August 15.
Woke up at 5am, got my stuff packed up, and took off, coughing to wake up Twist as I left. Hiked back to the little rock outlook over Crater Lake I saw yesterday on the way to camp and got there about 15 minutes before sunset. I skipped the bathroom and tried to force myself to not have to go since it would have been a really awkward spot to shit.
Twist showed up and joined me. My cough alarm clock apparently worked. We sat and had breakfast and watched the sunrise.
Unfortunately it was a really cloudy morning, the first in weeks, and we didn’t get the full sunrise though it was all still beautiful. Got so many pictures and videos and it was nice to share that moment with someone else.
Finally my bowels decided that the sunrise was nice but it was time to go. Made it back to the trail and pulled off a bit to probably not the most leave no trace area I could find. I almost had two nobos see me but thankfully they were too busy looking at the views over Crater Lake to notice me 50 feet away from them squatting awkwardly.
I hiked some more on the Rim trail, stopping to take in the sights. Since my shoes weren’t going to be there until late and since I’d gotten up so early, I had all the time in the world in the morning and I took advantage of it by stopping at a nice little overlook to take an 8am nap. Twist caught up and woke me up and we hiked for a bit together, making it to Rim Village. We took in the sights and read the little panels with info about the lake. The depth of the lake was first measured with a heavy pipe tied to piano wire and the measurement from that was apparently pretty accurate after being verified by sonar.
Pringle and Glowworm caught up. It was still so early that nothing at Rim Village was open so we decided to hike down the 3 miles to Mazama. The hike down was nice and easy, mostly through green forest, still untouched by all the fires.
Caught up to Lucas on the way into Mazama. Made it to the village store and lo and befuckinghold there was Taylor! Finally caught him. He had gotten in the night before and was doing laundry and getting his resupply sorted out. It was great seeing him and catching up. He was leaving that day though after finishing laundry. If I hadn’t had to wait for my shoes, I probably would have headed out with him just to race him a bit ha.
But I did have shoes to wait for which ended up being a good thing. I had lunch with Twist at Annie’s Creek Restaurant. They actually had a vegan burger made with the beyond meat burger. We both got that and onion rings and it was so good.
We went back to the store and split a load of laundry then went and found the free showers. I got my resupply and charged my stuff and waited anxiously for my shoes to arrive. Twist was also waiting for a package though hers wasn’t arriving until tomorrow which meant she was going to stay there at least another day which is a bummer. I actually really liked hiking with her. I like her, definitely not in a romantic way but in a vegan trail friend way. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to hike with her again more in northern California.
While I waited for my shoes all the sobos showed up. Pidgin, Kid, Columbus, Blue Bear, Salty, Potter. There were also a few other sobos there: Grasshopper, the German twins, and some others I don’t remember. We all hung out at the store, being total hiker trash, hanging out in our laundry clothes, or underwear talking about the trail and everything else. God it was actually a lot of fun. They were all planning on staying there and part of me wish I could stay there too. But part of me was also feeling overwhelmed by all the people, especially since there were also a fuckton of nobos there too and it seemed the hiker campground was going to be packed. Still, it was fun being around others and I’m hoping to hike with them more through California.
My shoes finally arrived and I was able to swap them out. It was so nice to be showered and freshly laundered and have new shoes. Felt like an entirely different person. For a few hours anyway. Or at least for the 15 minutes before I got back on the trail.
But I did leave, hard as it was to leave everyone, especially knowing they’d all be at least half a day behind.
There was a long dry section leaving Mazama, around 19 miles, and I wanted to get at least 8 done, so I had to carry around 4 liters of water for the rest of the day and the next morning.
On the way to the campsite 8 miles in I passed a nobo who had run out of water. He said he lost a water bottle and was entirely empty. I initially felt very protective of my water and almost didn’t want to give him any. But I did give him my half 20 Oz bottle and he was grateful. Immediately after I felt like such an asshole and wished I’d given him at least a liter. I’ve been in that situation before and I did have water options in the morning so it wouldn’t have been bad for me. He only wanted 10 Oz though and hopefully that was enough to get him through. Godspeed you stupid nobo.
Made it to a little tentsite on a ridge in a burn area. The burn around me wasn’t too bad though I could hear the creeking and crackling of branches. The smoke around was pretty bad though. Not too long after leaving Mazama I felt and smelled it. The smoke was pretty thick, even up on the ridge. I actually started feeling a little nauseous and lost my appetite a bit which is very disconcerting.
I had really good service at the tentsite so I called Mup and talked to her for a bit. She was tired and didn’t seem to want to talk much. She’s seemed kinda distant the last few times I’ve talked to her, probably because we are very distant from one another and it’s been almost 8 weeks since we’ve seen each other but still, she doesnt seem to have the same enthusiasm for talking to me that she did early on. Though she seemed happily surprised when I told her that we were going to see each other in 3 days. Despite that, it was still a good day.
Plants Outside 
Awesome post.
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