It was so nice to cowboy camp again, something I haven’t done in weeks. The morning air was crisp, cool, and dry; not cold for a change. Blue sky greeted us and my spirits were high with the good weather. Tabasco and I both packed up in semi-darkness and were on trail by 7:30am. Miles of forested trail flew by and we maintained a brisk pace for two hours, then took our first morning break. My feet felt better than yesterday, but the knee and hip joints bothered me all day.
Our second break was for water at a barely trickling spring. Water hasn’t been good at all since we got back on trail here in S. Oregon, similar to the situation we left 5 weeks ago just south of here. We hiked on and on, stopping for a lunch break about 1:15pm and about 17 miles behind us. I called on the cell phone to the Fish Lake Resort and learned that our food box has arrived, but that the store/restaurant/lodge would close at 6pm. Fortunately, Debbie, the owner, knew we were coming and said she would keep the place open if we didn’t make it in time and would call her.
So we pushed out, me first at 1:50pm and Tabasco about 10 minutes later. Normally he leads and leaves me behind on climbs, then waits for me to catch up. This afternoon he didn’t catch me and at 4:15pm I stopped to wait for him. Tabasco was having some pain with new blisters, a rarity for him. We had a little over 3 miles left to a remote highway where we hoped to get a hitch the two miles to the camping resort.
We got to the highway at 5:40 with 20 minutes to get to the store. I switched out phone batteries and called to let the resort know we were trying to get down there. No luck on hitching for about a mile as we walked with thumbs out. Then a fellow stopped with a pickup truck and we piled in the back. We got to the empty resort (ok, not a resort, just some campsites, a cabin, bathroom, pay shower, and building with a café, small store, and a gameroom). Debbie was waiting for us, told us to take our time and gave us a menu. Not really wanting another trail dinner, I ordered chili and a milkshake and a root beer. Tabasco got a burger and root beer.
We sorted food and I watched the weather channel, which made me sick with the pending forecast for rain Wednesday, the day we will try to get past Crater Lake at 7000 feet…snow surely will fall and it could get dicey. More rain predicted for Saturday through Monday….my heart sank with the news. When we left Ashland the forecast for the whole week had been good. Anyway, we had a great meal, enjoyed the conversation with Debbie and Steve, who work at the resort, and they put us in a $16 campsite for free. Our food for six days weighs a ton and Tabasco is having trouble getting it in his pack. We could make it in 4 ½ days doing the miles, but are concerned about hitting bad weather, so we’ll carry the food and hope for the best.
The last five miles today were through lava flows from Mt. McLoughlin, on red lava rocks cutting a trail through large gray lava flows. I felt like I was walking across a huge gas grill on those rocks. The forest in this section hasn’t been particularly pretty, relative to forest in N. Oregon and Washington. Tabasco and I both are tired of long mile days and want to get finished. At least it was perfect hiking weather, almost too warm for a change. Today’s weather: sunny, low 38, high 73. Today’s miles: 29.9; cumulative miles: 1924.1.
