PCT Day 104 - 110

Crater Lake —> Bend, OR

Subscribe

Day 104: 8/22/2025

We organized a paid ride to Crater Lake today with a trail angel who drove extremely slow, I’m talking 35 in a 55 mph kind of slow. He was nice and dropped us right off at the Mazama Camp store to pick up our resupply package from my parents! So far this was the most creatively decorated package with little notes letting us know we’d made it to Oregon!

A kind girl behind us offered to drive us into Crater Lake since she was headed up to the rim. We gladly accepted and enjoyed all of the beautiful rim sights one could see.

We ate lunch in the comfy rocking chairs overlooking the lake before heading off to hike the short stroll to the Phantom Ship overlook.

Unfortunately when we returned to her car, we realized that she had locked her car keys inside and left them on the driver seat. We were parked at the end of the road where some major highway construction was taking place, so she enlisted the assistance of 5 trucker guys to help break into her car. It was a comical event to watch, but somehow she managed to break in successfully using something to wedge the window open, and a broken antennae from one of the trucks.

She apologized profusely before dropping us off at the hike to the lake! We have been wanting to hike down to Crater Lake and swim in the water before the trail closed for construction at the end of the season. The sun was setting soon, so we left our bags near the top of the trail and hustled down to the water.

I have never swam in water so deeply blue! It was a different blue than Hawaii, not a turquoise, but a brilliant blue. We stayed at the water for a bit and then raced the mile back up from the water (I lost, but barely). A nice couple gave us a hitchhike from the trailhead back to the Crater Lake PCT side junction. We were just getting ready to hike when we saw our friend Tania! Oh boy were we excited. The last time we saw Tania was at mile 700 of the PCT at Kennedy Meadows South! We all hiked the next 3 miles together until it was time to set up camp. 

Day 105: 8/23/2025; mile 1840.8 - 1857.5

Today we had a slow relaxing morning and didn’t leave camp until nearly 10:30am. We stopped by the water cache in a parking lot and filled up our bags for a long water carry. The first 10 miles today were nearly flat, probably the flattest 10 miles of trail we’ve experienced so far.

Today was quite warm, so we weren’t moving very quickly, even with the flat miles. We stopped to have lunch around 2, and continued a mellow ascent to where we camped under the Tielsen Mountain. It is a beautiful and jagged outcropping. 

Day 106: 8/24/2025; mile 1857.5 - 1879.8

This morning we woke up much earlier and were out of camp by 8:45 am. We had camped on a flat hilltop near the only stream for miles and had an excellent view of Mount Tielsen. As we descended the footpath to the stream, we saw our friends Sam, Sky, and Noam. It was so exciting to see familiar faces, so exciting that we decided we would walk with them.

They were trying to complete the Oregon Challenge which is where people hike all of Oregon on the PCT in two weeks (Spoiler alert, they succeeded!). They had been hiking about 32 miles a day average for the past 5 days already. We decided to join them today to where they were camping, 25 miles past our campsite. They hiked in 7 mile increments, so we would hike the long, flatter sections and then take a large rest for 45 minutes or so. I quite liked this method of hiking, but it only seemed to work considering the trail was so much flatter than it has been up until this point on the PCT.

There was also a wildfire right off of trail at Miller Lake, and a few more in nearby Oregon towns, so it was extremely smoky. We ended up running into Tania one last time and got a photo to commemorate the event! We met Tania on Day 3 of the PCT, so it felt extra special to see someone we’ve known for the entire trail.

Today we passed by the highest point on the PCT for Oregon and Washington! It was nearly half the high point on California (13,000ish feet), but there was a nice sign to celebrate at.

Today we also tried the through hiker method of eating dinner before arriving at camp.

It definitely made it easier to do fewer camp chores, but I quite like the method Dennis and I have of setting up camp and eating dinner. Dennis sets up all of the tent furniture (sleeping pads, pillows, quilts) and I cook dinner. Then we typically read while eating, completely exhausted from the day of hiking. 

Day 107: 8/25/2025: few pct miles hiked, alternate route taken

This morning we attempted a day in the life of hiking with Sam, Sky, and Noam on the Oregon challenge. This meant a 5:30ish am departure. We ended up not leaving until 5:50 am and I was feeling exhausted. I hadn’t slept well the night before and felt like I had relatively little energy.

Our goal was to get to the Shelter Cove Resort by 2pm so we could charge devices, possibly shower, and pick up our resupply package. We ended up taking an alternate route to Shelter Cove which was flatter and quite scenic. It also ended up helping us bypass a wildfire that started overnight from a lightning strike. After a few miles my groggy brain warmed up and I enjoyed listening to my audiobook and chatting with Dennis.

