Monday, July 4, 2023
Start: 2.4 miles north of Jack Spring Trail
End: near Byway-138
Miles: 36.5
Elevation gain/loss: 4619’/4954′
I was awake at 5:15, and out on trail by 5:40. I booked it and was at the road by 9:15. I met Fagowe (a trail angel) at the parking area; he was heading out on the trail to meet hikers. I walked the road over towards Mazama for resupply and arrived around 9:45am.
I set up my phone, iPod, and battery brick charging, and then started laundry washing after another thru-hiker gave me some detergent to use. While that worked, I took a shower and wore my laundry shorts and rain shell to do my resupply shopping. It was a little expensive, but it was an easy resupply with things like Cheez-its and Oreos. I ate two large bean burritos for my meal, since everyone said the restaurant next door wasn’t very good. I packed up a liter of water, gathered my clean laundry, unplugged my charging items, and headed out by 11:45am.
The inital climb out of Mazama was steep and hot, with lots of blowdowns. I passed a group of casual day hikers in sandels and flip-flops, but accidently blew past the PCT/alternate intersection without realizing it, adding an extra 1.2mi. The alternate’s climb up to Crater Lake was extremely steep, with persistent snow cover and a lot of blowdowns; a clear trail or even footprints weren’t visible for most of it. I had to use GPS to navigate many times.
Once I got up towards Crater Lake, I stopped at the visitor center/cafe/gift shop to snag 5L of water since there would be no more water until the cache by Byway 138. The Rim Trail was busy, deteriorated, steep, and had snow and blowdowns. I ended up walking on the road around one section of trail that went very close to the edge and would likely have melting snow because it didn’t seem like a reasonable risk. On my road walk, I met Teal and they offered me some fruit.
The weight of the water was cruel, and I was frustrated to find a few scoopable trickles from snowmelt as I continued my hike. But given the temperatures and my existing suffering, I just pushed myself to drink the extra water, which I needed anyway.
The mosquitoes for the last 4 miles of my day were the worst I’ve ever encountered. No matter how fast I hiked, they managed to swarm me and bite me through my calf sleeves. When I would slightly pause to vault over a downed tree (so many sharp downed trees…), they would swarm my face. I basically ran through that section and got a few scrapes and scratches added to my legs from rushing my vaults.
I got to my end point (a few extra miles to make tomorrow easier) at 8pm, and had to walk around in circles while I pitched my tent and then jumped inside.
Transcending Mountains 