I had my tent set up far away from the campground-road in the back of the forest and had nobody camping in close proximity. Slept wonderful and woke up fairly late at 0730. Time to see if I could get my backlogged entries into the ether. I grabbed my keyboard and a pop-tart, then headed out to the area where I was told there’d be service. The campsite bordered a deep valley and close to the edge I indeed found myself having excellent coverage.
I uploaded the four remaining posts, headed back to the campsite, broke down my stuff and settled down in the bright morning sun beneath another beautiful blue sky. I got a coffee and relaxed as the others came back from breakfast at the restaurant. A gentleman pulled up in his truck, asked if we were PCT-hikers (which we confirmed) and gave us all an apple and banana. Good times!
Today I would be briefly separated from Free-wheel, Peach-man and Rocket once more. We are now officially in Crater Lake National park, and one of the highlights of this section is Crater Lake. The gigantic lake filling the crater of the volcano that was active several thousand years ago. Unfortunately the official PCT-trail does not run along the rim of the crater, whereas the Crater Lake Rim Trail does. Many PCT-hikers opt to hike this much more scenic alternate, as it rejoins the PCT a little ways north of Crater lake. The alternate rim-trail is significantly shorter than than the official PCT-route however. I’d been contemplating taking the alternative route like the others would too, but I committed to my mindset that I want to hike as much of the official PCT-route as possible. So I said goodbye to the others after agreeing to meet up later tonight at a campsite very close to where the Crater Lake Rim Trail and the PCT intersect.
Not long after getting back on the PCT, the junction to the alternate appeared and I stuck with my guns and kept following the official route. Two miles in, I started to wonder if I’d made a mistake. From what I’ve heard, Crater Lake for many has been one of the highlights of their trip. Would I be missing out terribly? That’s when I recalled the outline of a map of Crater Lake, and an idea started to form in my mind. Very close to where I would meet the others at the agreed on campsite, was a highway which lead back to the crater. It was 1100 now and I had 15 miles to go. If I put on a steady pace, I could make it to the campsite by 1830, set up camp and hike back to the highway to try a ride to get back up the volcano. If all worked out I could possibly get some sunset-views of Crater Lake before nightfall! I realized that with this plan there was no time to dilly-dally during the remaining 15 miles however.
It became apparent that the alternate trail was way more popular than the official PCT-route, because where the majority of the PCT appears very heavily trodden, now I was making my way through loose sand and lots of vegetation covering the trail. Tough hiking. Beneath the scorching sun I crossed through various burned areas. The scenery was less than stellar.
The same old remedy of podcasts and music helped me through the stretch, and exactly as planned, I made it to the campsite around 1830. I quickly pitched my tent and threw all my gear which I wouldn’t need, in there. Unfortunately there was no bear-vault the campsite, and I could not be bothered with hanging my food for the 2 hours I hoped to be away. Nothing to do but carry my heavy food-bags with me. I was making my way from the campsite to the highway (a ten minute walk) when I ran into Peach-Man, Free-Wheel and Rocket, who’d just finished the alternate and were now heading to the campsite too. Great! With people on the lookout for bears, I could give them back my food-bags, such that I needn’t log those with me. Look at my happy helpers:
I got to the highway a little before 1900.
Time to solidify your intentions: ‘A ride to the rim of the crater before it would be too dark’.
I visualized a car stopping and taking me the few miles up the road. About seven cars had passed me within the first twenty minutes, when a car approached from the direction I needed to go, i.e. driving away from the crater. When I took a closer look, I recognized the car as one of the few that had passed me earlier.
Could it be…?
And yes, sure enough, somewhere out of sight the car had turned around and driven back to pick me up. The two wonderful young ladies, Katherine and Elise, were planning to watch the sunset along the crater and would head back out after. They immediately offered to drop me back off at the trail-head later too.
All my wishes were granted!
The girls were both from Arizona and had moved out to the Bay-Area. They’d been on a National-Park road-trip for some time and had been talking about the PCT a lot with each other. It was great to answer all their questions and a lot of fun to spend time with these intelligent, cool girls. Within the hour of me getting off trail, the smoke had started to roll in, which had changed the atmosphere of the falling night completely. When the girls parked the car and the immense features of Crater Lake emerged in front of us, I was blown away.
I marveled at the sights, which were absolutely gorgeous, and I felt profoundly grateful that the stars had aligned for me to make it there today.
The girls knew about a viewpoint, a short climb up one of the nearby rock-features, towering high above the lake, with supposedly even greater views. Once at the summit we sat down and enjoyed the amazing vistas as we continued with great conversation. They’d brought pizza with them, which they happily shared with me. So sweet! I told them that their picking me up had really made my evening.
After the sunset it got real cold real fast, and we hiked back down to the car. Within 15 minutes I was dropped off at the trail-head and we said goodbyes. As they drove away, I dug up my headlamp and hiked back to the tent-site. After getting warm and comfy in my sleeping bag, I reflected on the course of the day.
I’d hiked all the official PCT-miles of this stretch, and I’d gotten up to Crater Lake in time to witness an amazing sunset, sharing it with two wonderful people I’d only just met.
Great day! 
In the back of my mind, well I thought my god
‘Cause all of the hell that’s in my time
But I can still see the birds
And where they went this year
Our winter made things hazy and I know
That I was losing sight of my hometown
And in my blacking out I think I let you down
Don’t let them try to save me
‘Cause I’m already crazy
And there is something in your face
That pulls me far enough away
I guess that I always knew
That I’d find you when I thought
Where I want to be – The Dangerous Summer
