‘A Hike of Ice and Fire’ – PCT 2017: A Hiking Story [40]

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Part 39 ‘Rollin’ Along the Meadows to Lake Hyatt’ 

(Note: None of my photos are in this post, due to having my camera lost and stolen)

Day 120 (08/08) – Hitching Hell!

After the four of us awoke, we chilled in our beds talking until about 8am where we could have breakfast at the Fish Lake café. I ordered coffee and a breakfast burrito – man… this one surpassed even the one burrito I had in Ashland!

I chilled out doing phone stuff and making plans for what was to come with the fires blocking the trail. There were two major out-of-control fires not far off the PCT near Crater Lake, forcing the national park council to close all trails in the park. We could only hike 30 more PCT miles before having to detour off a side trail and inevitably hitch either to, or past, Crater Lake via road. Alternatively, we could immediately hitch out to the large town of Klamath Falls, and furthermore again up several major roads until reaching Crater Lake. I chose the second option as it saved me some time for my time-capped visa.

3G, Bobby Hill and I all attempted to hitch on route 140 near Fish Lake. It took about 40 minutes and a young local girl picked us up. After an hour of driving, she dropped us off on the northern side of town. I ate some McDonald’s, before attempting the second hitch on route 97 alone – 3G and Bobby Hill stayed in town.

It was futile at the junction, and after an hour of failure and being lightly rained upon, I moved up further to the service (gas) station. There, I scored a hitch from an older guy who knew about the PCT. He dropped me off about half an hour ahead on the start of route 62, which somewhat leads me to Crater Lake.

Then I attempted hitch number three. It didn’t take anywhere as near as the first two, thankfully, even the road was super quiet. Here, a lady picked me up who worked at a motel about 10 miles up the road. It didn’t overly help much, as I still needed to get a further 25 miles up the road. I ended up walking to try to get to a better spot at Fort Klamath, a tiny village in the middle of nowhere. During the walk I passed historic sites such as the actual fort, a memorial stone, and a cemetery. There was a wildfire nearby and helicopters with water buckets were filling from Wood River, and attempting to put it out.

I attempted hitching from the small town for two more hours – this time I had no luck. I asked the motel/campground owner what the rates were for a room, and the conversation went something like this: “We don’t allow backpacks in the rooms because they’re dirty and these are clean rooms“. ‘Well fuck you then!’ I thought, “Camping is $10, and you get to shower“, she also said. I said thanks and left, making my way to the ‘park’ nearby and just cowboy camped there on a wooden structure. A flat spot, running water and a port-a-loo – I don’t need a shower for $10!

Distance hiked: 3 miles

Total PCT hiked: 1771 miles

Day 121 (09/08) – A Huge Mistake!

I attempted round 2 of hitching, and got a hitch from a trail angel shuttling hikers around the detour. This is where I fucked up the most on the trail. I left my camera at the spot where I hitched! I didn’t realise until I grabbed my stuff to get out at Mazama Village at Crater Lake. ‘Fuck!‘, I said to myself. Luckily, the trail angel was making a return trip and drove me back. I would have only been 40 minutes before I returned – but it was gone! I asked the only business and anyone around if they had seen it, but to no avail.

Another hitch back to Mazama Village and I asked around there if my camera was dropped off – nothing. I then posted on the PCT Facebook page, the local sheriff’s page, where several community members tried to help there.

Rattler (the Aussie) arrived, whom I hadn’t seen since Burney Lodge. He was now hiking solo after his trail family broke apart for different reasons. We agreed to hike together for the next stretch – both in kind of down moods, but trying to stay optimistic about pushing on.

Staying at the campsite in the village was the plan, and around then it started to rain and storm. We were confined to our tents and ate dinner over catching up on our past journey.

Today was a shit day…

I lost my camera and accessories, my power bank, all RAW photos from 9 months and all of my videos. On top of that, I didn’t even hike a mile due to the fire closures! The only photos I had were rough edits I made for my blog that were on my phone or Google photos. The worst part is, I had only just bought a new SD card in Ashland, and was ready to change out as it was almost full. Next time, lots of smaller SD cards, I think!

If I lost the camera on the actual trail or trail town, I’d have it back with no problem. However, because I was in an unusual town for PCT hikers, whoever picked it up probably knew nothing about the PCT. Why… why was it in a non-trail town that I lost it – damn the fire closures!

Deep breaths… it’s done now!

Day 122 (10/08) – Crater Lake

After packing up and hanging around outside the Mazama Village store waiting for Devilfish (the trail angel) to pick us up, we had six of us who wanted a ride. Three were in the back seat, one in the middle seat, one in the passenger seat and two of us on the ground in the middle. Devilfish drove us around the East rim of Crater Lake to avoid the fire closure on the west side – acting as our tour guide and allowing us to grab some photos.

On the north side, we hiked the last section of the rim trail before rejoining the PCT. Rattler and I hiked fast through the flat stretches and made good time from the relatively late start at 10:30am.

We reached a water cache up kept by Devilfish, and joined about six other hikers there, all taking a break and refilling. Bobby Hill and 3G were also there – we just always seem to sync up!

We hiked past Mt Thielsen, a remarkable and prominent spire in the landscape. Just after, Rattler decided to camp. I ended up camping 5 miles ahead of Rattler to try to get some reception by the highest PCT point in Oregon/Washington, near Howlock Mountain.

Distance hiked: 25 miles

Total PCT hiked: 1887 miles

Next Post:

Part 41 ‘Frustrating Closures & Shelter Cove’ 

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