of clouds in the water. Wizard’s Island is a cinder cone within the caldera. Down below, a tourist boat moves past. We are really up high on the rim. Magic Bean and I stop at a campsite 8 miles within the park boundary, with mosquitos getting too bad to enjoy walking further. Viking and several section hikers are already there. Magic Bean models her long netting poncho, which she uses for cowboy camping.