Day 123

Lightning spring campsite to campsite - 30.4 miles

Total - 1863.3 miles

I haven’t been sleeping well once again and I think it’s because I’m not used to my pad yet and getting into camp late is new to me so I don’t have time to wind down. Woke up and didn’t want to hike but there’s only one way out of backpacking and it’s hiking. So I got moving like the brave girl I am. All worth it though as once Marc and I hit the crater rim we were met with a gorgeous sun rise lighting up the sky with orange and reflecting off the blue water. We only had a little up and a whole lotta down so we got moving to get the miles done. The water situation was and is bad. We had to rely on a water cache today which isn’t always my favorite. We had a 17 mile carry which I haven’t done since the desert. My shoulders were aching. Luckily again it was mostly downhill. We also found another water cache so that was a fall back just in case. It was mostly a brown tunnel after we left the rim. We hit the highway where we were met with trail magic of a cold soda and beer. Very much needed as always and easily one of my favorite trail magic items. Anything ice cold on a hot day is glorious. We then had lunch at the water cache. I ended up getting there first and set up for a sit down lunch when I got swarmed by wasps. Normally it wouldn’t bother me as they come in and out but they truly got all up in your face. I was blowing them away cursing while doing it. One got under my thigh which I set down and the fucker stung me. I haven’t been stung in easily 7 years and it was my second sting ever. It fucking hurt. So not only was I hangry, tired but not I was pissed off and hurting from the sting. Luckily it didn’t last long but my mood was sour for a hot minute. We hung out and ate before I was so fed up with the wasps that I had to keep going. Before heading out I proposed an insane plan. Mom is talking about coming and providing trail magic to us sometime this weekend. We initially figured out the elk lake might be the best option but that met I probably wouldn’t get a lot of time with her as it would be an in and out sorta deal. So my plan was to push 30-33 miles over the next 4 days to make it to bend Oregon on Saturday evening. It doesn’t sound fun but I said I would zero Sunday to recover and I think that sold Marc. So now the plan is to pus 120ish miles in four days not including today. We will see if we do it but if mom is at the other end then hell fucking yeah we are doing it. Anyways, It was a long but gradual uphill of 7.7 miles to the glacier fed water source. I was cruising and feeling good until the last mile where my feet started to hurt. We got there and ended up talking with some SOBO hikers and another nobo hiker as well. We chilled before making dinner to push another 5.7 miles further to hit our 30 for the day. I kinda like the dinner and continue to hike as it breaks up the miles in a good way where it seems more manageable than push 30 straight. The last 5.7 were easy uphill and we hit the highest point on trail in oregon and Washington of 7500 ft. It seems fake for Washington but why would they put it on a sign. I immediately set up and got into my tent. I did notice some smoke so I checked watch duty and there is a new fire just west of crater lake but luckily we are past that. Seeing smoke though still isn’t great. We lost Ben and I don’t think we will see him anytime soon with our push of 30s sadly but I did let him know.

Also it’s nice to actually have some views bc the last couple of days have been brown and green tunnels. Plus we had some snow! Crazy to have snow in august. It was a small patch but still.

Marc is trying to stimulate his brain more on trail so we agreed to share albums in each town to listen on trail and give feedback. I gave him NEVER ENOUGH by Daniel caesar. He liked it but he mostly listens to metal so I knew it wasn’t fully up his ally. I think he gave it a 7/10. I haven’t received an album yet but I will keep everyone updated.