Oregon Section C: Crater Lake to Willamette Pass (July 19-25, 2012)

Tow-headed Baby

Wizard Island again

Leaving Crater Lake

The Watchman

There was still a lot of snow on the ground.

Llao Rock

Hillman Peak

Pumice Desert

One last look back towards the rim

Strange wood formation looking a bit like Gollum...

Highway 138, the northern boundary of Crater Lake National Park

I had not planned on going to Diamond Lake, but I was running low on water
and was not feeling very energetic that day.  That was when I read some rave
reviews of the pizza place there in my guidebook, which decided the matter.
Who can resist pizza??  Off I went on a little detour...

Sometimes the unplanned detours turn out the best!  I met some incredibly
nice people at Diamond Lake.  First, a family I had already talked to a day
earlier in the Crater Lake Gift Shop.  They were super-friendly and invited
me over to share their camp fire.  (One of them, Linda, even hosted me in
Vancouver, BC, for a couple of days after I finished my hike.  Thank you
so much, Linda!!!)  The next morning, I met some really nice folks from
Philadelphia (of all places) at the famed pizza place.

I took the Mount Thielsen trail from Diamond Lake
to connect back with the PCT.

Diamond Lake from above

Mount Thielsen (or Thielson - apparently people can't decide on one spelling)

Back on the PCT!

Lots of snow on the trail

Even more snow on the north side of Mount Thielsen

Alpenglow on Mount Thielsen

Beautiful campsite at Thielsen Creek

This picture was taken with my cell phone camera, so it is
a little blurry.  A really nice guy from Hood River, OR, was
also camped at Thielsen Creek on a weekend trip.  He offered
me the rest of his coffee the next morning.  What a way to
start a day of hiking!

Yup, that's the trail.

Tree eats trail marker.

It's all downhill from here...  ;-)

Miller Lake

Pretty flowers along the trail

Oregon forest

Camp at Tolo Camp.
I loved how the evening light was filtering through the trees.

More beautifully lighted trees, and my bear bag!

Water cache at Windigo Pass

...apparently not without controversy!

Cowhorn Mountain.  I talked to my parents (in Germany) for over an hour on the phone here.

Summit Lake

First views of Diamond Peak

Still more snow on the trail.  This one was a pain to avoid,
since you obviously didn't want to walk on these cornices.

In the evening the mosquitoes became so bad that I decided to dig out the
latex gloves from my first aid kit in order to protect my hands.  (I was already
hiking in long pants, my rain jacket and a head net.)  The air seems solid with
mosquitoes, I was touching them wherever my hands moved.

Summit Lake

Looking back towards Mount Thielsen (the pointy little triangle in the middle)

The east side of Diamond Peak.  Lots of snow.

Lunch break up on Diamond Peak

Whoops, where did the trail go??

Pretty patterns on a log

I lost the trail so badly up on Diamond Peak that I seriously
contemplated spending the night up there.  I must have gone
around in circles for at least an hour, trying to find the trail,
but it had just disappeared under one of the many snow fields.
I finally stumbled upon it again by noticing the two little cut
logs in this picture (see them?).  Now this was a wilderness
area; why would anybody want to (or be allowed to, for that
matter) cut logs here?  Because they were in the way of the
trail, that's why!  And so it was.  Here was the trail again.
I was so relieved.

My first bear grass on the PCT!

Strange things growing on the forest floor

At Shelter Cove Resort, waiting for my laundry.
It felt so good to be clean again.

I told my parents I would not be able to carry much around on the PCT, and
what did they do?!  Sent me *two* packages full of food for my birthday!
(The food was delicious, though.  Lots of yummy cookies and crackers.  :-) )

Odell Lake

Thanks for pointing that out.  I totally would not have noticed
a four-lane highway crossing my little wilderness dirt trail.

Camping at the Upper Rosary Lakes