Crater Lake and the Pacific Crest Trail

And so I took off from Bend, once again solo and feeling ready to tackle the next lag of the trip. The car was reorganized, the laundry was clean, the bed was made, the human was bathed. Food, gas, supplies stocked up. I cranked up one of my four CDs that I had carried with me on this trip and belted out the songs that I now knew by heart. I had spent four days in Bend, the longest I had stayed put anywhere along the trip, and felt ready to be moving again. Now Crater Lake is a very unique National Park. The main attraction is this gorgeous calm lake that lays in the crater of a collapsed volcano, Mt. Mazama. Off to one side of the lake is the small Wizard Island, which is the remains of the cinder cone. By car you can see much of the park as you travel around Rim Drive which does the entire circumference of the lake with plenty of lookouts. This was how I had my first exposure to the park, and it was breathtaking.

Ready to stretch my legs, I then did two different hikes to peaks on opposite sides of the lake. The first, Mt. Scott, is a moderate 7km hike on the east side of the lake. In the heat of the afternoon this certainly worked up a sweat, but was not too challenging and gave me some new views of the lake from a little further away. Then, having finished that hike and not quite feeling ready to stop moving, I circled myself over to the west end of the lake to attempt the Watchman Peak Trail, which I had heard was officially closed due to snow but perhaps still possible to climb. It was only a 3km hike roundtrip, so I figured I’d give it a shot and see what happened; I now had a decent amount of experience hiking in the snowy alpine. This turned out to be a great idea, because apart from perhaps 10 minutes of sloshing through wet snow, the remainder of the trail was clear and offered another unique view of the lake. I ran into two other women at the summit and after enjoying the view, we decided to head over to the lodge and grab a drink before dark.

Along the way to the lodge we stopped at a few more lookouts on the way. At one we ran into another PCT hiker and after a bit of chatting we ended up bringing him along for a drink as well. Then down to Mazama Village Lodge, where we cracked open some cold ones at the picnic table as we waited for a spot to be ready indoors. A feast of loaded pizzas, and we took off in search of a quiet rest area to call it a night. The two women were sleeping in their SUV as well and Ryan of course had his camp gear on his back, so we made a fun little group sleeping along the road that night. The next morning I had convinced the group to come along with me as I made my way down Cleetwood Cove Trail to the shoreline where I had heard you could swim. The water was cold and it was still only 8am, but we all had a great time cliff jumping and sunning on this rocks, as well as soaking in this new great view. (The one jumping in the picture below is yours truly.) If we had planned it in advance, you could also take boats from this area to Wizard Island, which I think sounds like a lot of fun.

It was shortly after this trail that I got word from my friend Ali, who was meant to be flying in to meet me that night in Medford, Oregon. Due to some issues with her flight, she was going to be two days delayed, and I was now left with a couple extra unplanned days. Not quite ready to leave the area, I decided to stay where I was and got invited to attempt a part of the PCT with Ryan. After hearing so much about the Pacific Crest Trail in Bend, this was the experience I'd been craving.

Before hitting the trail, I saw some other local things that I would definitely recommend checking out in the area. I spent some time around Diamond Lake with the lovely Mt. Thielsen in the background, and even got to watch a wicked thunderstorm in the evening from the docks. After living in Vancouver for 5 years where there is no pressure buildup or thunderstorms, it was a lot of fun to get back into storm watching. I also went to see Toketee falls and Umpqua Hot Springs in the area, although it was so hot outside I didn't last long in the warm water. It would be great on a cool day!

Then it was time to hit the Pacific Crest Trail! This part of the trail would be a smooth and gradual incline up to Mt. Thielsen, the mountain that I had been admiring from Diamond Lake. I had an extra backpacking bag in the SUV, so I pulled it out and loaded it up with my heavy four person tent, a sleeping bag, my reflective window coverings as a sleeping pad, and enough food and water for the trip there and back. I wasn't going to bring my heavy camera and Ryan offered to take pictures for me. The idea was to accompany Ryan as he continued to make his way north on the PCT, camp out for the night, and then part ways the next morning as I retraced my steps back to my vehicle.

We set out around 6pm with me in the lead, hiking at my usual pace. A few minutes in, Ryan asked if I would like him to set the pace (which I thought I was doing) and stepped ahead and picked it up. I guess I wasn't going at a PCT pace! The first while was hard and sweaty but I slowly got used to my pack and my body accepted that this was going to happen whether it liked it or not. We got some beautiful outlooks of Diamond Lake and the surrounding mountains on the way, and eventually began marching through snow as we made it close to the summit.

It was sunset as we made it to camp, and met a few other PCT through hikers hanging around a fire. I set up my tent, and then enjoyed a decadent dinner of chips, granola bars and tuna packets by the warmth of the fire. I was hoping someone would give me a trail name, but it was not to be for a little section hiker like me. Night was rainy and cool at camp, and then it was an early morning to pack everything up and make it back to the car.

It really was a great experience to do part of this trail after I had heard so much about it, and I wondered as I passed hikers on the way out if they might mistake me for a southbound PCT through hiker. I hoped so! I'm still not sure if this is something that I would like to do for 5 months, and if I did whether I'd prefer to do it solo or with someone, but it was a great first taste. I think about the idea of doing a section of the Appalachian Trail (the AT) for a month or so next summer, we'll see if it happens. Next, it was on to Medford to pick up my friend Ali from the airport (finally), and from there we would be heading to California to see Redwoods National Park and eventually San Francisco from where she would be flying out. Thanks for checking in! Amanda