11:30 am
So, we made it to Mazama Village. But not without the trials and tribulations which have become typical for this trip. I was awoken around 1am by hooves pounding the ground around our tent, and a loud snorting. I was terrified and woke Tom up, but they quickly retreated into the woods. I had a hard time falling back asleep because I couldn't stop fearing death by wildlife. I was awoken again around 5am by two large deer grazing in the field we had put our tent in. Apparently the meadow that looked like a great tent site was also a popular deer (and elk) hangout. Our midnight visitor is believed to have been an elk, and the early morning friends were most likely also elk (hard to tell to my untrained, near-sighted eyes).
When we decided to exit the tent around 7:30, we realized how much dew had accumulated the night before (chilly night without a rain fly). Everything was wet- there was even water drops dangling inside the tent and coating our sleeping bags and gear. We got up and packed quickly, snacking on a cold breakfast to the best of our ability.
We hit the trail around 8 and logged some easy, quick miles along an old road. The guidebook had said we would follow an old road for a while, then climb up, and cross a forested section that would be very snow logged- which made us nervous. About an hour in we started to here traffic though, and emerged on a busy highway (which the guidebook didn't mention). We flagged down a car, which informed us that we had hit HW62, about 4 miles south of Mazama Village. Somehow we had gotten seriously off the PCT, but a road walk sounded like a refreshing change of routine- out of the snow and mosquitoes. It took us a bit over an hour, but we reached Mazama Village and are now sitting outside the store, waiting for our clothes to dry and for 1pm, when we can check into the campground. We are sitting in the shade where it is pretty cool, and feeling rather great. I just ate a string cheese and it was outrageously delicious. Tom just keeps running back into the store to get more snacks and Gatorade.
I still just cant believe this last week- hiking in 100 degree heat, having to wear long pants and a long sleeved shirt and bug net to ward off mosquitoes, and hiking through 10+ feet of snow. Add to that the fact that we couldn't rest in the shade because of the outrageous bugs, and in the evenings we just had to hole up in our tent to avoid them. The mosquitoes just made hiking frantic. And we were unable to eat enough to have energy to hike. Everything that could have gone wrong really did. But in retrospect it is already looking less horrible...
Things in this national park are very spread out, though. We are staying at the Mazama Village Campground, which actually isn't anywhere near Crater Lake (there is no camping with a view of the lake...and the only other campground in the park is still closed due to snow). The lake is 7 miles up the road, and there is no shuttle or transportation. 14 miles of road walking is not exactly what I hoped to do on our 0 day, but we cant NOT see the lake...
We are also weighing our options for getting out of here. There is technically no hitchhiking in national parks, so that means about 10 miles of walking before we can hitch somewhere (anywhere!).
Apparently Crater Lake gets a ton of snow each year- an average of 44 feet. All of the road signs are on very tall poles. And they keep the park open year round- they plow one road that goes up to the lake, but they let all of the others get snowed in and close. They also build the buildings here upside-down- they put the bedrooms on the first floor and the kitchen and living room on the second floor, so when there is 20 feet of snow on the ground, they still get some sunlight in the rooms that matter. This year was so snowy they just got the last road plowed and open on the 4th of July. Crazy.
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