Brrr.. the morning is cold. The decision is made to pack up and move before eating breakfast. We eat a bar for the morning energy. The ground is frozen hard and the wind blowing. As we hike along the trail the many bushes get us wet. A sign post alerts us to the high point. Take the photo and look forward to the descent to warmer temperatures.We all took off at our own pace planning to rendezvous at Mt. Thielson Creek. Donna arrived at the trail junction first and waited for Don. When Don arrived we placed an arrow made out of sticks to show Wendy the way we had gone as the creek was quite near, but another trail took off to the right. Don and Wendy had been hiking together shortly before so he figured that she should be along shortly. As time moved forward and Wendy did not appear, we developed some scenarios of where she might be. Don headed back to the trail junction and walked about 20 minutes down the other trail. No sign of Wendy. He returned and then I retraced the trail that we had been on. No sign of Wendy there either. Fortunately when I got back to the stream, there was Wendy. Wendy had not seen the arrow and as we all have experienced, was walking in the zone. Zone walking is so easy when you are walking on trails. We pass by Mt. Thielson which is known for being hit by lightning. No storms today so we did not get to see that act of nature. Our next challenge is to find the water that Don hid several weeks earlier. We were on a 24 mile stretch of no water so when Don had dropped some food boxes he also left some water near a trail head. Wendy is the winner and finds the water. We are now in Crater Lake National Park. We are surrounded by thin and diseased trees. We would not want to camp here in the wind. We finally find a spot that will work and after a delicious meal of pasta verde, apple sauce and chocolate we head to bed.
Mileage hiked 17- Northern border of Crater Lake National Park
