Saturday, August 11, 2012

Aug 11, 2012 - Day 110 - The smoky Rim of Crater Lake

From Mazama Village Campground at Crater Lake (Mile 1830.6) to cowboy camp (Mile 1848)

PCT Miles: 18

We were a little slow getting out of the campground at Mazama -- probably on the trail by 7.30 -- and then up to the Rim. But no views there. Smoke from wildfires to the east and south were obscuring the world-famous clarity of the lake views. At times we could see across to the other rim.

Seano mugging for the camera. :-)

The view before the smoke totally closed it off.


We ate at the grand old Crater Lake Lodge on the Rim. Really good breakfast, despite other thru-hikers grousing about the prices. Hey, where else can you get food this good here? It was great.

Then onto the PCT trail hugging the rim of the crater. Uff. Up and down and up and up and down. What a workout for our weary legs. And always the traffic of vacationers to our left -- and the flowery-scented tourists bounding eagerly past us in white white clothes. We grinned.

Eventually our path took us off and to the north across long flats covered in lodgepole pine. Lodgepole doesn't do well here. It falls over a lot. The forest was a maze of standing and fallen trees we had to step over. And step over. And step over.

A cache of water was indicated across Highway 209 off to the west on the equestrian PCT where it intersected with our trail. We headed over to have supper there. Beware!!! One sip we had from the water we poured from the cache was scorchingly full of chlorine. Burned our lips, nostrils, and throats. Ugh!!! Wonder what the deal was? We didn't discover the problem, however, until we reached our campsite for the night ... too late. We had to go without water.


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