Daily miles – 26
Total miles – 1870
Crisp, cool night making for good sleeping weather last night. Unfortunately, SweetPea was awake at 4am and didn’t get her full night of sleep 🙁
Fairly easy walking for the entire day. We had elevation gain and loss and even crossed the highest point for the rest of the trail, but the grades were smooth and the trail well maintained for a good portion of the day. We did hit a section mid afternoon which had quite a few blow downs, but not to the extent of the section before Crater Lake.

Most of the day was spent in the trees, with some views through the trees of Mt Thielson as well as Diamond and Miller Lakes. The trees gave us some nice shade which was appreciated on a warm day like today. We had only one water source during the day, and it was a beautiful stream coming down from the slopes of Mt Thielson.

At the end of the day, when Mountain Man and Beardoh were going to get water at a spring off trail, they ran into a group of Outward Bound hikers that were doing a 28 day prep course for thru hiking. Most interestingly, they were led by Dirty Brown, a hiker that Beardoh had met on his 2012 thru hike. These ‘small world’ experiences seem to come up occasionally while on a long distance hike and are a delight. What are the chances of being in the same spot at the same time?…. Especially in this occasion where we ran into each other at an off trail water source.
Questions or thoughts on this article? Please leave them below: