Crater Lake

Miles Hiked 317.0
PCT Mile 832.6
Elevation feet 6,335
Miles Hiked Today 8.0

Wow!  It was cold this morning.  I had to check my water bottle to see if the water froze in the night.  Nope, but I bet it was close.

I found it particularly hard to get going since my sleeping bag was so warm and outside was so cold.  It was 6:45 a.m. before I left the campground.

The plan was to hike the Crater Lake rim trail to the lodge.  The sides of the Crater are high, and that meant a big climb to get to the crater’s rim.  It took me almost two hours to get high enough to finally see the lake.  It was quite the sight to see all that water in the caved in volcano.

Okay, now I’ve seen Crater Lake.  I don’t know if there is any connection, but at that moment I realized I was hungry and wanted breakfast. The problem is if I stayed on the trail I would miss breakfast.  So, yes, I cheated. I stuck my thumb out and caught a ride to the lodge right away. Time for breakfast.

After breakfast, I sat on a very comfortable couch in front of a fireplace in the lodge’s reception room.  An hour later,I had to get up and head for Mazama Village where there is a general store holding a provision package for me, and the campground for tonight is also there.  It took a little over two hours to hike from the lodge to the village.

The rest of the afternoon was spent hanging out and talking with other hikers.  The village has a restaurant and late afternoon I went there and had a great hamburger and french fry dinner. I’ll be back for breakfast.

Tomorrow is my birthday.  I’ll be 77.  To celebrate, I’m not going anywhere.  It will be a zero day.