Day 100, 23.3 miles

Day 100!!! I’m very happy with my decision to stay the night at the river site and not to camp during a 20 mile waterless stretch. I was able to make some yummy oatmeal this morning and chug a bunch of water. It was the coldest morning I’ve had for awhile, but I was still on trail by 6am. I actually had to wear my puffy in the morning for about half an hour!

Headed towards the fire ball...

Very early on I was hiking through a severe burn area. Most burn areas I’ve encountered thus far have been a few years old so there’s been at least SOME regrowth present. This area seemed very recent. There was no vegetation or live branches whatsoever, and the ground was still very ashy and dusty. It was actually quite eerie in the early morning hours!

Creepy!

Awhile after that I walked through a similar area but there were lots of 1-2 year old pines beginning to grow again!

Yay new growth!

And THEN, just a little while later, I was in a section where there used to be little 1-2 year old pines but there had been ANOTHER fire, leaving a landscape similar to the first patch but with small burned out trees!

Somehow made me more sad that the little ones got burnt! Haha

It was definitely very neat to see the different types of burns and how the land was reacting at different stages. A little while later, I was walking through HUGE thick trees and it seems like only the bark had been charred but that there was still some sort of life within the tree. I’ve seen a lot of clear/yellow sap from trees, but I’ve never seen bright red sap! This added to the eerieness, I felt like the trees were bleeding!

Crazy huh?!?

More burn

Huge mushrooms bursting out of the ground 

Soon, I found myself entering Crater Lake National Forest! At this point it was only a few more miles down to the highway where I was planning on hitching or walking just over a mile to Mazama Village, where I sent a box from moms.

I hit a parking lot and could see the highway. I had done 20 miles by 1pm! It didn’t look like there was much traffic on the highway, so I was glad when one of the two vehicles in the parking lot started to leave and was turning right on the highway. I asked if they could take me a mile down the road and they said sure! They were really nice and even gave me and ice cold Starbucks mocha drink in a glass jar!

Mazama Village Store

I picked up my resupply box and checked out the hiker boxes, scoring a few more food items to supplement my next stretch. (I love having extra food!) I charged my devices for a while and then headed to the nearby restaurant around 3:30pm for a burger and fries. Daniel-San walked in around 4:00pm and when he ordered his food, I ordered more fries! Yum!

The smoke here is preeeeeetty bad today. The park has cancelled  all walking tours and boat tours due to the smoke. It can’t be good for me to be hiking 25+ miles a day through this stuff... Luckily, the SOBO whom I met yesterday (Sky), told me that the smoke clears up near Thielsen Creek (about 20 miles North of here). 

I knew I was only going to hike a few more miles today, ascending and approaching the rim of Crater Lake. I went back to the store to get some ice cream and beer and to prolong me having to climb up in the smoke and the heat. Once it cooled down I hitched back to the trailhead and hiked up to the Crater Lake alternate junction. 

The official PCT is technically open, but there’s about 6 fires raging to the west of Crater lake. The Crater Lake alternate hugs the rim of Crater Lake, 3 miles to the East. I’ve heard the alternate is way less smokier. It’s hard to believe ANYTHING is “less smokier” right now!! Anyway, it’s a few miles shorter than the real PCT, but since my main goal is the continuous footpath, that’s ok by me! 

Red is PCT, blue is alternate

I just went a little over a mile up the alternate and found a nice flat spot to camp. There are TONS of mosquitos outside and I’m already dreading having to get out of my tent soon to brush my teeth and then again in the morning to take down my tent! Tomorrow I walk along the rim of Crater Lake.

Side note: it’s day 100 and look how far I’ve come!! 

That’s just my estimation of the trail, it’s waaaaaaaay more squiggly in California! 

I remember holding my thumb up to a big map way back at Warner Springs, (mile 109) with Claire in 2016 and going: “That’s it?!?” I did the exact same thing there this year too. You see, even 100 miles is a long way to walk, for both body and mind! I still can’t really wrap my head around what I’m doing out here. I’ve been walking for ONE HUNDRED DAYS! 1,825 miles down, only 825 to go!!

Thanks for reading!!