The mileage I put down doesn’t accurately reflect how many miles I hiked today. That’s because we ditched the PCT for a dirt road and are going to walk up the highway to get into Crater Lake National Park.
The PCT is closed due to a wildfire at the southern end of the park, so we could ignore the closure (fire isn’t actually on the PCT) or walk the road. We decided the fine wasn’t worth it so we started walking the road.
Most of the hiking today was pretty boring. It was really flat and easy hiking. We did climb up a ridge and get some pretty good views.
We also crossed snow again today. I had heard the snow was pretty bad on trail a couple weeks ago at Crater Lake, so I wasn’t too surprised to see some nearby. Still, it’s August.
This is mile 1796.8.
We met up with some other hikers today who shared some good news about the fire closure at Crater Lake. There’s actually two fires, one closing the PCT down south and one that closes it along the rim of the lake. The rim trail was supposed to open tomorrow. That would save us a LOT of road walking.
Until then, we still had to get to the park. We walked down the forest road for about 3.5 miles, after doing 32 on trail. We made camp in a pull out camping spot on the road. Just before bed, we got confirmation that the rim trail was open. We have about 15 miles of road walking, but then it’s back to the trail. Can’t wait!