Rim Trail

We get up and have coffee at the store. We wait for the 9am trolley up to the rim. We hop on and start up. About halfway up Bubbles realizes she forgot her phone charging at the store. Then ranger realizes he forgot his charger… we have a good laugh and I volunteer to hitch back down to retrieve them in hopes my package will arrive this morning.

I get a ride in a Range Rover back down to the village. I don’t think it’s customary to hitch hike in national parks but whatever. I make it down, get everyone’s electronics and wait for the next shuttle up. Just then the mail arrives and I get my package! New hat and snacks! Also beer money. When your parents send you beer money you obey. 1 hour until the next shuttle so I buy a couple hikers beer and we enjoy them in the sunshine. 

Feeling a little better with the new hat my mom made and the sugar rush from the candy that came with it. 
We hike 20 miles today. Somehow we actually complete it starting at 12pm. 
We did 8 miles along the rim of Crater Lake and the rest through flat forest. 

We decide to wake up at 1:30am to hike 6 miles before sunrise to summit Mt Theilson… we might be crazy. 

Crater Lake Zero

I got up early and made some tea from the hiker box. I sat at the picnic tables in front of the store and tried uploading my blogs. The wifi was $10 for 24 hours and it sucks. I can’t get my blogs uploaded. Also the care package my parents sent was delayed and I won’t get it before I leave.
I have a super hard morning. I am having a hard time finding the motivation to keep hiking. When I put my mind to something I do it but with so many setbacks on the trail I have struggled to regain that strong drive to finish the trail. 
I talk to my mom, I talk to bubbles and finally just decide to enjoy the day and not think about it too much. I always told my self I would give it 5 days if I was thinking about getting off trail. 
As we wait for bubbles package we take the trolley up to the Rim of Crater Lake. We look around in the gift shop, sit by the view and eventually have lunch. 

Ranger who we met yesterday joined us and decided he wanted to stay another night. 
We all took the 3pm shuttle back down to the village and Bubbles packages had arrived!! 
We sort our food and realize we have way too much. 
We hang out all night near the store and at the campsite. We write a song about the PCT and Bubbles plays it for everyone.

We meet tons of hikers and then finally I set off for bed.
I am typically a hard sleeper and fall asleep fast but this week is not so. I struggle to fall asleep. 

Hitch Please

Only 10 miles to Fish Lake where we plan to hitch around the fire closure. We walk through lava rock all morning. It’s beautiful but also hard to walk on. 
We see about 6 other hikers this morning and one comes into Fish Lake with us. We were hoping for wifi but were not successful so we had breakfast, I made a sign for Crater Lake and we set off. 

The three of us waited about 10 minutes for our first ride. The two construction workers took us about 20 minutes down the road to a turn off for Crater lake. We hopped out and immediately got another ride.
We piled in the bed of the truck and the driver drove us about 35 minutes right to the Mazama Village! Perfect!! 
Bubbles and I parted with the other guy and made our way to the PCT camping area. 
We set up then went in search of our boxes. 
Neither of Bubbles packages had arrived. Bummer. This would mean we would need to stay another day to wait. 
I also had a care package from home that wouldn’t make it on time. 
We ate dinner and hung out in front of the store. It was a great area for hikers to hang out and we spent most of the next 24 hours hanging out on those picnic benches. 
We did laundry, showered and then went back for dinner. Bubbles and I shared a Gluten Free pizza and lava cake… a couple people have told us recently we seem like old friends. I think we are two peas in a pod. 
Hikers come and go and we meet some new people. We get fire updates and then learn the rim trail is finally open!! That is a huge surprise and we can’t wait to hike it.

All the Berries

Just 15 miles today to a Shelter. We pack up our stuff wet and set off. It’s uncomfortable wearing a soaking wet shirt. 
We find huckleberrys all morning along the trail and that seems to slow us down.

There is a spring just off the trail and we have a long break. There is a board walk to it and I just lay and look at the sky. I notice my photos are getting less frequent so I will try and take more tomorrow. 

We make it to the shelter and dry out our gear. Finally we get to set up our tents and it’s only 1pm. I love early days.
I watch “into the Wild” on my phone and enjoy the laziness of the day. 

When it rains it pours

We took off about 6:30. I hit my snooze for 30 minutes… 
12.5 or 20 miles today… not sure yet. We cruz all morning and hit Hyatt lake at 11:15! 12.5 miles out of the way. We go for a dip, eat some lunch then walk the mile to the resort to get a cold drink in the hopes of wifi! 

No wifi but we sucked down some bubbly soda and met another hiker. 
We walked back to the trail to find half of the double D’s sitting. We sit, I play my Uke and we dink around. Bubbles thinks we are never going to finish the additional 8 miles. 
Finally we head out and the thunder clouds roll in. The thunder is loud and right overhead. We make it 5 miles before the downpour starts. We hide under some trees but it doesn’t die down. Also there isn’t a good place to camp where we are right now. We book it down the trail that is now a stream singing to Mother Nature. Welcome to Oregon. 

We find some trees and a flat spot and set up in the rain. I put my poles on my footprint backwards and don’t realize until my fly is on… I had to pull it all apart and re set. This is a record for how long it’s taken me to set up my tent and it’s pouring rain.. 
I finally fall into my tent and peel off my dripping clothes. Everything is soaked. But luckily the contents of my bag isn’t. I pull on dry clothes, blow up my sleeping pad and hang everything.
My shirt drips all evening and I have to keep wringing it out… 

Breakfast heaven.

I blogged from bed, drank coffee and made some breakfast for everyone. It’s so nice to be able to cook and bake!!
The 4 of us had breakfast and then it was off to pack up. Somehow I fit everything in my bag Uke strapped to the outside of my pack.

