Section C, Hwy 140 to Crater Lake Ntnl. Park

We woke at Lake of the Woods kind of late, so we packed up quickly and hurried down the trail. (We were camping just off in the bushes between the Resort and Aspen Point Campground.) We got water from the Aspen point bathrooms, and walked to Hwy 140. We followed easy directions to the Rye Spur Trail, which climbs north to meet the PCT in the Sky Lakes Wilderness.

The climb to Fourmile Lake was pretty intense, it was smoky, and immediately we were swarmed by mosquitos. We doused ourselves with Backwoods OFF, (what a crappy product!) and put on out headnets. That made it a little more bearable... We climbed for a few hours, then stopped for some breakfast and photo ops on some rocks. When we left, I forgot my net! Poo!

We cruised up to the lake, drank our last 2 beers from Lake of the Woods, and ate chips. We had thought we could buy some better repellant at the store indicated on the map, but the campground hosts, Rick and Teddi, told us it burned down years ago. We only had one can of Off, half a bottle of Cutter with picardin, and a little bit of Muskol, 100% DEET.

They also told us they had fed Thomas dinner earlier in the week,
and that he's doing great and he's only 17! Go Thomas, Go! No wonder he's hiking so fast! We got our water and headed around the east side of the lake into the Sky Lakes Wilderness.

What can we say about this place? It was like no other human had ever been there. I've never seen so many lakes! We took 4 days to hike the 40 miles of wilderness, and it would have been perfect...except for the damn mosquitos. We were literally swarmed everytime we stopped to rest, as soon as we stepped out of our tent in the morning, and whenever we got close to water..








The only thing that worked.. and I hate to think I did this to myself...was 100% DEET, and walking with a lit coil. We felt so sick the first few days from breathing in that crap, but the bastards stayed AWAY!



We hiked on all the alternate trails, and were able to fish for a while in Lake Notasha. We had beautiful campsites every night, it was cooler, but we didn't hit any snow until Snow Lakes Trail. Didn't see any wildlife except frogs and birds. The trek up to Snow Lakes was amazing, the cliffs and lava flows are very unique, and overall made you feel like you'd wandered onto another planet. We hooked back up with the PCT on Shale Butte, where the trail was just a little path in a sea of gray andesite rocks.
We had good views south to McLoughlin, and west to the 7 lakes basin. The trek up past Lucifer to Devils Peak was pleasantly strenuous, we felt like we were getting a good workout, and it didn't have a whole lot of snowdrifts. We got our first views north to Crater Lake, Union Peak, and Mt. Thielsen. But then we got a good look over the side....




















We just detoured around the snow, down the rocks, and picked up the trail in the forest below. We had big patches all the way to Hwy 62 after this.


One benefit was that the runoff ditches were full, and we always had water. Cold water..mmmm. We camped at the Big Bunchgrass saddle, where we melted snow to take a warm bath, then went to bed. The next morning, we made our way to the Stuart Falls trail, more or less by accident. The fork in the trail was under the snow, we say a sign that said PCT 1/2 mile, with an arrow pointing in the other direction. Hmm, shrug and walk on.. Stuart Falls was beautiful, it was nice to fall asleep to the sound of water. The next morning we hiked into Crater Lake National Park, figuring we would have to use our compass because of snow on the ground, but it wasn't that bad. We drew arrows in the snow whenever it looked tough. Suddenly, we emerged out of the hemlocks and onto the highway, arriving at Mazama village a few minutes later. Scratch, bless him, bought us a sixer and ICE CREAM!!! We weren't about to pay 20$ a night for a tent site, but we did pay 75 cents each for 4 minute showers. (OK, I paid $1.50 for 8 minutes) Scratch almost killed two French children who ripped open his shower curtain, and I caught up on my postcards. Then we went to the Annie Creek Restaurant buffet. Words can't describe how wonderful it was... and they were nice enough to let us take our packs to our table.


After eating far too much food, we bought another sixer and contemplated where to stay for the night.. (we ended up waiting for dark and just ducking into the woods) We spent a restless, cold night, listening to what sounded like trucks.


The next morning, we awoke to condensation and hunger. we walked the 100 yards to the store, thinking donuts and coffee, and found out it had caught on fire during the night! Anyone else sensing a pattern here?? So, what could we do but go to the breakfast buffet and overindulge again.. I enjoyed lots of fresh fruit and about a gallon of coffee, Scratch had biscuits, gravy and meat! We waited outside when we were through, playing rummy and watching tourists park their cars. Soon our trail angels showed up. It sure was nice to see my parents!


We drove up to the Rim to take some pictures, then we were off to Diamond Lake for 3 days of R&R. Scratch's parents met us at Broken Arrow Campground, with his Bassett Hound, Sadie. It was so wonderful to get that strong dose of parental support, not to mention the pizza, steak, enchiladas and all the beer we could drink! Scratch and his dad even shined a 22 inch trout out of Diamond Lake. It was a perfect break.