Packing up to begin the day was as frustrating as it could be. Mosquitos buzzed everywhere, I had little water and my tent was covered in condensation. It was so bad I pulled out my mosquitos repellent. It was all gone. When I finally was packed I tried to move as quickly as possible on the trail. The route entered a burn area that occurred last year and the trail was largely gone. Logs were down everywhere and I got off track countless times. At one point I found an established trail and followed it for over a mile before realizing I was on the wrong trail. I hiked with another hiker, Pathfinder, for a bit. He’s trying to do the calendar triple crown (which I did in 2016). I pushed toward Crater Lake and took the side trail to Mazama Village. It was an unplanned stop, but I wanted some form of bug spray. Then I climbed up to the Crater Lake rim and despite many trips here, I would as blown away by the magnificent blue lake in the center of a volcano that erupted 7,700 years ago. Tourists were everywhere but they didn’t infringe on my enjoyment. There were no mosquitos and even a bit of snow on the rim, and I loved it. But after the rim, the mosquitos started again and the bug spray I got seems to not work as well as the previous type I had. I set up camp and passed out. Powered by exhaustion, I finally got a great night of sleep.
Miles 40
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