We got to Shelter Cove by 3pm and realized our package wouldn’t arrive until 6pm on the FedEx truck. This was great because we got to leisurely enjoy resting, charging our devices, and reading for a few hours. We ended up showering and doing laundry because it was quite inexpensive. $2 for a 2 minute shower and they provided shampoo, conditioner, soap, and fresh towels! A hiker’s dream indeed.

Finally at 6pm the FedEx truck pulled up and we intercepted our package straight from the delivery guy! We didn’t have to pay a pickup fee from the resort as a result :) Lots of these small resorts charge a fee to hold on/protect your package until you arrive. This saved us 15 bucks! After a little annoying moment with a SOBO hiker who was giving opinions where nobody asked, Dennis and I hiked out and found our first webcam geocache (iykyk) and set up our tent back on trail. Successful day indeed!

Day 108: 8/26/2025; 1910.6 - 1932.2

Today Dennis and I packed up camp pretty late because we both felt tired and decided we would rather sleep than push through a groggy morning. We had hiked the 2.5 miles before camp in the dark, so I didn’t get the chance to see how green and mossy the forest was! It was incredible to look at. After a short uphill we came to a beautiful lake to eat our breakfast at!

We stopped here for a while even though we hadn’t gone all that far to begin with. We chatted with some grandmas on a day hike while we sipped our coffee. Then we were off for another push to the Maiden Peak Shelter.

This was such a cool shelter maintained by Willamette ski patrol. We stopped to play cards inside before heading on to our lunch spot! We had just sat down for lunch when the thunderstorm began. I haven’t heard cracks of thunder this loudly ever. It rained for the next bit of our hike, but was pretty pleasant to walk through. Today was relatively chill with easy ascents and descents. We walked through a huge burn area at sunset and finally got to see the three sisters (mountains) looming in the distance!

Day 109: 8/27/2025; mile 1932.1 - 1954.1

This morning I finally woke up feeling well rested for the first time in a few days. Dennis was still groggy because his pad had developed a new hole and prevented him from sleeping well. I ate my breakfast in the tent and departed about an hour before Dennis. Today was nearly flat so I was cruising for the first few miles.

Dennis finally caught me after 5 miles and we enjoyed a break talking to a hiker who used a “she-wee” for more effective pee breaks. Then we strolled a few more miles before lunching at a beautiful lake. There we finally stopped with a few friends we knew and enjoyed fellow NOBO (northbound) company. We learned that 11.5 miles away there was a lake resort that served pizza until 6:30 pm. After running through 5 options that I won’t bother to list for you here, we decided option 1 was the best - a pizza push! Dennis sped ahead of me to ensure we could order a pizza before the window of opportunity was closed. As a result we had two completely different thunderstorm experiences. I heard some crazy booms overhead and walked through nearly an hour of pouring rain and about 10 minutes of hail. I saw a pretty shiny mushroom though!

Eventually I had some phone service to call my parents for the last half hour of my walk. I was interrupted by an exciting opportunity, my cousin Cassidy called and suggested Dennis and I hitchhike from the Cascade Lakes Highway to her home in Bend. After a cold beer and a delicious pizza, the bartender happily picked us up on her way back to Bend! Dennis and I took some much needed showers and popped our clothes in the laundry. Thank goodness for our visit to Cass, because my waterproof bag has become a bit holy and most of my clothes/sleeping bag had gotten drenched. I’ll need to start putting a trash bag or some other alternative in to line the bag. 

Day 110: 8/28/2025; mile 1962.5 - 1973

We spent the morning in Bend eating breakfast burritos and drinking fabulous mochas with Cassidy. There was even this fancy expresso whipped cream that was so delicious! Cass dropped us off at a turnout on Cascade Lakes Highway and we got a hitch with like the fifth car.

A guy our age and his puppy picked us up and dropped us off easily and just like that we were back on trail.

It was fairly smoky today, and Dennis’s pad keeps deflating so we decided to take a long nap break to catch up on sleep and wait out the smoke.

We left our nap site around 4pm and still had about 10 miles to go. Around 8pm a few other hikers joined us for a sunset stroll before setting up their tents. We ended up hiking another 4 miles after that until we were on the boundary of an obsidian field! We camped in a pretty worn in campsite, so the ground was clear of obsidian shards in a perfect circle, but everywhere else was littered with so much obsidian!