Day 112: Crater Lake and Friends

August 9th, Day 112: 1804.4-1853.9

Miles Hiked: 23.4

Gratitude of the Day: I’m thankful for my friends Ali, Goldie and Tim who made a special trip to visit me in Crater Lake. Bringing hugs, goodies and laughs. 

Today is an exciting day because I’m meeting my friends at Crater Lake. I got up around 5:15 to a chill in the air. I packed up with my breath visible and started down trail to warm up.

I think he’s getting the pose down

The excitement to see my friends made the miles fly by and I hiked all 16.5 miles to Mazama Village in Crater Lake National Park without stopping for a break. Once there I got a burger and beer and of course an unlimited fountain drink of Coke. Around noon my friends showed up and it was huge hugs and they brought yummy snacks. After a little bit of resupply and some spigot laundry we took off to explore the park. How beautiful!  We decided to hike down to the lake for lunch and swim. Surprisingly the water was very pleasant and we spent the afternoon catching up. It was such a breathe of fresh air to see friends from home.  As always, all good things come to an end, and they had big plans of their own, off to backpack the Three Sisters Loop outside of Bend. So they drove me back to trail, last minute hugs and I headed back up trail and they headed up the highway. I only hiked another 6 miles and stopped to set up camp at the base of Mt Thielson. It’s a specular view tonight.