Miles hiked: 30.8.
The trail this morning wrapped up and around the southwestern slopes of Mt. Thielson, offering views back toward Crater Lake and out over the fire, which had backed down substantially overnight. As I gained elevation and worked around more and more to the west and then northwest slopes, I could look down at Diamond Lake and the surrounding lower forested hills, then eventually could see north all the way to the Three Sisters, still about 3 day's walk away. When rounding a few ridges radiating off Thielson I could look up and see the scraggly steep crumbly-looking peak and all its swirls of different colored rock, looking like some sculptured castle made of mixed ice cream.
Speaking of ice, I had brunch at Thielson Creek and rinsed some of the pumice dust from my socks and that water was cold! I had to take a break between the two socks to rewarm. Dare I say some of the coldest water I've felt on the trip. And indeed, there is a small glacier showing on the map tucked in on the north slope of the peak.
After brunch it was a gradual climb up to the official Oregon/Washington high point, at 7,572 feet, situated in a broad saddle with a mix of meadow and trees. The rest of the day was pretty much all in the trees, though it was mostly along a ridge so there were occasional views out over endless rolling forested hills with volcanic cones sticking up here and there.
I've been hiking with a few new people since Mazama, and had a fun time joking around with Blaze, Giggles, Fish Out Of Water, P-Dub (short for Panty Waist, whatever that means), 42, and a few others, while we all took a rest at the second of only 2 water sources we saw today. There are only 2 waster sources in the 50 miles north from Crater Lake, then it's another 10 to the next one.
I set up camp at the beginning of an alternate route I decided to take in to Shelter Cove Resort, my next resupply at Odell Lake along hwy 58. This alternate route is along the Oregon Skyline Trail, which I don't know anything about but perhaps is/was a single state version of the PCT. This alternate will save me about 10 miles tomorrow in to Shelter Cove, which will make the difference between getting to take care of town chores tomorrow and leave early the next day, or arrive too late and tired and not get anything done until the following morning. I'm on a little bit of a timeline because I'm meeting my good friend Allyson at Santiam Pass, 100 miles from Shelter Cove, on the 18th; I need to get an early start from Shelter Cove on the 15th to make it up there in good time.
While I shoveled down mac'n'cheese with ground beef, veggies, tomato powder, bacon bits, and Parmesan, a Common Nighthawk buzzed and boomed overhead. It turns out the booming noise they make, which I couldn't figure out for a couple days back near Lassen, is actually made by the feathers of the male when he does his display dive.
Birds:
Clark's Nutcracker
American Robin
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Mountain Chickadee
Golden-crowned Kinglet
XX finch
Oregon Junco
Brown Creeper
Common Nighthawk.
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