I woke to mosquitoes. I was smart about my setup to the point where I could pack everything into my backpack without having to take down my tent until the very end. This was definitely one of those days where I was putting on bug spray as soon as I got out of the tent. Packed up and ready to go, I hit the trail. The mosquitoes were still around, but not biting. As I saw other people on the trail, you could tell that the mosquitoes were getting to them. Some were mentioning it, others were taking breaks in the hot sun. I was doing okay regardless. They were not bothering me too greatly.
The trail was climbing elevation which I was okay with. It was not incredibly steep and each new height would open up new views of the surrounding areas. There were lakes to see since I was in the Sky Lakes Wilderness. There was also peaks to see as I could look back on Brown Mountain and Mt. McLoughlin and look forward to the peaks that made up the rim of Crater Lake. The trail itself was climbing to Devil's Peak and Lucifer. It seemed I climbed and climbed until around lunch time. I saw many of the same people I had been seeing the last couple of days, but I also talked to an older couple from Washington State that were doing just the Oregon section like me.
They were one of the few people that I could pass while hiking. At the top of the pass near Devil's Peak, the trail gave off incredible views in both directions. Taking pictures of course does not do it justice as when you are there, you can see the connections to the places you have been and where you are going. After the pass, the trail descended pretty rapidly through some sections of snowy trail. It was not too difficult to manage and the big relief was the streams of flowing water. This had been another long section without water. I filled up at the first water stop, but did not stay as there were a lot of people hanging around the watering hole.
I found a quieter place to have lunch and also made one last stop as far down the line of watering hole as I could. I had this small section of going downhill with flowing water and I was going to make sure to rehydrate as much as possible before another long section of no water.
Shortly after the last creek, I ran into a lady who asked me where a specific trail was at. I did not know but she looked like she was really struggling. I felt sorry for her and wondered if other people felt the same way for me as these really fit people seemed to pass me, take a break, and then pass me again. The thought was to stay at Ranger Spring for the night, but by the time that I got there, I still had a sufficient amount of water and I was still feeling good. After struggling through the first three days, this day was feeling easier. I kept on going and soon found myself in the first burn area of the whole trip.
This one was an old burn with some trees and shrubs growing back. Still, there were some sections that looked pretty sparse. I was getting tired after some time, so I decided to camp around 5 pm near Lone Wolf, which was a butte that was burned pretty good. There were old trees standing straight up that looked like they could fall at any moment, but still I felt this to be a good time for a break. I found a flat spot to put up my tent. The nice part was that there were no mosquitoes. The bad part was that my tent had no shade. It was directly in the sun and too hot to enter. I made my dinner outside the tent and hung out there reading in the sun. In reality, all I wanted to do was chill out in the shade of my tent. I was also really gross as on this night there was no lake to jump in to cool off. When the sun finally went down, the wind picked up and whipped the sides of the tent. I had to manage my water usage also with no water in the foreseeable future. All this made for a bit of an uncomfortable night that I just had to make the best of. I was excited for tomorrow, though, with a high probability of making it to Crater Lake.
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