We said our goodbyes and headed out. Ethel dropped us back at the trail and we set off.

For some reason it’s insanely hot and our packs are incredibly heavy. It’s a slow walk. We are thinking 9 miles to the first water but we ended up going 12 to make it to a better water source. We saw the “double D’s” there. They must be going slow if we caught them and they are on day two.

We camp with them and play a card game. Apparently Bubbles is competitive and not good at hiding it. 

I finally fixed my tent pole with some duct tape! Thank goodness 
The thunder overhead has me nervous for rain so I throw my fly on and hop in. I downloaded a movie with my new library app and lay in bed and watch it… not really a camping thing to do but it was a nice change of pace. 

All the food!

Bubbles and I woke up with the sunrise. We stayed in our trundle beds as long as possible on our phones but finally got up for coffee. We are our gluten free baked goods we bought yesterday and drank our coffee on the patio… rough life. 
Ethel & John made us second breakfast and then we got to our chores.
Ethel was our driver for the day. We hit REI, Target and Food 4 Less! We got all the necessary things and headed back for food sorting and Ukulele learning. 

I learned three cords and even kinda how to read tabs. 
We had amazing streak, potatoes and fruit for dinner. The fresh fruit was such a treat from none on trail. I got to baking right after dinner. I made tons of cookies and some Mexican quinoa to pack out and leave behind for John and Ethel. 

I don’t know where we will put all this food in our packs… we have way too much.

Grab your Uke!

We woke up after getting to sleep in an extra hour. Ten minutes before my alarm went off I heard bubbles get up to pee. Damn. Guess I’m getting up. 
We made coffee and hit the trail. 8 miles until town!!! We ended up missing the unmarked dirt road by .4 and had to backtrack. Finally we arrived at the Callihan’s where Bubbles had a box. We threw some water on our faces and washed our hands in their sink before heading to the I-5 on ramp. 
We stuck out our thumbs and this run down van pulled over. Both Bubbles and I had to sit in the front seat as the back was full.
The guy was odd and made strange conversation on our drive. He dropped us at a restaurant near I-5 in Ashland. 2 miles from downtown but we went in and had a delicious breakfast. I used their bathroom to change and wash my legs off of all the dirt. I stink but at least I look sorta presentable. 

We head out and down the road towards town. We don’t want to walk the 2 miles but it’s a weird place to hitch. We stumble upon a gluten free bakery and run in. I got a carrot cake and Bubbles got a carrot cake muffin, blackberry and banana. Gluten free girls unite. 
We keep walking and finally someone pulls over. A woman heading downtown to the Co-Op. we hop in and she drops us right at the outdoor store. We see rocket man inside. We then ask if we can leave our packs at the outdoor store for the day. They kindly agree and let us throw them in the back. Family Friends Ethel and John are coming to get us in a few hours so we get to explore Ashland before then! 
We get some coffee and hit the shops. I think we went in every one! I even got a cool new Ultralight wallet at one of the other outdoor stores. We grab Ice cream and meet Tatters for a few minutes. He is headed back to the trail today. We part ways but then come across him outside the music store with a flute and learner book. Bubbles immediately wants to go in and take a look. We leave the store with a drum and purple waterproof Ukulele… impulse buy much? 
We head back to the outdoor store to meet Ethel and one of the employees shows me up with his sweet Uke skills. 

​
We see Ethel drive up and hop in! They have graciously agreed to let us stay with them for two nights. We head to their home in Medford and get settled in. Ethel gives us a tour and is surprised by how excited we get about laundry, beds and a shower! Also Hailey the dog is the cutiest thing ever and we get so much cuddle time in. 
We both get the stink off. I haven’t showered in 8 days… might be a record. 
I immediately throw our nasty clothes in the wash, Ethel throws in an additional detergent for good measure. 
We decide to go to a delicious pizza restaurant that Ethel raves about! We pick her brain all night about her secrets to marriage and about all their kids. 
We get treated to Thai pizza and gluten free mozzarella sticks… heaven!!! 

Oregon!!!!!!!

Today I hit snooze multiple times. I finally woke up and made coffee. Then I made a second cup.
Finally we set off. We had 4.5 miles until Oregon!
We made quick work of 3 miles and stopped to check out this old cabin.

We downed some water and took off for the last mile to Oregon. Even though I only hiked almost exactly 1,000 miles in California it was a good door to walk through (Or sign to walk by).

I am so excited to be able to walk Oregon and Washington. We met a guy hiking south who told us about some trail magic in 15ish miles… that’s pretty far but we were excited for sodas.
There is a wild fire close by and we were in smoke most of the day. It was terrible views until it finally was going away.
Some famous trail hikers passed us going south. Lint was one of them who has done the triple crown (PCT, CDT, AT) 3 times…
We kept on and finally made it up the last hill to find the trail magic. Something about warm Root beer and a camp chair makes me happy.

We only had 3.5 miles left to camp! We decided to stay at a campground and ended up adding an extra half mile to our trek. It was less than desirable and the map was misleading on how far it was.

The “Double D’s” some section hikers that just started joined us at camp. And we got to enjoy their company for the evening.

Bubbles My Bubbles

Bubbles and I woke up at 5 trying not to wake up the others as they were going to sleep in.
We headed out and I decided to dig a cat hole right in some poison oak. That worked out well… 
I didn’t have any reaction all day and was very thankful. 
We made it back to the trail. Scrappy and Rocket Man (Nico from my first two days) met up with us there. We all leapfrogged all day and enjoyed the long breaks by the cold springs. 

The road walk killed us yesterday. Bubbles and my feet were toast. We set up camp and nommed down on every food item we had.