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Ashland to Crater Lake
Friday, August 4: Ashland and Callahans — Day off @ 4 miles in town
We didn’t sleep much Wednesday night—it was just too hot. Thursday morning, after breakfast, we got a ride into town with the restaurant manager. We decided to stay in town on Thursday, instead of at Callahans, because we had a lot of errands to do, from picking up our mail, to grocery shopping for the next three weeks, to packing up the boxes for Oregon, to getting e-mail at the library, visiting a couple of outdoor stores, getting Jim a haircut, and checking out a used bookstore. At the grocery, we ran into our friend Greg--known as Weathercarrot (or WC)--and his hiking partner, Laura. They started a week after we did, and have been trying to catch us for a while. They’re staying at the hostel, which is a lot cheaper than the motel. We decided to stay at a motel instead since you can’t be at the hostel during the day, and we need to be able to sort and pack our boxes this afternoon.
We won’t be stopping in any other real towns in Oregon. The trail passes near some small camping resorts, but we have heard that supplies there are limited and very expensive, so we’re doing most of our shopping here, and shipping boxes ahead. We’ll do the same in Washington. Shopping for three weeks is not easy, especially since you have to guess so much at serving sizes. A box of cereal that “serves 11” may last the two of us two days, or even three, but never five. We decided to do a lot of small boxes, instead of fewer but bigger maildrops. There are places that accept mail every 50 to 100 miles. We would rather stop more often and carry a lighter load. We spent half an hour in the Safeway parking lot stripping the packaging off our purchases; we would never have gotten it all back to the motel otherwise. Packing it up took most of the afternoon, then we had a late dinner with Greg and Laura. We took off early this morning, hiring a taxi to take us and all our boxes to the Post Office. Unfortunately, they weren’t open, so Jim guarded our goodies while I searched out breakfast. Coffee and donuts to the rescue. One of the boxes had to be sent UPS, which turned out to be more of a problem than expected. We hoped to find a business in town that would ship our box with their stuff, but the outdoor and book stores were either still closed, or unable to help. We found a shipper a couple of miles away, so we went back to the motel to pick up our heavy packs, then took a bus out to the university to get rid of the last box. We had an expensive Mexican lunch there and finally called Callahans to ask if anyone could pick us up and take us back out to the hotel. There was a bit of a wait, but eventually Donna found us and took us back to the inn. We barely made it, as the car overheated on the freeway, but we finally limped home.
Ashland wasn’t really a good stop for us. It was hot (95 degrees), crowded, expensive, and too busy. We thought about going to one of the plays — Ashland is known for its annual Shakespeare Festival — but tickets were expensive, so we didn’t even try. Best was taking Friday afternoon off at Callahans, followed by dinner with WC and Jim, a southbound section hiker who has done the CDT and part of the Canadian Divide. He was interesting.
Saturday, August 5: Hyatt Lake — 23.6 (1745.1)
We slept better last night. It was still hot, but the noise from the air conditioner outside bothered us less. I was exhausted. We had a good breakfast, then Ron loaded us all in his jeep to take us out to the trail. It was hot, but breezy. There is a big fire south of here, sending up a tall plume of brown smoke. The highlight of the day was passing by Pilot Knob, a big lava plug once used as a major landmark for pioneers on the Oregon Trail. The rest was a nice woods walk with occasional views. The trees are covered with three or four kinds of moss. We saw two deer at the trailhead (one a young buck) and a couple of groups of grouse, including two that were almost tame. It is nice country, fairly open with small oak trees and dry yellow grass. It feels like summer’s end. We ate some good thimbleberries along the way.
Weathercarrot hiked with us today, and we all met up with Laura a little way before Hyatt Lake. She wanted another day off, so stayed at the hostel in town while he camped at Callahans last night. On the road near Little Hyatt Reservoir, we ran into a mother and two kids on ATVs and another on a motorized go-cart.
We stopped at the campground at Hyatt Lake. There is supposed to be a PCT hiker site, but we never found it. Instead we just took one of the walk-in sites near the lake. It’s a nice place. There are only two families camped nearby. It is a very civilized campground, with hot water in the bathrooms, a shower nearby, a playground, volleyball and basketball nets. My legs have a rash from the grasses, but it doesn’t itch. The lake is warm and swimmable, with a sandy bottom, but it is too public to swim naked, and I don’t really want to get my clothes wet as it’s not really hot enough for them to dry before morning. There are times it would be nice to have a swim suit. I just waded in and washed up a bit. It sprinkled for a few minutes as we cooked dinner, but not enough to get wet. Just at dark, it began to rain again, but gently. I love the pitter patter of rain on the tent.
