8.2.18

ChilliBin was up and out of camp by 5:30. I was still shuffling around in my tent packing things into stuff sacks as she headed out. Happy was in the same boat as me, taking our time, just trying to get out of camp before 6. I was standing with coffee in hand just 10 minutes before, success!

We headed out, pausing at Grizz creek to grab some water to start the day. We continued our push through the woods, and I looked about noticing how many downed trees there were. The forest was beautiful as the golden sunrise made the green leaves glow.

Our first break came, and not too soon as my stomache was growling away. After another meandering stretch of trail we paused at Brown’s Cabin for water. There was a great large, old school pump that you manually worked up and down to get the water to flow. It was cold and tasty! We all set down at a convenient picknick table nearby.

We pressed on again, back into the woods and soon I noticed the abundance of blueberries everywhere. I paused and gathered some stuffing my mouth! Soooo tasty. Soon after we entered a lava rock area. The ladscape was covered in black volcanic rock, but the trail itslef was a nice red vocanic rock. I loved this section and cruised through happily!

We popped out at a road, grabbed water one more time from Cascade Canal, then took off for the 10 mile stretch to came. We were all taking our own pace in stride and enjoying the views. Soon I came upon Happy and ChilliBin breaking at the turnoff to Four Mile Lake. We chatted about our plan to camp in 3 miles just near the spring, and took off!

The smoke seemed to thicken and just get worse as we climbed. It almost looked like a deep fog rolling on from the distance. I made sure my mask was pulled up proper and pressed on. Finally we reached the Christies Spring and it looked like a hiker reunion, there had to have been 12 people hanging around. We decided to grab water and hike back just 0.1 of a mile to a nice campsite we saw on the way in.

Waving goodbye and heading back we soon found camp, set up, stretched, stuffed our faces, and all crawled our tired bodies into our tents, redy for some much needed recovery. Crater Lake National Park was within reach and we were all excited to see it!