800 miles.

Old shoes & insoles compared to new after having knocked out 800 miles of dirt, sand, rocks, pine needles & some pavement!

Volcanic views.

Similar to Tongariro NP in NZ, we are making our way through a rough abrasive volcanic wasteland towards the mountains in the pic above, Mt Washington on the left, & Mt Jefferson to the right.
I'm glad I just got new boots too, as my old ones, although looking good for having done over 800 miles, were getting a bit thin & I was really beginning to feel the trail. New & old pix coming shortly....
RWK.
Out.

Sunset at South Matthiue Lake.

We camped on the pine covered shores of this small lake the other night in the volcanic wilderness of the 3 Sisters mountains... It was a fantastic night... Warm & silent. Perfect.
RWK.
Peaceful easy feeling.

Crater Lake.

Lots & lots of water... But none of it when we needed it.
As I mentioned in the post earlier, water was hard to find & the previous days hiketowards Mazama Village had been as dry as an Irish bar the day after St Patricks day... & so we were having to plan our water resupply carefully.
Once we'd made the 4.5 mile climb (& what a climb! It was near vertical at the end!!) to the Rim Village, we stopped at the gift shop there, but decided against paying $3 for a can of soda. Carrying on, we got our first look at the awesome sight of a water-filled volcano crater.

We'd wondered why the data book had given a 'Water Alert' for the next 16 miles (as in, there was none on or near the trail) given that we were passing a HUGE body of water... But when we reached the crater rim, we understood why it wasn't listed as available... It was around 1000 feet below us down a very steep slope.
We took lots of pix and video, had a great lunch overlooking the lake, then made our way further north through nicely graded slopes of pines before stopping for the night near Hwy 58.
Since then, we have rolled on about 5 days to where we are now... Bend, OR.
We have taken a near-o here to recharge ourselves& our devices & will be back on the trail in the morning. I've not been able to upload any updates mostly due to the lack of coverage... We have been hiking towards & through Sisters Wilderness area which has been awesome, but very volcanic, rough & isolated. More pix will come soon, whilst I have some solid WiFi... Hope y'all like!
Cheers.
RWK.
Updatin'!

Feeling like a scolded teenage girl...

No, by feeling, I don't mean I feel like I need to get one... I meant my inner self was experiencing the emotions of one. What the hell am I on about? Well, when teenagers, particularly girls, get scolded by their parents, I am told the removal of cell phone use is one effective punishment... Yes, i reckon it is...So yeah, I had no phone, that's what I'm waffling on about! Well, no iPhone to be precise! Yeah, I know! Shock, horror!!
And that is why there is a gap in the update regularity to this blog..

To properly explain... With low-on-power devices, Tom & I reached the trailhead, 1.2 miles from Mazama Village & were met by Stacie, who gave us a ride to the store & campsite. Unfortunately, our resupply parcel hadn't arrived, plus the campsite was $30-odd a night, so we ended up not staying there, but back at the nice, peaceful & free but powerless trailhead.
Stacie offered to charge up our devices the next morning as we hiked up & around Crater Lake, then meet us along the way to pass them back. That was the plan anyway... Somehow we kept missing each other, so I had to resign myself to the fall-back plan of meeting up at the end of the day, where we were going to camp, just past the trailhead at Hwy 58. That ALSO was the plan... But that went pear-shaped too;
The PCT carpark & camping area (where Stacie, Will & Christa were set up waiting for us) was not where the actual trail crosses the highway, so the info they got from a poorly knowledged ranger, saying it was, was not so good.

Tom & I headed off from our campsite the next morning not realizing the other guys were probably less than 300 yards away from us through the forest... We hiked on for a few hours emerging at another trailhead to find a note from Stacie pinned to a signboard... So we were pleased to know they were all ok...
Leaving a note in return we hiked on for another day finally meeting up with her at another highway the following morning... 2 days without my iPhone was hard, but I survived!

I didn't get to take any pix of Crater Lake on my iPhone but Stacie did, so she has emailed them to me... I stitched them & the panoramic pic will be posted shortly...

Cheers!
RWK
BACK IN COMMUNICATION.

Cranking to Crater Lake.

Well, today was going to be a long cranking day... & it was, although not as bad as expected. We made good time, covering 27 miles in less than 10 hours of moving.
Due to a lack of water on the trail, we pushed harder to make the miles to Crater Lake, and have got here Wednesday night, not Thursday morning, as planned. Having water only for the first few miles, we faced being dry the rest of the day. Rather than carry 4+ liters for most of the day (to have enough to cook with & drink in the evening, as well as for the next morning), we felt it better to carry enough for lunch & enough to drink whilst walking, & end the day at Mazama Village campsite near Crater Lake.

After a great warm night high on a ridge, complete with gorgeous sunset, we got going early by 6.30 in the morning with a rough rocky climb up to 7200 feet, the high point for the day. Cresting a gap in the ridge, we turned to face north & had a great view of the mountains in the early morning mist ahead of us... So plenty of pix were taken, one of which is posted above.

Crater Lake is supposed to be fantastic too, so I will be posting more from the trail soon, I'm sure. It's now the end of the day, around 5.30 pm & we are stopped at the roadside at the moment, waiting for our awesome friend Stacy to meet us and run us the 1.2 miles off trail down to the campsite. Tomorrow, having collected our resupply box from the store there, we'll hit the trail up and around the lake.
Cheers for now..!
RWK.
Out.