Miles hiked: 28.95.
Crossed hwy 58 then wrapped around the east slope of the Willamette Pass Ski hill, then passed a few nice lakes on the north side, with mist drifting on the surface in the cool morning air below sunlit forest ridges. There was a family (female and young) of goldeneyes on one of the lakes; I guess they were probably Commons, but I couldn't tell for sure. Climbing above the lakes, I got a brief view back south, past Odell and Crystal Lakes and all the way back to Mt. Thielson.
But after that it was another day of easy, flattish, fast forest walking. Some parts of the trail were dusty, others weren't. Some parts went gradually up, others gradually down, and most did neither. One foot hurt, one didn't. At one point there was a quick glimpse through the trees to the north, and I could see Broken Top and South Sister.
I lunched at Charlton Lake, which it turns out is just about a quarter mile from a road and consequently had quite a bit of activity with kayaks and inner tubes and mountain bikers and plenty of day hikers. After Charlton the trail passed through 3-4 miles of an old burn that still has the old whitened snags but also has new trees 5-10 feet tall. Through the tall snags I could now see The Three Sisters and surrounding lesser peaks a bit better. But apparently I've forgotten how to walk and look at views because I had the 3 worst ankle rolls of the trip all in about a mile.
Out of the burn and back into live forest where it was cool and great for hiking, I passed into the Three Sisters Wilderness and into an area of more frequent lakes and ponds. I didn't see any other NOBO thru hikers until I made camp and Blaze and Giggles showed up, having survived their resupply trip out to Crystal and then Chemult because Crystal just has a gas station. I'm camped on the shore of a small lake with dense trees growing right down to the shore and fallen logs all around the edge, sort of like the trees are crowding in from all sides, always inching closer to the lake, and the ones in the front keep getting pushed in to the water. A cool wind sinks down from the ridge across the lake and blows across my camp. But it's no match for my sleeping bag, and I hope it keeps up through the night to keep condensation and mosquitoes to a minimum.
Birds:
Steller's Jay
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Mountain Chickadee
Gray Jay
Brown Creeper
Goldeneye- couldn't be sure which; they were all drab; at first it seemed like crown peak was in front of eyes, but then they started diving and it seemed to be in back of eyes.
Northern Flicker
American Robin
Common Raven
Clark's Nutcracker
Hairy Woodpecker
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Oregon Junco
Cooper's Hawk
Belted Kingfisher
Osprey
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