Dear Trail Friends,
There is no accounting for desire. Here I am in my tent at 2:47am, breakfast eaten, about to pack up and begin hiking probably around 3:30am by headlamp. This is ridiculous you might be thinking. I could not agree with you more. There is no way I can arrive in Mazama in time for Rattles' Parents' trail magic and hiking in the dark -- in this rocky terrain and with a lot of trees down across the trail will be slow going at best. But what to do? I woke up at 2 with absolutely no interest in going back to sleep.
At least by writing this prelude to you I am postponing my departure into the dark. On the other hand I have to admit a certain excitement about trying out my new ultralight headlamps (new for this section hike) in real night hiking. More to come.
Now I am sitting on the floor of the Mazama Village Store in Crater Lake National Park. My tent is set up in a special (crowded) area for PCT camping. Laundry is done. Showering is done. My resupply box is unpacked and for the most part organized. I had a good dinner with a lovely couple from Vancouver who are close to my age and thru-hiking.
Once again I am too tired to write this but I so want to share at least a little of today with you. It was a wonderful day. I was amazed I could find the trail in the dark--sometimes it seemed more intuition than vision. And I was so relieved as the sky slowly slowly lightened (first the stars disappeared then very very slowly the landscape began to shift from black and white to color.)
But then it became very misty. The dawn light was still dim and I was transitioning into a burn area where the tree trunks were burned mostly white rather than black. It was an eerie, surreal scene.
Photo 1. Too dark to see white trunks but maybe you get the eerie feeling a little?
Photo 2. A lot of the trees were bent over and I imagined them a little like the screaming horse (is it a horse?) in Guernica -- their very shapes silent screams at the total destruction of their lives and world.
Photo 3. I made it!
Photo 4. Same day: blue sky, green living trees.
I really hiked faster than usual, got my 18 1/2 miles hiked and arrived here (Mazama village, store, restaurant, campground) just after 1 pm. I really have been hiking with more ease and pleasure, a little faster, more endurance and much better able to handle climbs and altitude since Judith brought me iron and magnesium supplements when I was zero-ing at Callahan's.
I am so tired tonight I have no idea if I will pack up tomorrow and return to the trail or take a zero.
I paid to get wifi unfortunately it won't work (probably too slow) to upload the last couple of days of blogs and there is no cell coverage. There is supposed to be some on the rim trail (along the edge of Crater Lake) and that does make me want to go back to the trail.
We will see what tomorrow brings.
Love to you.
Riv
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