The sound of lots of diesel trucks leaving the parking lot woke me up early this morning. It’s opening day of elk season and all the hunters were heading out. The sound of pouring rain soon joined them.
I stayed in bed for a while, finally packing up and heading to breakfast. The rain was stopped when I left but it started up again after about a mile. Supposedly there was a trail paralling the road, but I couldn’t find it, despite multiple forays into the woods. I ended up just road walking the nine miles to Crater Lake National Park.
Several people pulled over, asking me if I needed a ride. Nope. I’m hiking in the rain on purpose. Of course, it doesn’t really look like hiking on the shoulder of the road. One woman and her son looked like they were just waiting for me to say I was hiking the PCT and they were super psyched when I did. The other two men who stopped just thought I was crazy, one of them telling me there wasn’t a town for over twenty miles. Well, I’m not going to town. I do, in fact, know where I am and where I’m going. Amazing.
I was happy to get back in the woods and followed the very flat trail until camp after 17.9 miles total. It had stopped raining for a little while but started up again just as I hit camp. It was early but I couldn’t go any farther due to camping restrictions. I suppose I will be asleep very early.
Roadside celebrity! š