I couldn't believe it when Safety First told me she wasn't going to spend the day in Mazama Village but was going to hike on instead. "But, but, don't you want to see Crater Lake?" She told me that the PCT afforded very nice views of the lake. She had just recently told me how while hiking drunk earlier in the trip, she walked over a ten foot cliff. Any advice I got from her would clearly be suspect, so I was pretty smug in my decision to really see the lake.
After being slightly chided by a park employee for trying to hitchhike in the park (no way was I going to walk seven miles, that's far), I walked around a curve in the bend out of sight of the chider, and immediately got picked up by a different park employee. That only got me half way there. After walking on a very windy, almost non-shouldered road for a mile, I got a second ride to get me the rest of the way. It was an ordeal, but I made it.
To get back, I took the free shuttle that dropped me right back to the village I was staying at. Oops. I was feeling a bit less smug after that snafu, but still, I got to see one heck of a shade of blue.
The next day I started out by spending a couple of hours climbing up a steep hill only to end up in the parking lot at Crater Lake, in just the spot I was at the day before. Oops, again.
My smugness had all but faded until I consoled myself by saying that the prior day's blue was way prettier. And besides, I got to go to a ranger talk that taught me some interesting facts about the creation of the lake. For example, scientists are equally divided between thinking the lake was formed either by an asteroid or an alien spaceship. I swear, I am not making this up. But truth be told, I wasn't listening all that carefully.
After thoroughly examining the parking lot, I followed the trail along the rim of the lake for a couple of hours. This more than made up for the last hundred miles of forested walking. It was a high point of the trail.
Another high point of the trail came a day layer when I walked past a sign claiming I was standing at the highest point of the trail (as long as I ignore California). How sad, I thought, that this pimple off a hill in the Cascades needing something to be proud of, something to hold over its taller neighbors that aren't on the PCT, or smaller otherwise equally unnoteworthy hills.
I noted that Forrester Pass in the Sierras feels no need to brag. Perhaps it is too busy admiring its views. I also felt a bit sad for the poor Washington point that could claim its rightful position as tallest in its state (so long as you restrict yourself to a certain 500 mile by two foot swath of dirt), because Oregon has decided that it should be included in Washington's race to the sky.
Let's move on to other worthless statistics, shall we? I'm often asked how many miles I hike in an average day. The last time I was asked, I had hiked zero miles that day (and wasn't planning on hiking any more), had hiked 39 the day before, and 24 the day before that. To say that I averaged 21 miles per day doesn't tell you much about my trip.
There are, after all, no average days on the PCT. Yesterday, for example, I had for breakfast a peanut butter PopTart (completely inedible). Today, in contrast, I had an Oreo-like PopTart (almost inedible, but I was starving). What does this tell you? It's like my momma used to say, "life is like a hiker box of PopTarts. If it's free, smashed, and given away already, it's probably best worth staying away from."
What was I talking about now? Oh yes, averages. Just to nail home this point, there is an old statistics joke that the on average, humans have one breast and one testicle (can I say "testicle" on the Internet?). This should tell you something about averages. Without additional information, the mean is meaningless. This should also tell you something about statisticians. If this is their idea of humor, you best be staying away from their parties.
One last high point of the trip. This one may be tough to beat. My Kickstarter project has just been successfully funded. Thank you so much to everyone who pledged. It means the world to me. Not the cryptics, though I am very excited about that, but the support. I am very touched.
- I ordered grog to be mixed (5, 6)
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