Day 111 & 112: Let the Oregon Magic Begin!

(Mile 1802.5 to 1829.3, Crater Lake + 1.2 = 28 miles; 1829.3 to 1835 = 5.7 miles)

Stormy morning.  These clouds are for you, Steve Shunk!

111:  We started the day in the tail end of a storm and are ending it under a cool, starry night at Crater Lake.  28 miles before 7 PM!  This is not a record in miles, but surely in timing.

Thank you, Jim Knight, for the care package!  I love the Friends of Silver Falls. :)

112:  Well, I got too tired to write any more!  It'll be a short one tonight, too.  It's an hour past hiker midnight.  But!  We are on the rim of Crater Lake tonight, and it is absolutely gorgeous.  I do love Crater Lake.  Perhaps more than Yosemite?  Shhh!  I think I love the simplicity of it.  It's about the lake.  Sure, there are a handful of other pretty areas, Annie's Creek is very nice, but it is still about the crater and the lake.  I will never forget when I first saw the lake over the rim.  It was my first summer in Oregon, and I was on one of many solo roadtrips around the state.  I pulled over and leapt out of my car.  The feeling is hard to explain, but was an overwhelming joy.  The same one I had upon first seeing Kings Canyon in the Sierras and my first spectacular northern lights in Sandstone, MN. 

Medals from Gym Jesters gymnastics club in Michigan!  We LOVE it.

 As for the Oregon magic I intended to write about...both Gumby and I received amazing care packages here.  She got one from her gymnastics gym--we LOVE our medals!--and one from her significant other.  I got a package from a volunteer I work with at Silver Falls, Jim Knight--along with a letter that had us both in stitches.  And then!  Wired (2011thru-hiker) left me a note at the store that has directions to a water supply she left us.  Heck, yes!

Handstands for Crater Lake.  Our first Oregon resupply.

We wound up neroing, but we have had a good day at Crater Lake.  We've caught up with a bubble of hikers, and it's been good to feel like a part of a larger community.  It's been a cross of Mellow Yellow's group and Siddhartha's.  Which happens to include a number of women!  We had a ladies' lunch today--seven of us women traveling sans significant others.  Pretty inspiring, eh?

Sunset at Crater Lake.

And now, to sleep.  We have big miles all through Oregon.  Tomorrow is no exception.   Although today apparently was.

Thank you, Wired, for the water, notes, and reroute info!  We are so hooked up!