The Non-Burning Section

Editor's Note

The last post was delayed by 4 days because I forgot to hit "publish" when Arlen wrote it. That is why this post is going up so closely to that one. Sorry for any confusion! :)

- Alicia

I'm currently in Bend, where I hitched to from mile 1950. The PCT is closed north of 1950 and the alternate route around the fire is now also closed because it is also on fire. To try and avoid as much hassle as possible I think I'm going to jump 140 miles north to Government Camp and head north from there. It looks like the easiest spot to get back on trail and it leaves a section with easy access at both ends to comeback and do in a couple weeks some other year. It feels a little strange skipping such a big section since I was one of the few people who didn't do any skipping around the Sierras but I don't have much choice.

The section of Oregon that I just hiked was quite nice though. It started with Crater Lake which was phenomenal. I am so glad the Rim trail opened up a few days before I got there. It was a solid 6 miles of great views. There were even some decent informational signs about the lake. One of my favorite parts of hitting a scenic national park is there are signs explaining things about what I'm looking at. Normally, I see a view and recognize how pretty it is but that is about all the information I have. I think the most interesting fact for me was that the lake has the clearest water in the world because there are no water running into the lake to add silt. All of the water is from rain and snowmelt.

North of Crater Lake the trail reminded me a lot of the AT, but more flat. The trail just seemed to meander through the woods passing by a plethora of small lakes and ponds. It was a nice walk and I was able to go swimming at least once most days - it's hard to beat that! From what I've heard the closed section is supposed to continue with the lakes and ponds but increase the frequency of views. Sounds like a perfect two week vacation for next summer, assuming it isn't on fire again.

Because of the large jump I'm doing I only have 55 miles left in Oregon and then I'm in Washington. The end of the trail is fast approaching. There are always a lot of mixed feelings as I approach the end of a thru hike. It will be sad to be finishing but kind of nice to not walk 25-35 miles everyday.