Sunday, August 6 — Brown Mountain -- 23.4 miles (1768.5)
It was a quiet day, for the most part. Last night’s rain didn’t last long, so the tent was dry when we got up. The climbs were gentle, mostly in forest, with occasional open yellow grassy meadows. A lot of the forest had been cut--some areas very recently--but there were also long cool stretches of shady woods. In the afternoon, we ran into patches of huckleberries. Only a few were ripe, but there were enough to be interesting. There were few views, though we did see Shasta off in the distance and a few glimpses of Hyatt and Howard Prairie Lakes. The day was mostly dry. We crossed a canal and small creek that the guidebook said weren’t reliable, so we carried enough water to walk the 20 miles to Brown Mountain Shelter. It’s a real shelter, almost AT style, though with no floor and a big stove in the center. It was built for cross-country skiers, but they also put in a pump outside with good cold water, so summer hikers stop there too. I was hot and filthy, so the water felt wonderful when I washed up. The day was hot and sunny, so we took our time, with lots of breaks to eat, drink, and rest Jim’s foot. Greg and Laura met us at the shelter. They left before we did this morning, so we never saw them all day. We cooked dinner and visited with them for a couple of hours, then walked another hour or so until we found a brush-free lava-free spot to set up our tent.
Just before we did, we met our first true southbound PCT hikers, known as the Puppy Chow Crew. They started in Canada on June 18. When we met them, they had just seen three big owls, one of which swooped down on their dog. We talked for a while, then moved on as darkness was descending.
Monday, August 7 — 24 miles (1792.5)
As we ate breakfast, one of the owls perched on a nearby tree to check us out. We watched each other for a while, then it flew away. The morning hike around Brown Mountain crossed numerous lava flows. The trailwork there was incredible. They took the rocks and made walls, then filled in the walls with dirt and small red rocks to make a smooth trail. It was a huge project. Greg and Laura joined us while I was fixing a blister. Our new boots were a disaster. Both sets started to fall apart within a week. Jim sent his back and got a new pair of Lowas, but I kept mine until Kahley sends me the Raichles I left with her.
Generally the day was very easy and totally uninspiring. We are in the Sky Lakes Wilderness, but the trail goes nowhere near any lakes. There are alternate routes that we considered trying, but it is simpler to stick with the PCT. The Sky Lakes Alternate Trail would have been a good one if we could have reached the lakes in the afternoon or evening, but our timing is off so we wouldn’t reach them until morning. We rarely swim in the morning, or take time to sit beside a lake and watch the fish jump and sunlight sparkle on the water except at noon or at the end of the day, so it’s not worth the extra time. We got one very brief glimpse of a lake far below us at one point. It was frustrating. Instead of visiting pretty lakes, we just wind through hemlock and lodgepole forest on nearly flat trail. It’s quick, but boring.
Tuesday, August 8: Stuart Falls — 25.5 miles (@1818.0)
We had a nice morning walk, with occasional views back toward Mt. McLaughlin and Shasta and north toward Mt. Thielson and Crater Lake. You can’t see the lake, but you can see the ridges around it. I had a nice chat with Laura as we walked, learning a little about her life. She has had an interesting one, for someone so young.
The rest of the day’s hike was in the woods with no views, but we ended up on a side trail near a very nice waterfall. The water was very cold, but we were able to get cleaned up before starting dinner. Halleluia! This side route is the only good water for a long way, plus the waterfall is worth a visit, so it is crowded. That hasn’t happened to us much. There is another group camped here, a Boy Scout Explorer Post from Corvallis, Oregon and one lone PCT section hiker, plus WC and Laura. Downstream we met a three-person trail crew, out to repair a bridge. We also met two more southbound PCT hikers, Bob and Christy. They started at Manning Park the same day as the Puppy Chow Crew.
Wednesday, August 9: Crater Lake —13.8+.6 miles (1831.8)
The Scouts settled down early, fortunately, so we slept well, despite the crowd. We set off about 7:15 and reached Mazama Campground, part of Crater Lake National Park, about 10:30. We took wonderful hot showers, did laundry, picked up our mail drop at the store, and bought a few things to fill in the cracks, then started out for the lake.
It was a good climb up to the rim, but a pretty one, with open forest, flowery meadows, and several springs and streams along the five-mile climb. The lake was beautiful, big, and blue, surrounded by steep jagged cliffs, with Wizard Island--a small volcano--off to one side in the water. We walked along the rim as far as the lodge, then came back to eat at the AYCE buffet. The salad bar was wonderful, but we ate too much, of course. We took off about 7:00 p.m., walking along the rim, admiring the water, the clouds, the rain (just sprinkles) and, eventually, the sunset (not over the water, unfortunately, but it was still pretty.) Jim and I sat on the edge of the ridge and watched the rich red and purple glow behind distant Mt. Thielson. A small hawk flew below us. Earlier we saw two does with their fawns in a grassy meadow. It was very peaceful and beautiful, quite a contrast to the crowds along the rim.
We were part of the tourist attraction at the lake: a lot of people asked us questions and were excited about our trek, especially a group of kids from a camp, though, as usual, it was the leaders who were most interested. As experienced hikers, they had a better idea of what is involved in a six month hike. One of the kids said, “I could never leave my computer that long!” We laughed and answered, “You’d be surprised how easy that was for us.” We also met a few new thruhikers at the buffet: Woog, Bullfrog, and Kubiak.
Created: Fri, 16 Jan 2004 Copyright © 2000-2005 Spirit Eagle
