PCT Day 5: Lone Wolf to Grouse Hill

 I knew I was going to have a big day, so I tried to get up as soon as I could today. This meant that I still saw people going by me on the trail earlier than I could get going, but after a rough uncomfortable night in the burn area, I was ready to start moving. The trail stayed burned for much of the morning. I saw a few better campsites a mile or two beyond, but decided that there was nothing too much better about any of the other places that I could have camped. I was feeling pretty good hiking by this point. Much of the first couple of days, I was having a pain in my neck from how my pack pulled on my back. By this point I had tightened that up a bit and I was moving pretty good.

This became important as in the burn area, there were a lot more down trees. This day was going to be spent climbing over a lot of deadfall, but that was okay because the payoff of the whole part of Southern Oregon was coming in the form of finally getting to Crater Lake. This happened fairly early in the morning as far as entering Crater Lake National Park. There was not much fanfare to this other than this gave me a lot of excitement as this was my final goal for this leg of the trip and I was getting there a day earlier than I thought I might. Still I had some burnt forest and lots of deadfall to climb over before I was going to see the lakes.

I also ran into snow for the first time which made sense because Crater Lake is one of the highest spots on the trail. It actually was the highest spot on the trail in all of Oregon and Washington, but it wasn't officially on the trail. I had been debating about whether to stay on the main trail or to take the alternative route of going to the rim. Everyone I talked to was going to the rim. This is called taking the blue line or being ok with not doing all of the PCT. The red liners were people who had to do every inch of the PCT. I decided that I would be in the middle and do whatever I wanted to see while also moving north. This seemed to be what the majority were doing.

I pushed through in the morning and was carefully managing my water. I hadn't been able to refill my water bottles since the previous day at lunch and now I was getting close to lunch again. Most people would refill their bottles in Mazama Village, but I was skipping the village and passed by some people I had ran into a few times as they hitched a ride into town wondering if I would see them again.

I had another mile or so before I finally found a nice clear running stream. I sat down and drank a lot of water and felt refreshed. Then I proceeded to go straight uphill. This was the steepest part of the trail so far. I felt good though and kept a nice steady pace. Eventually, I popped out sweaty, but happy and was able to set my eyes on Crater Lake. First I had to weave through the crowds of people, though, because the trail had deposited me at Rim Village. This was a bit of a culture shock to me being mostly by myself all day and then to be surrounded by the crowds of tourists was a lot. I handled it ok as I was mostly awestruck by the lake.

It was a deep blue and you could just feel the uniqueness of this place as soon as you set eyes on it. It was amazing! I sat down and talked to my wife about meeting up the following day because I had service right on the rim. Then I spent the rest of the day following the rim trail and seeing the lake from all different angles. The rim trail was not in as great of shape as I was hoping it would be. There was a small section of paved trail, but then it because dirt and sometime deep sand. The trail also seemed to not be able to make up its mind, going quickly uphill, then dropping quickly down until finally it seemed to be better when following old road cuts.

I got to see the lake from so many different sides and took probably far too many pictures, but I was really enjoying being here. The day, though, got long and when I was about to leave the lake, I saw some people cooking dinner. The idea seemed to be from many people that if the Park Service didn't know about it, it was ok for them to be camping by the lake. I was not going to break the rules and instead was trying to do the entire rim trail and make it back to the PCT to camp. That meant a 25+ mile day, so when I hit the last stretch before Grouse Hill, I was feeling it. The mosquitoes came back also, which was never good. I had them around near Mazama Village, but these ones seemed more aggressive. Not wanting to put on more bug spray, I just dealt with them. I was surprised to see when I got to Grouse Hill, there was only one other tent there. I was expecting a packed house since this is the only place to camp for miles around, but instead there was just one guy there. I found a nice level spot and got the tent up as quickly as I could. Soon some other people showed up also, but there was lots of camping left for them too. I made myself a dinner and then hid out in the tent for the rest of the night. It would be another uncomfortable night without any lakes to jump into to clean off, but I was excited because tomorrow, the family was going to meet me to enjoy Crater Lake together. 

Day 4: Center Lake to Lone Wolf

 

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.

Day 3: Brown Mountain Shelter to Center Lake

 

I slept really well, but was still up early enough to get a good start. When I was filling my water at the big pump by the shelter, I saw a sign that said that water should be filtered or treated. This was after I drank it the previous night so I just kept going with it. I figured I already had drank it, so might as well keep going with it. Even though I was early, there were still half of the tents gone by the time that I started. There were definitely many motivated people on the trails. I was expecting to go downhill from the shelter, but it was pretty flat for quite some time. Eventually the trail started to go down as it crossed the flanks of Brown Mountain. 

Brown Mountain was not much to look at as the top seemed very far away, but the lava flows were kind of nice. What made it better were the views of Mt. McLoughlin. I would have to come back to climb Mt. McLoughlin as it was a prominent peak with still a bit of snow looming on the top. I was moving pretty good thinking that maybe I was getting my trail legs, but still there were lots of people passing me. The slightly downhill slope helped out with this and I still had that impingement in my neck from looking over my left shoulder. After what seemed like a long time the trail finally made it down to the road and Fish Lake area.

Some people on bikes greeted me and encouraged me that I had made it to Fish Lake. Lots of people resupply here, but I just crossed the road where there was a stream flowing and what seemed like everyone who had passed me during the day. I quickly replenished my water bottles and then started up the hill. The trail now continued to the flanks of Mt. McLoughlin. A short spur with lots of elevation gain took off from the trail to the top of Mt. McLoughlin, but I had decided long ago that any extra climbing was not for me with this big pack of stuff. I ate lunch about halfway through the climb and realized that it was a pretty hot day.

Lots of sweating to do as I made the climb. After the junction with the Summit trail, the trail stayed pretty flat for quite sometime through forested areas. I could have stopped as Square Lake and had an enjoyable night, but it just was not far enough. So I continued on and soon the mosquitoes would start to get to me for the first time. They were out and about. At first, there were just a few but after a while there were many. I had some bug spray which I tried. It seemed to keep them from biting, but not from harassing me. A lot of people were shooting for Christis Spring as it was the last water source for quite some time. I wanted to make it to Island Lake as it was a nice big lake which I figured would have great scenery. I did stop at the spring to get water and after fighting the mosquitoes, I continued on but I knew that Island Lake was not going to happen.

I was so tired that taking that last remaining steps might be too much. I did see on the map a closer lake to the trail. It was called Center Lake, so I shot for that. The trail down from the main trail lost a lot of elevation which I was not too stoked about and it seemed rather overgrown. When I got down to the lake, it was clear that I was going to be the only one here on this night. I got my tent up as quick as I could and then laid myself down for what seemed like an entire hour. I was so tired. My feet were sore and my body was just used up. I willed myself out of the tent and into the lake for a dip. Both the mosquitoes and my exhaustion were tough obstacles to overcome, but I got enough energy to dip in the lake. It was cold but refreshing and would allow me to sleep much better during the night. I made myself some dinner and then it was off to bed. A much quieter campsite, but I was able to get enough rest to feel refreshed for the next day.